{"id":337681,"date":"2025-12-10T22:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337681\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T22:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:09:10","slug":"lawson-i-wanted-to-be-in-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337681\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawson: “I wanted to be in Winnipeg.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cam Lawson is on the phone from his offseason base in Brampton, ON., not too long after having scribbled his signature on a two-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

Fresh from the gym \u2014 get this, his sessions regularly include two hours of lifting AND an hour of cardio \u2014 the 27-year-old defensive tackle is still riding that endorphin spike that comes from working out when he begins a conversation with bluebombers.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m raring to go, man,\u201d began the Queen\u2019s University product, who will now head into his fifth year and fourth season with the club in 2026 after missing all of 2024 with a knee injury. \u201cI knew they wanted to get a deal done later in the season and I figured we would start contract discussions relatively quickly after the season was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to my agent about it and we already knew we wanted to stay in Winnipeg and so the groundwork was already there in terms of the relationship and so it was then just about figuring out the numbers and that didn\u2019t take very long either. We got it done and that\u2019s nice because I like having it out of the way. I tend to worry about thing sometimes, so this is great.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlus, it gives me even more motivation to work harder and prove I\u2019m worth what they signed me for. I\u2019m excited and it\u2019s all set and we\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lawson bounced back in 2025 after missing the \u201924 season and in 16 games \u2014 six of them starts \u2014 he registered 21 defensive tackles, one sack and one forced fumble while sharing playing time with veteran Jake Thomas. What the coaches and management have said repeatedly, both during the year and afterward, was how much Lawson consistently pushed the pile at the point of attack.<\/p>\n

All of that is part of why Lawson was quick to re-sign rather than wait until February to see what the Canadian Football League\u2019s free agent market might offer. Stability matters to Lawson. So does familiarity and loyalty \u2014 all factors that were a big part of his decision, along with the numbers on his pay stub.<\/p>\n

\u201cStability matters, 100 percent \u2014 especially in the CFL with guys mostly signing one and two-year contracts,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing able to consistently retain guys throughout the years is a big part of building good teams, championship teams. Comfortability is a huge factor. So is the unknown of going to a different team and not being sure what they want to do with you. Going into free agency, if the market isn\u2019t good at your position, it might be difficult to find a home with another team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinnipeg is the team that gave me a chance by trading for me, giving me a lot of snaps and playing time early on in my career,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m forever grateful for that because I wouldn\u2019t be where I am now without that opportunity. So, of course I have loyalty with them. I went into this offseason knowing I wanted to sign with them. That was my priority. Obviously, there can be situations where things don\u2019t work out, but I wanted to be in Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This will be an intriguing offseason for the Blue Bombers heading into 2026 after finishing fourth in the West Division with a 10-8 record and being bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Expectations are still incredibly lofty in Bomberland and despite posting nine consecutive double-digit win seasons, there is a drive to get back into the CFL\u2019s upper echelon and chase championships again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur coaching staff and the management are great people, and they know what to do,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cThey\u2019ve built championship teams in Winnipeg before. I have faith in them like they have faith in me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, sometimes you need to be punched in the face. You can get comfortable with where you are\u2026 there\u2019s the saying \u2018complacency is the killer of progress.\u2019 I believe in that. After every season I\u2019m always planning on things I can do better \u2014 how I can be stronger, how I can improve in certain areas. You never want to be OK with what happened. None of us are.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, I think we can get back to winning championships and dominating once again and I know we\u2019ll keep signing guys and bringing guys in that are going to contribute to that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cam Lawson is on the phone from his offseason base in Brampton, ON., not too long after having…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-337681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}