CALGARY — He’s shown the patience of a saint and consistently resisted the urge — if it was perhaps bubbling under the surface — to express even a scintilla of frustration.
And now, some eight months after signing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a high-profile free agent and seven games into the 2025 Canadian Football League season, receiver Dillon Mitchell will finally make his debut in blue and gold tonight against the Calgary Stampeders.
“I would just say it’s about making sure we get the win. I’m going out there playing with my brothers and making sure I do my part, do what I’m capable of doing and making sure I do my job,” Mitchell said Friday in a media availability at the team’s hotel. “I feel like making plays is something I always want to do but being a leader on the field, now being out there, I want to give anybody a spark.”
Dillon Mitchell
The Blue Bombers could use another threat in the receiving game and Mitchell is listed at slotback this week, although he moved all over the field during practice. He comes onto the roster at the spot held by Dalton Schoen to open the season and then filled by Kody Case and Joey Corcoran in subsequent weeks.
“Trying to see if we can’t get a guy on the roster who has produced at a high level in this league,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “He’s been working diligently, not just biding his time, so he’ll draw in and we’ll see if we can’t get him going.”
Mitchell’s addition gives an offence currently seventh on scoring (22.9 points per game) another potential threat. He had 12 career touchdowns in 45 games with the Edmonton Elks spread out over the last three years, including 58 receptions for 727 yards and four touchdowns a year ago.
“I thought he had a really good week of practice,” said quarterback Zach Collaros of Mitchell. “He understands what we’re doing from a gameplan standpoint. You guys have watched him for years and he’s made plays with the ball in the air. I’m excited for him, for his opportunity to get out there and get going. I know he’s been waiting for a long time.”
So has everyone in Bomberland — so much so that the Mitchell watch had become a side story over the last few weeks with him being passed over when the roster was pieced together at the start of the season and especially so following the injury to Schoen. Again, though, don’t expect the 28-year-old former Oregon star to fuel the flames of that narrative.
Case in point, Mitchell was asked Friday if it’s been tough to wait.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he began. “Cheering my teammates on — it’s not patience, it’s being able to be a brother and being a good teammate and being a great teammate. That’s all I would say.”
Then, after confirming that this is the longest stretch he’s gone in the CFL without playing he added, “But everything comes with a valuable lesson. I’ve grown as a leader and a teammate surely over this time.”
Two more answers from Mitchell Friday also spoke volumes. First, this when asked how he kept positive during the wait: “Being around my teammates, being around the coaching staff and everybody that’s in the building, it’s hard to be sad. Being able to still play professional football when I wasn’t able to makes me very, very positive.”
And then, finally, there’s this when he was asked about what he maybe learned about himself during the seven games where he wasn’t in the lineup: “Everything you put on tape, everything you put on the field is always watched and always looked at. I never try to down another organization, I always try to lift Winnipeg up. I feel the responsibility and the expectation around the building is very high and for myself it rose as well.”
The time for talk and for the conspiracy theories that were growing as he was kept out of the lineup are over. Now Mitchell gets to prove his worth where it matters most: on game day.
ICYMI, here’s our Game Preview from Friday:
And follow along here as we present a collection of notes/quotes/anecdotes to help get Blue Bombers fans up to speed for tonight’s third and final regular season meeting against the Stampeders here in Calgary in this week’s GAME DAY HQ…
ZACH IS BACK
It’s been a slow start to the ’25 season for the Blue Bombers QB1, what with the suspension keeping him out of the opener and a neck injury limiting to about a half of two games and then missing last week’s win over Toronto. Collaros has thrown for 1,031 yards with seven touchdowns against eight interceptions and his QB efficiency rating is the lowest among starters at 89.1.
All that said, when he’s on Winnipeg’s offence can hit stratospheric heights.
“I’m excited to be back on, to get back out there with the guys,” said Collaros. “I feel good to go and am excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”
Not only do the Blue Bombers get Collaros back, they welcome the return of veteran left tackle Stanley Bryant, who was injured in the loss in Calgary last month and has been out since.
“That kind of experience is always tough to replace,” said O’Shea of Collaros and Bryant. “The guys that step in for them, we never ask them to be those two guys because they’re two of the best you’ve ever been around. So, it’s always nice to get that level of experience back on the roster.”
AND EVEN MORE CHANGES
Stanley Bryant
Not only do the Blue Bombers get Collaros and Bryant back and welcome Mitchell to the lineup for the first time, there’s also another change in the secondary with Dexter Lawson, Jr. — who we wrote about in this piece — making his Winnipeg debut in a secondary that will see another change.
Let’s take a deep breath to examine some of the turnover we’ve seen on both sides of the ball this season:
As mentioned above, Collaros has missed two games and been limited to a half in two others.
The Blue Bombers have started three different left tackles this year in Bryant, Micah Vanterpool and Eric Lofton and two different left guards in Vanterpool and Gabe Wallace.
The one receiver spot has featured Schoen, Case, Corcoran and now Mitchell.
The secondary underwent three changes a week ago with Redha Kramdi moving from dime to safety, with Jamal Parker, Jr. moving from safety to corner and Michael Griffin sliding into Kramdi’s old spot. Parker, Jr. was injured a week ago, leading to the change with Lawson, Jr., who becomes the third different corner to man that spot, including Marquise Bridges who was just released.
On top of all that, Brady Oliveira missed two games and most of the opener and was replaced by Matthew Peterson.
That’s a whole lot of revolving pieces and, in part, explains some of the struggles on offence and the dreaded explosion plays on defence. Asked if all the changes has hurt the offence, Collaros offered this:
“I don’t know if ‘hurt’ is the right word. It just gives us the opportunity to work closer, to work harder together. I know for the O-linemen the more games you have under your belt as a starting five — starting six when we bring our big team out there — the better. Any time that you gain repetition together it’s big. The same could be said for Brady and the way he reads their blocks, for the quarterbacks and the receivers, whether it’s the quarterback delivering the football on time, receivers understanding what we want out of certain routes.
“So, yeah, those repetitions do matter. But it’s an opportunity for us to work and get it figured out.”
NOTABLE
Since 2022, Winnipeg is 7-3 against Calgary.
Zach Collaros is a career 10-8 versus the Stampeders.
Calgary last swept a three-game season series between the teams in 2016.
The Stampeders have allowed the fewest big plays (12) and offensive touchdowns (11).
Vernon Adams Jr. passed for 489 yards and five touchdowns in the two matchups this season against Winnipeg. He is a career 6-3 against Winnipeg.