Despite picking up their first playoff victory in seven long years, it could still be an off-season of change for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
It’s going to be an extremely busy winter for the Bombers and more specifically general manager Kyle Walters. With an expiring collective bargaining agreement in the CFL combined with the return of the one-year contract, the Bombers could have their longest list of free agents ever.
The Bombers will have in the neighborhood of 40 free agents come February.
Of their five starting offensive linemen only Patrick Neufeld is officially signed for next season. But according to bluebombers.com, the Bombers already have agreements in principle with both Stanley Bryant and Jermarcus Hardrick to prevent them from hitting free agency.
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The core of their team should remain mostly intact with Matt Nichols, Chris Streveler, Andrew Harris, and Darvin Adams all under contract for next season. But key contributors on offence like Nic Demski, Kienan LaFrance and Weston Dressler are all free agents.
“I’ll always want to play football,” Dressler said. “That’s not the question.”
The real question is do the Bombers want the 33-year-old back after he put up some of the lowest receiving numbers of his illustrious 11-year CFL career.
“Most of the time it’s not up to the player to make those decisions,” Dressler said. “I want to play, and hopefully there’s enough people that want me to be apart of the team.”
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On defence Adam Bighill has already hinted that the BC Lions could be his landing spot for family reasons. He still owns a home in Vancouver after playing six seasons with the Lions.
Jackson Jeffcoat, Drake Nevis, Tristan Okpalaugo, Kevin Fogg, Brandon Alexander, Ian Wild and Jovan Santos-Knox all have expiring contracts. Kicker Justin Medlock also needs a new deal, but after contemplating retirement last year, Medlock is all in for 2019.
“If you’re kinda 50-50, you see the results that kinda happened in 2017 — to me weren’t to my level — and I think I was kinda 50-50 that whole year,” Medlock said. “But I’m 100 percent committed and ready to go.”
“I’m sure I’ll have a talk with O’Shea and Kyle Walters and we’ll figure something out.”
One thing is certain, Walters has his work cut out for him this off-season after the team took a leap forward in 2018.
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