Redha Kramdi fears absolutely nothing on the football field. Period. Full stop.
Time and time again over his career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers he’s repeatedly shown he’s more than willing to attack an oncoming running back at the line of scrimmage or fall back into coverage to cover a deep threat.
Heck, ask him to take a rep at guard and he’d step in there, too, if needed,
What he has admittedly occasionally fretted about is what his life might look like after his football playing days are done. He is a football junkie, after all, and a man who adores everything about the game. So, potentially not having it in his life is, well…
“Sometimes I get anxious about what I’ll end up doing after football,” Kramdi told bluebombers.com in a phone interview from Toronto. “I worry that one day I’ll be done with football but then maybe football doesn’t want me any more as a player or in ops or scouting or as a coach. That’s why I’m back in school so I have as many options as possible.
“But it’s still scary knowing you’re going to have to recreate yourself when your playing career is done.”
To that end, Kramdi — the veteran Blue Bombers dime back — has returned to the Université de Montreal this offseason to take computer science courses and this week he is also participating in the fifth annual Canadian Football League Mentorship Program — a joint CFL/CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA) initiative which sees players take part in professional development sessions ‘to gain a deeper understanding of the business behind the game.’
Kramdi is one of seven CFL players in Toronto this week — and on Friday at the University of Waterloo for the CFL Invitational Combine — after applying for the mentorship program and then going through an interview process before being selected. He is the fourth Blue Bomber player to take part in the program after Sergio Castillo (2025), Jake Thomas (2024) and Pat Neufeld (2023).
The group has had sessions with several league executives, including commissioner Stewart Johnston and Ryan Janzen and Eric Noivo in the league’s football operations department and then spent Thursday at the TSN offices chatting with on-air talent like Henoc Muamba and Kate Beirness as well as those who work on the league’s television production behind the seasons.
On Friday, they were front and centre for the on field combine event at Waterloo.
“I’ve always said I don’t know yet what I want to do after football, but I know there’s a part of me that wants to stick around the game after I’m done playing,” said Kramdi. “I was talking to Jake Thomas — he was in the program, too — and he said he learned a lot being in it. That helped me decide to hop in.
“Talking to Jake, I thought doing something like this now to benefit me after my career was a good idea. I’m in school which is helping me after career but if I want to stay in football I wanted to see what I can do in the game.”
Asked if the experience has opened his eyes at all to the possibility of a future outside of scouting or coaching, Kramdi was his usual succinct self.
“I like to be honest with you, it’s ‘F no,’” he said with a chuckle. “I want to stay around football. It’s going to be scouting or coaching if I want to stay around football. I know myself and what I want to do. I want to stay around football, either in the scouting department or coaching. Lots of times we sit around the locker room and we talk s–t and say, ‘Why don’t we do this?’ because in our heads it’s all so simple. Then after being in this program, I can say there’s a lot behind every single decision.
“I will say that listening to the people in marketing and finance — each and every one introduced themselves and how they got to where they are — but none of them played in the CFL. That opened my eyes a bit. To play football you’ve got to go to university and so we’ve got a bunch of people in our league who have degrees. When players are done playing football could they get jobs at the CFL office to bring that perspective?
“I hope this program to lead to more players who are qualified to have jobs are in a position to get those jobs.”
One of the most-intelligent men in the Blue Bombers locker room and a versatile member of Jordan Younger’s defence, Kramdi has the chops to already begin trending toward a career in coaching. The mentorship program gave him a glimpse at other potential opportunities in the game, but his happy place is with both his feet on the turf participating or watching practice.
And that will never change.
“Football is a passion for me,” he said. “Football puts food on my table, helps me pay my bills and my hope is I can keep it that way for as long as possible and then after I’m doing playing too.
“I’ve only seen myself in recent years that if I was to stay in football it would only be in coaching or scouting. Now, having the chance to talk to people and what they do with their day to day through this program it has had me thinking that if I was to get sick of the Xs and Os and with my degree and my background in management and administration and business and now in computer science I could maybe get a job in the office. Why not stay around sports, stay around football even if it’s not in the Xs and Os? It has definitely opened my eyes.
“We play football for six months but from December to mid-May we’re not doing anything. It would be cool if there was an internship program now to use that time to build a foundation for our after-career whether it’s in finance, marketing, coaching, scouting — the CFL is a business that touches all aspects, so it would be amazing to have something like that open up as future possibilities for players.”
More notes and quotes in this week’s edition of 1st & 10…
-We’ve reached the combine season leading up to the CFL Draft on Tuesday, April 28th. Kramdi was there today to watch the league’s invitational combine with the national event going later this month in Edmonton. On Friday, eight participants in Waterloo earned the right to advance to the Edmonton, including University of Manitoba offensive lineman Victor Olaniran.
8 advance from Invitational Combine to CFL Combine
FYI… the latest on Blue Bombers QB prospect Taylor Elgersma, who was drafted by the club in the second round last year, attending training camp with the Green Bay Packers before earning looks from other NFL teams and then attending the NFL Combine in Indianapolis as a camp arm — he’s now in training camp with the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL.
The Stallions open the UFL season March 27th against the Louisville Kings with their last regular season game on May 30th against the Houston Gamblers. Elgersma is hoping to use this opportunity to get more NFL eyeballs on his work in the four-down game but should he stick around with the Stallions and not get an NFL look afterward, potentially wouldn’t be able to join the Blue Bombers until June — after training camps are concluded and around the start of the CFL regular season.
Elgersma is battling with veteran Matt CZoral and rookie Michael Hiers in Birmingham.
A couple notes from the @UFLStallions Quarterbacks today:
– Matt Corral taking QB1 reps. Looked very sharp, but characteristically had a couple terrible throws (i.e. an INT directly to Tae Crowder)
– Michael Hiers QB2, Taylor Elgersma QB3; but Taylor did just show up to camp.…
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) March 5, 2026
And finally… the Blue Bombers are everywhere in this province during the offseason. Here’s a video put together by videographer Smart Rosales about a recent trip to Gillam:
This year we partnered with @RecycleMB to inspire recycling efforts through a community-wide contest in Gillam, MB. ♻️
Through this initiative we are able to make an impact beyond the field and continue building a stronger, more sustainable community across Manitoba!… pic.twitter.com/IFEhAYRy3q
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) March 5, 2026