Photo courtesy: Steven Chang/B.C. Lions
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers don’t appear to have made any long-term decisions regarding injured receiver Dalton Schoen, who officially became a free agent on Tuesday.
The veteran target is one of three players who weren’t re-signed by the team after suffering ACL injuries in 2025, the other two being quarterback Chris Streveler and defensive back Terrell Bonds.
“We’ll follow up with that once we get all the medical clearance and things like that,” general manager Kyle Walters said regarding all three injured players via videoconference on Thursday. “There’s still some work that needs to be done health-wise before we even discuss how they do or don’t fit into the building.”
Schoen’s career started about as well as any in CFL history. He caught 141 passes for 2,663 yards and 26 touchdowns over his first two seasons, winning Most Outstanding Rookie, leading the league in receiving in 2022, and earning back-to-back All-CFL selections. When an NFL contract offer never materialized, Schoen appeared destined for long-term CFL stardom.
Instead, the native of Overland Park, Kan. suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in June 2024, limiting him to only three regular-season games and forcing him to undergo surgery. He suffered the same injury in July 2025 and tried to return for the Labour Day Classic eight weeks later, though he tweaked his knee and had to undergo surgery again.
Schoen politely declined 3DownNation’s request for an interview on Wednesday, indicating he’d like to keep his health private until he’s closer to making a return to the field. He did, however, confirm all the injury details above as accurate.
When asked specifically about the six-foot-one, 205-pound target, Walters didn’t want to offer any hypotheticals.
“I don’t want to speculate (on Schoen’s future). I know if anyone’s going to work as hard as they can to get on the field, Dalton’s one of them, so if there’s a remote possibility that the doctors are gonna allow him to get back and he’s cleared, then that’s the guy that’ll do it, but I’m certainly not qualified to discuss the exact timeline of his rehab.”
It remains unclear if the 29-year-old receiver will don blue and gold again in the future. For now, it seems he needs to get healthy again before any decisions are made.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Zach Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 13 regular-season games, going 6-7 as a starter.
The Blue Bombers ranked fifth in net offence, third in net defence, and eighth with a turnover differential of minus-eleven. The club’s leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, leading receiver was Nic Demski with 1,001 yards, and leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with average crowds of 32,343, which was a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year.