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Photo: The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
WINNIPEG \u2014 Star CFL running back and pending free agent Brady Oliveira thought negotiations for his next contract would drag into the new year.<\/p>\n
Instead, he got an early Christmas present.<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed the two-time outstanding Canadian to a three-year contract extension on Monday, reportedly worth $290,000 in the first year and $300,000 in both 2027 and \u201928. It also comes with some unspecified guarantees.<\/p>\n
Oliveira, 28, had indicated that he might test free agency in February but decided to stick with his hometown team.<\/p>\n
“I definitely wasn\u2019t expecting to get a deal done as quickly as we did,\u201d he said Tuesday. “I thought I was going to go into the new year. Obviously, I was a lot happier with the way it played out.<\/p>\n
“Getting this deal done before Christmas is like an early Christmas present for myself and for my family. So, I\u2019m extremely happy about that.”<\/p>\n
Oliveira called the negotiations “extremely seamless.”<\/p>\n
“Winnipeg showed a lot of respect right off the jump with this and made it very easy to make this thing work,” he said. <\/p>\n
“I love this city, I love Winnipeg. I love this organization, and for me to be here for another three years, playing for my hometown \u2014 I\u2019ve said it before \u2014 it\u2019s like a dream come true. So, just really happy about this.”<\/p>\n
Despite his affection for Winnipeg, there had been some speculation that Oliveira would seek employment elsewhere because he was not pleased with the direction of the offence last season. But that changed when the Bombers re-signed both general manager Kyle Walters and head coach Mike O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, seeing Osh (O\u2019Shea) sign back and Kyle sign back, I trust this organization,” Oliveira said. “We\u2019ve been very successful for the last number of years, so I put full trust in their hands.<\/p>\n
“When it comes to the coaching staff, obviously, again, I trust the organization and I trust Osh that they will make the right decisions on this and I\u2019m just really looking forward to next season.”<\/p>\n
The five-foot-nine, 229-pound basher rushed for 1,163 yards \u2014 third in the CFL \u2014 and posted 1,709 total yards from scrimmage \u2014 second to Edmonton\u2019s Justin Rankin (1,726) \u2014 despite missing three games last season. It was also his fourth straight 1,000-yard season. Only former Bombers tailback Charles Roberts had more with six.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve worked extremely hard for this,\u201d said Oliveira, who also won the CFL\u2019s outstanding player award in 2024. “For this time, for this moment. I think it goes back to my early days of playing football and all the sacrifices that I\u2019ve put in, and it\u2019s gotten me to where I am today. But I\u2019ve always had a great support system around me, I\u2019ve always been a part of some great teams, and I\u2019ve had some great teammates around me with some great coaches. So, I think that has allowed me to get to where I am.<\/p>\n
“I think I\u2019ve been very successful because of the guys around me. It\u2019s hard to describe with words the gratitude and joy that I\u2019m feeling signing back with Winnipeg. I think it\u2019s a testament to, obviously, the work that I put in, but also the people that I\u2019ve been surrounded with. Not only in football with my teammates, but also just my support system, my family around me. I\u2019ve got a great team around me and I\u2019m just very happy to be back.”<\/p>\n
Oliveira also discussed the immediate future with teammates who are about to become free agents. One of those was his good friend, slotback Nic Demski.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, it works out for him and the organization,” he said. “That guy is a key piece to this team, to this offence, a true leader in this locker room, so those are the guys who you want as part of the organization. There\u2019s a list of guys who are free agents who are obviously a massive piece to this team and are great voices in the locker room, and I think that\u2019s very crucial to winning football games.”<\/p>\n
One of those pending free agents was halfback Redha Kramdi, who signed a two-year contract extension on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtremely excited, that he got what he deserved, essentially, and that he’s back with us,\u201d Oliveira said. \u201cWe talked a ton throughout the last number of weeks about where his head was at, and just the importance of him being back here. He’s pretty much the heartbeat of that defence. He’s a voice on that defence. Essentially a coach out there. So, for him to sign back was a massive part for this team, for this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTE: Oliveira, who is a well-known dog rescuer, brought Gunnar, one of his four dogs, to the press conference, which is believed to be a first. <\/p>\n
“I love it. It\u2019s history, huh?” he said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: The Canadian Press WINNIPEG \u2014 Star CFL running back and pending free agent Brady Oliveira thought negotiations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-350322","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\/350322","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=350322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}