{"id":471319,"date":"2026-02-13T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/471319\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T01:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:00:18","slug":"that-eventually-bites-you-in-the-ass-winnipeg-blue-bombers-change-status-quo-in-cfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/471319\/","title":{"rendered":"‘That eventually bites you in the ass’: Winnipeg Blue Bombers change status quo in CFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Bob Butrym\/3DownNation. All rights reserved<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers appear to have gone all-in on winning the Grey Cup in 2026, which begs the question: why didn\u2019t they do the same thing last year?<\/p>\n

Winnipeg broke the bank in free agency, paying $250,000 for offensive lineman Jarell Broxton<\/a>, $235,000 for defensive lineman Jake Ceresna<\/a>, $222,000 for receiver Tim White<\/a>, $175,000 for receiver Tommy Nield<\/a>, and $135,000 for defensive back Jonathan Moxey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Broxton is now the CFL\u2019s highest-paid American offensive lineman, while Ceresna and White are among the league\u2019s highest-paid players at their respective positions. Though he\u2019ll earn less than fellow defensive backs Deatrick Nichols and Evan Holm, Moxey will be one of the league\u2019s highest-paid cornerbacks.<\/p>\n

This was the type of spending spree fans in Winnipeg were hoping for last year when the city hosted the Grey Cup for the first time in a decade. Instead, the team lost star receiver Kenny Lawler, blossoming offensive lineman Liam Dobson, and All-CFL defensive back Tyrell Ford to free agency without making the corresponding moves needed to replace them.<\/p>\n

The results were unacceptable for a team that has firmly established itself as the CFL\u2019s flagship franchise. After qualifying for five-straight Grey Cups and winning two of them, the Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division and promptly lost the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFourth place in the West wasn\u2019t good enough. With the bar that\u2019s been set around here \u2014 going to all the Grey Cups and winning the West those years \u2014 (we had) to take an honest look at ourselves and \u2026 admit that we weren\u2019t good enough on the field and we needed to change, we needed to improve,\u201d general manager Kyle Walters told the media on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go from first place for all those years to fourth place \u2014 the next slide is out of the playoffs and that\u2019s not something we were prepared to think is a realistic option, so, yes, let\u2019s be aggressive, let\u2019s get back to making a splash (in free agency). It\u2019s been a few years \u2014 we\u2019ve been quite status quo, to be honest, so it certainly was a concerted effort, an organizational effort, to be aggressive: let\u2019s target the guys we want and let\u2019s get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is that fine line of, \u2018We\u2019re winning, we\u2019re going to Grey Cups, status quo, status quo,\u2019 and that eventually bites you in the ass, and it did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers were still active in free agency in 2025, though their signings were more Perkins than Prada. The team paid $160,000 for defensive lineman James Vaughters, $150,000 for receiver Dillon Mitchell, $120,000 for linebacker Jonathan Jones, $110,000 for kick returner Peyton Logan, $90,000 for receiver Jerreth Sterns, and $90,000 for quarterback Shea Patterson.<\/p>\n

These players all have something in common: none of them are still with the team.<\/p>\n

Patterson was cut early in training camp, nullifying his contract. Logan was injured for most of the season, appearing in only three games. Mitchell was a healthy scratch for half the year and caught only 19 passes. Jones played three games but was mostly a healthy scratch before being released in September. Vaughters and Sterns were full-time starters but weren\u2019t re-signed and have since joined other squads.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers made other inexpensive additions, including defensive back Joshua Hagerty, defensive lineman Brock Gowanlock, and receivers Reggie White Jr. and Gavin Cobb, but only Cobb remains. The University of Manitoba product is expected to fill a depth role in a receiving corps that could start up to three Canadians this year.<\/p>\n

When asked how the team was able to afford this year\u2019s spending spree when money was tight in previous years, Walters pointed to how many healthy scratches the team had in 2025. In the CFL, healthy players can be stashed on the one-game injured list, though their earnings still count against the salary cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go back to managing the cap (the way) we did a few years ago,\u201d said Walters. \u201cMoney was allocated differently last year and we\u2019re going back to running the cap the way we have prior years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year, there was too many veteran guys in the building that weren\u2019t playing each week, that were being sat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the same fans who helped sell-out the entire 2025 regular-season <\/a>were forced to watch in horror when the Saskatchewan Roughriders, whose popularity in Manitoba is roughly on par with Donald Trump, hoisted the Grey Cup at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the Blue Bombers brass is determined to prevent that from happening again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe we\u2019re better (after making these additions in free agency). We\u2019re better heading into next year, I think we\u2019ve added some talent,\u201d said Walters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we needed to show the fans, the players in the locker room, everybody that last year wasn\u2019t good enough and for us just to stand pat or make minor moves, I don\u2019t think sends the right message of who we are as the Winnipeg Football Club \u2026 and showing them that last year was a blip, not the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Grey Cup is set for McMahon Stadium, the same place the Blue Bombers started their impressive run back in 2019.<\/p>\n

If their expensive free-agent haul pans out, they just might get back there come November.<\/p>\n

For a full breakdown of how Winnipeg\u2019s roster looks post-free agency \u2014 including a mock depth chart \u2014 click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Bob Butrym\/3DownNation. All rights reserved The Winnipeg Blue Bombers appear to have gone all-in on winning the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,22070,22936,49,48,7028,521,522,520,527,68627,182041,116856,46245,43335,191784,191785,82,171515,180627,191786,191787,22073],"class_list":["post-471319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-blue-bombers","tag-bombers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-football","tag-grey-cup","tag-jake-ceresna","tag-jarell-broxton","tag-jonathan-moxey","tag-kenny-lawler","tag-kyle-walters","tag-liam-dobson","tag-sports","tag-tim-white","tag-tommy-nield","tag-tyrell-ford","tag-walters","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471319","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=471319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}