{"id":489084,"date":"2026-02-21T03:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489084\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:41:15","slug":"1st-10-blue-notes-and-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/489084\/","title":{"rendered":"1st & 10 | Blue Notes and Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the entire Canadian Football League has had a chance to exhale after the crazy stretch earlier this month which featured the free agency negotiation window and then the opening of the talent market, a few thoughts as it relates to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers\u2026<\/p>\n

First, here are some still TBD questions for the club with rookie camps schedule to open on May 6th, followed by main camp on May 9th.<\/p>\n

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-What happens next with Canadian quarterback Taylor Elgersma, a second-round selection by the Blue Bombers in last year\u2019s CFL Draft?<\/p>\n

Justin Dunk of 3Down Nation reported this week<\/a> that the big QB will be attending the National Football League Combine next week in Indianapolis. Just to be clear, Elgersma has been invited to be involved as an extra arm, not as a formal participant after he already passed through last year\u2019s NFL Draft and attended training camp with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

It will give Elgersma more exposure to NFL eyes, though, after he has had looks from the Packers, New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers. He was also selected by the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL\u2019s quarterback draft.<\/p>\n

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In short, as Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters has said repeatedly, Elgersma is chasing every four-down option possible right now \u2014 as is his right \u2014 and while he exhausts that it does leave Winnipeg\u2019s QB picture a bit fuzzy.<\/p>\n

The club has Collaros under contract, along with last year\u2019s returnees Terry Wilson and Chase Artopoeus along with former UFL MVP Bryce Perkins \u2014 he also dressed for five games and made one start for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 \u2014 and former Auburn\/Michigan State starter Payton Thorne. Management is comfortable rolling with that crew behind Collaros, but getting Elgersma \u2014 the Hec Crighton winner as the top player in Canadian college football in 2024 with Wilfrid Laurier \u2014 in camp would obviously add to the competition.<\/p>\n

-Who will fill the receivers coach role on Mike O\u2019Shea\u2019s coaching staff?<\/p>\n

There have been some changes to last year\u2019s crew, with Jake Thomas retiring to replace Darrell Patterson as the defensive line coach, with Tommy Condell now the offensive coordinator\/QB coach and Jason Hogan returning to his role as the running backs coach.<\/p>\n

That leaves the receivers coach position still to be filled. No timeline on that yet.<\/p>\n

-What happens at the one cornerback spot seemingly available in the secondary?<\/p>\n

The addition of veteran corner Jonathan Moxey, ex of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders, clearly fills one spot. Now we can add another in the fight for the other cornerback position \u2014 on Friday the club added veteran Deandre Lamont (5-9, 185; Illinois State). He spent the last three years with the Ottawa RedBlacks, starting 39 games over that span.<\/p>\n

-How does the free agent haul impact the Canadian ratio?<\/p>\n

This won\u2019t be officially decided until training camp is put to bed, but signing Jarell Broxton to play right tackle and landing Canadian receiver Tommy Nield seemingly gives the club some options to use three Americans across the offensive line and start three homegrown players in the receiving corps with Nield, Nic Demski and a third spot to be contested between Kevens Clercius, Joey Corcoran, Gavin Cobb and, possibly, a 2026 CFL Draft pick.<\/p>\n

FYI, the CFL\u2019s National Combine will be in Edmonton in late March, and the Blue Bombers currently have the fourth overall selection.<\/p>\n

More notes and quotes in this week\u2019s edition of 1st & 10\u2026<\/p>\n

Some leftovers\u2026 from the media session with Collaros earlier this week that didn\u2019t make our initial story, which can be found here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Collaros said he\u2019s had input and conversations about Condell\u2019s offensive playbook, which is clearly key after some of the frustration felt on that side of the ball last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a process of just kind of building what we want it to look like because every quarterback\u2019s different, every set of personnel is different,\u201d said Collaros. \u201cObviously, (Condell) doesn\u2019t want to do exactly what they were doing in Ottawa or exactly what they were doing in Hamilton (his last two stops before joining the Bue Bombers) and things have definitely changed from what we were doing in 2014 and 2015 in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut really right now it\u2019s just getting the terminology down and what makes the most sense to be able to communicate it to the entire unit. And then you get into, \u2018Okay, what concepts do you like? What concepts do YOU like?\u2019 Does it fit what defences have been doing the last two, three years? And then trying to marry all that stuff together.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously we\u2019ve had a great deal of success running the football here. So how can we continue that and marry the play-action game with that? And what\u2019s the best way of doing that? So, between the meetings of trying to figure out what the playbook is going to look like, also doing your own film work of the PFF (Pro Football Focus) stuff, trying to watch the NFL, what some of their play-action game was \u2013 this is not something that\u2019s just unique to me or him. I\u2019m sure every team does this. But that\u2019s kind of what the process looks like in the off-season. Trying to watch what they were doing down there, what was successful up here last season and maybe the season before? Can we adopt some of that stuff and steal, because everything is basically stealing from each other anyways, and how we can make it better?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s been a lot of fun. And yeah, really looking forward to the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sad tale from Drew Wolitarsky\u2019s media session on Thursday \u2014 that piece is here<\/a> \u2014 about his connection with former Hamilton Tiger-Cats GM Ted Goveia, the long-time Blue Bombers assistant GM who passed away last year after bringing several players with Winnipeg ties to Steeltown.<\/p>\n

\u201cTed Goveia\u2026 if it weren\u2019t for Ted I probably would have been done at that point,\u201d said Wolitarsky after being released by the Blue Bombers last winter. \u201cBut Ted was very excited. He called me the next day and was like, \u2018Dude, I want you here in Hamilton. You\u2019re going to be my first signing as the GM.\u2019 I was excited about that. I love Ted. He\u2019s been my guy in Winnipeg for all these years\u2026 I\u2019m going to do this for Ted and for my family. I think this could be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolitarsky said that it was late in training camp last year when Goveia asked to see him in his office.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my God, am I about to get cut?\u2019 I don\u2019t even have a Plan B. I\u2019m stressing out,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI\u2019m sitting there and he\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, can you sit over here?\u2019 so that he\u2019s not facing the window now. He\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to cut you.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Oh my God, Ted, I\u2019m (expletive deleted) stressing here. What\u2019s going on?\u2019 It just goes quiet for a second and he goes, \u2018Drew, I\u2019m dying. Stage 4. Gastro cancer.\u2019 That\u2019s just kind of how the year was, man. It was just bad news after bad news after bad news. Injury\u2026 stupid little injury here, stupid little injury there. I\u2019m about to get my starting role on Day 3 and get hurt. It was just one thing after the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to visit Teddy because I haven\u2019t heard from him for a while and he\u2019s been in out of the office. He was looking frail and he fell down at one point in the office. So, I got to visit him and he\u2019s not well. It\u2019s when Winnipeg was in town on \u2018Ted Night\u2019, that week. I go over there and I\u2019m playing some guitar for him and he\u2019s just not even there. It was scary. Osh (Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea) came by, Danny McManus came by. Next morning I go on a talk show to promote him, promote the game and I get a call from his sister on the way home \u2014 Ted passed this morning on Ted Day. I was like, \u2018Oh my God.\u2019 We ended up winning the game for Ted. It was a beautiful night. But it was just a sad year. I went through a lot mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who may have missed it and want to listen in to Wolitarsky\u2019s press conference after signing a one-day contract to retire as a Blue Bomber, here it is in all its glory:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We also cranked out another \u2018Handled Internally\u2019 podcast this week with Jamieson Sheahan joining myself, Darren Cameron and Collaros. That can be found here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And, finally, our content team has been busy this week. This was cool\u2026<\/p>\n

He\u2019s played with some. Studied them all.<\/p>\n

Zach Collaros builds the ultimate CFL QB.#ForTheW<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/O8pi2na858<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n