{"id":568153,"date":"2026-03-29T07:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/568153\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T07:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:06:26","slug":"cfl-combine-week-the-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/568153\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL Combine Week | The Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 It\u2019s late on a Friday night \u2014 not last-call late, but well into the evening \u2014 and the men collecting all the key intel for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the upcoming 2026 Canadian Football League Draft have all gathered in GM Kyle Walters\u2019 hotel room for an information-sharing meeting.<\/p>\n

Head coach Mike O\u2019Shea is there, along with assistant coaches Mike Miller and Jake Thomas, Senior Director of Player Personnel Eric Deslauriers and Director of Football Operations Matt Gulakow along with Senior VP of Team Strategy and Public Relations Darren Cameron \u2014 all fresh from conducting over 40 one-on-one interviews with prospects in two separate rooms here at the CFL Combine.<\/p>\n

There are more similar interviews planned for Saturday night but on Friday yours truly was invited to take in the meeting as part of a behind-the-scenes look at a critical part of the Combine process. Indeed, while a player\u2019s film earns him an invitation to this national evaluation camp and his testing numbers and work on the field over three practices sessions this weekend are massive part in an overall ranking, the interview \u2014 something only the participants themselves witness \u2014 remains an important component.<\/p>\n

A player can be an all-star in college and throw up great numbers in testing, but if red flags pop up in the interview, scheduled to run a maximum of 15 minutes, it can be crushing. The reverse is also true, with some players so impressing a coaching staff in their conversation their stock could then skyrocket.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a job interview,\u201d explained Walters. It\u2019s, \u2018Are you trying to impress?\u2019 because it\u2019s more than just football. Are you going to try to be part of our team, or are you just going to be a football player? We really like to find the guys who are good football players who are going to be good teammates on top of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re still looking at everything, but the interview is like a check \u2014 it\u2019s, \u2018This good football player is a good dude. Check.\u2019 Or it could be, \u2018This good football player is probably not, and would not be a good fit.\u2019 Uncheck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers have done hours upon hours of information gathering before the prospect interviews, from watching film, to networking with coaches. Included in the interviews are academic and injury-history questions, along with checking on a potential arrest history or legal issues.<\/p>\n

There are then game clips brought up on a monitor to ask a prospect about certain situations \u2014 occasionally including mistakes or iffy effort plays. All of that can help provide the information about a player\u2019s potential transition from college to the professional ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to absolutely hear some higher-level football IQ. You want to be able to hear them talk the game, see something, understand it and be able to regurgitate it,\u201d said O\u2019Shea. \u201cIf they teach you something about what they know about football, then they\u2019re ahead of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is the be all and end all, right? I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s anything you\u2019re going to hear that is an absolute, where it\u2019s, \u2018This is the determining factor.\u2019 It\u2019s all a collection of data.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Friday night\u2019s meeting in Walters\u2019 room involved a player-by-player post-interview breakdown. Who stood out and why? And who didn\u2019t and why.<\/p>\n

An example of some of the commentary \u2014 not including the prospect\u2019s name or the Blue Bomber staffer uttering it \u2014 to protect the integrity of the meeting:<\/p>\n

-\u201cSerious guy, but a good dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cOne of those guys who fishes, hunts and fights on the weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cSeems look a good kid, I\u2019m just not sure he\u2019s a pro.\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cHe hasn\u2019t played for long, but he\u2019s a likeable guy. Super mature for his age. He\u2019ll be successful in whatever he does. Big mitts \u2014 how about the handshake on that guy?\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cHe\u2019s put on eight pounds since we saw him at CGS (College Gridiron Showcase). Added a Blue Bomber staffer: \u2018Yeah, well, so have I.’\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cHe said he would definitely take a PR spot. He wants to play football and does not want to go back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cI wrote \u2018No\u2019 in my book. Straight up. No chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

-\u201cLove the kid. He\u2019s amazing. Super smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just for the record, not every CFL Draft prospect is interviewed here by the Blue Bombers. Winnipeg products like Trae Tomlinson (Louisiana-Lafayette), Nathan Carabatsakis (Robert Morris University) or Gio Vaccaro (Purdue) and University of Manitoba Bisons like Nathan Udoh and Victor Olaniran, will get their interviews with the club in Winnipeg when the time constraints aren\u2019t so limiting.<\/p>\n

The team will also conduct Zoom interviews with all the NCAA prospects who opted to pass on the CFL Combine after attending \u2014 or planning to attend \u2014 their own Pro Days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy this aspect of the CFL Combine \u2014 just talking football with these guys,\u201d said Walters. \u201cWe like to find out things like is he a good dude? Will he fit in our room? Does he really, really know his football, which is key because it makes it less of an adjustment to pro football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember way back not long after we started this and we had Sukh Chungh in for an interview (he would be selected second overall by the club in 2015). We put some film on, and he jumped up out of his seat because he was so excited to talk football while we watched film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a couple like that last night where they popped out of their seats and you could see the excitement they had talking football. That\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Again, as O\u2019Shea said the CFL Combine interview is not the be all and end all.<\/p>\n

Sure as hell can\u2019t hurt to crush it though, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a handful of guys that leave you feeling really good about being here,\u201d O\u2019Shea said with a wide smile. \u201cThey hammer home the fact that these young guys are in a good spot. There\u2019s going to be a new crop of guys that come up and contribute and play to great teams and are going to be great teammates who are going to part of winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a pile of guys every year that you interview that really make you feel good about what you\u2019re doing. Some of these players have the world in their hands. They are on the cusp of doing something they\u2019ve dreamed about. Witnessing their excitement as they are on this journey, that can fill the room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 It\u2019s late on a Friday night \u2014 not last-call late, but well into the evening \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-568153","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\/568153","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=568153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}