{"id":638602,"date":"2026-04-30T13:07:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638602\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:07:21","slug":"walters-blue-bombers-cfl-canadian-draft-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638602\/","title":{"rendered":"Walters: Blue Bombers CFL Canadian Draft takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

All across the Canadian Football League today GMs, head coaches and personnel types are still riding the post CFL Canadian Draft high.<\/p>\n

There are high-fives and fist bumps galore and the usual euphoria that comes with rookie camps coming next week and main training camp opening on May 10th.<\/p>\n

So, in that regard the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are no different \u2014 GM Kyle Walters admitted as much in his media session on Wednesday \u2014 yet there is a feeling in Bomberland they put check marks by all the items on their draft to-do list.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers first-round pick Nuer Gatkuoth<\/p>\n

\u201cLike every team this morning, we\u2019re feeling good,\u201d began Walters in his opening.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a wide group of guys that touched on a little bit of everything for our roster. We certainly feel that our roster improved after last night and there will be some real strong competition in training camp, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire media session with Walters is here, FYI:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And here we break it down further with his thoughts on each of the picks and more\u2026<\/p>\n

NUER GATKUOTH<\/p>\n

Defensive end<\/p>\n

Round 1, fourth overall<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers grabbed the Wake Forest defensive end with their first pick and hope to see him around the opening of main camp next week after he attends rookie minicamp with the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n

He does not have a contract with Denver, FYI, and would give the Blue Bombers more defensive ratio flexibility in certain packages. Winnipeg currently starts two Canadians on defence in dime Redha Kramdi and defensive tackle Cam Lawson.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s explosive off the edge,\u201d said Walters. \u201cHe can get after the quarterback.\u00a0We just haven\u2019t had that Canadian edge guy to add in a bit for the ratio purposes. We\u2019re excited to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

DANTE DANIELS<\/p>\n

Tight end<\/p>\n

Round 2, 10th overall<\/p>\n

The pick that has generated the most buzz around the league and with Blue Bombers fans. Winnipeg made a minor deal with Ottawa to move up three spots to get a guy they began studying in detail last fall and clearly fell in love with because of his size (6-5, 272), potential and skillset.<\/p>\n

They expect Daniels to drop a bit of weight and still be able to handle defensive ends in their jumbo package and offer more of a receiving threat in that set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to have the receiving threat while being able to run the two-back system is pretty interesting for offensive coordinators,\u201d Walters explained. \u201cWhen we would run Tui (Eli) in as an offensive lineman, teams didn\u2019t give that respect from a pass game and we were pretty predictable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way our offence is built with the best running back in the league and trying to get him as many touches as possible, the ability to be able to run the ball with that type of blocking AND have defences have to honour the passing game more than they have had to in the past is real interesting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s Walters on why they were aggressive in making the move to move up on a player who had been getting a lot of buzz in the days and hours leading up to draft night:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to that point and there\u2019s just a guy that we really, really, really wanted. We had talks with a bunch of teams in front of us that were willing to jump up and get this guy. It was just one of those moments\u2026 it was, \u2018F it. Let\u2019s just go get the guy. We\u2019ll worry about it later.\u2019 We\u2019ve picked up extra draft picks in the second round throughout the years. Let\u2019s be aggressive \u2014 we\u2019re not normally aggressive in those ways \u2014 but we just felt that strongly about this guy and how unique a piece he is because if we didn\u2019t get him and his skillset there really wasn\u2019t another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEVIN CLINE<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Offensive line<\/p>\n

Round 2, 20th overall<\/p>\n

The big (6-7, 32) offensive tackle from Boston College has signed as an undrafted free agent with the Miami Dolphins so he is essentially a \u2018futures\u2019 pick for the club as a guy who may become available in September or, at the latest, next year.<\/p>\n

Cline is American by birth, but his mom is Canadian and his father played for Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really, really liked his film,\u201d said Walters. \u201cThe more we talked to him and the more educated he became on the CFL it seemed like an option for him. He\u2019s got some interest from the Dolphins. You do your due diligence on the amount that the players get to sign these deals and where they go and talking to the teams\u2026 it just seemed like at that pick it was a pretty good risk\/reward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we see him later on this year or even next year it will be well worth the wait for a player who has the ability to play tackle and at the very least with his size and aggression can slide down to a guard for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHARLES-ELLIOTT BOULIANE<\/p>\n

Linebacker<\/p>\n

Round 3, 24th overall<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been compared to Shayne Gauthier as a player who could get reps on defence but most certainly will make an impact on special teams.<\/p>\n

Walters: \u201cHe was, in our opinion, the best special-teams player. He plays the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

ETHAN STUART<\/p>\n

Defensive back<\/p>\n

Round 4, 33rd overall<\/p>\n

Smart prospect \u2014 engineering student \u2014 who popped out for the Blue Bombers at the College Gridiron Showcase over the winter.<\/p>\n

Walters: \u201cHe\u2019s very interesting. Not a ton of football background by a big athlete. With all that JY (Jordan Younger, defensive coordinator) does, Ethan is a pretty unique piece with his size and the way he moves. I think he\u2019s got a real, real big upside.\u201d<\/p>\n

BRODY CLARK<\/p>\n

Linebacker<\/p>\n

Round 5, 42nd overall<\/p>\n

A converted receiver from his junior days who got a high recommendation from his coach at York University, one-time Blue Bomber Dexter Janke.<\/p>\n

\u201cDexter spoke the world of him,\u201d said Walters. \u201cThey (York) switch him to DB and the first quarter at York he blocks a punt, makes a special teams tackle and then goes on and plays defence and led the conference in tackles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe watched the film and there\u2019s just something different about the way this guy moves. It\u2019s hard to explain but there\u2019s just something unique about the way that guy runs around.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEN BRITTON<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Receiver<\/p>\n

Round 6, 42nd overall<\/p>\n

Opted to step away from football last year but his name came up at the CFL Combine in Edmonton last March. The Blue Bombers were intrigued enough to fly him in for a private workout and he showed the skills that made him a Canada West All-Star in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very impressed with what we saw,\u201d said Walters. \u201cHe\u2019s a very interesting guy who, I believe if he had played this year would have been in the mix with the other receivers who got picked a little higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s your old-school traditional slotback \u2014 a 6-3, 210-pound guy, uses the Waggle very well, he\u2019s physical, he can block. He\u2019s just a big body who reminds me of (Mike) Morreale back in my day \u2014 a big guy that maybe doesn\u2019t overwhelm you with anything but just seems to get open and catch footballs.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOSH JACK<\/p>\n

Receiver<\/p>\n

Round 7, 60th overall<\/p>\n

Walters: \u201cSteve Sumarah (St. Mary\u2019s Huskies head coach) and I go way back and he said there\u2019s something unique about this guy and he was right. There\u2019s a unique smoothness to him and where we got him, we were really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

BRADY LIDSTER<\/p>\n

Kicker<\/p>\n

Round 8, 69th overall<\/p>\n

Windsor kicker who hails from the same hometown as Walters \u2014 St. Thomas, Ont.<\/p>\n

Walters: \u201cStrong, strong leg. He can punt and he can kick and being around pros will be really good for him. Being around Serge and Jamieson will be really good for this guy\u2019s development. He does have that strong leg that you cannot coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers also made two selections in Wednesday\u2019s two-round CFL Global Draft.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Round 1, 4th overall: Edward Vesterinen, DE<\/p>\n

Finnish product who played his college ball at West Virginia and will attending rookie minicamp with the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n

He appeared in 47 games at West Virginia, making 28 starts, and had 77 tackles, including 28 solo stops, 6.5 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

Walters: \u201cHis film is really interesting. He reminds me of (Jake) Ceresna \u2014 just a 100 miles an hour lunatic, Tasmanian devil in a really positive way for a big man who just plays the right way.<\/p>\n

Round 2, 13th overall: Keegan Andrews, P<\/p>\n

An Aussie punter who played his college ball at Massachusetts and attended the CFL\u2019s offseason kicking showcase. He was First-Team All-MAC with the Minutemen after transferring from Texas A&M and averaged 46.5 yards per punt while placing 26 of his 69 punts inside the opponent\u2019s 20-yard line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All across the Canadian Football League today GMs, head coaches and personnel types are still riding the post…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-638602","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\/638602","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=638602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}