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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4263926_web1_260508-Bombers-00252.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager Kyle Walters sent the No. 13 pick and a second-round selection in 2026 to Ottawa to move up to No. 10 to ensure the club was able to draft tight end Dante Daniels (73).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d sell them for five cents a piece to try to get stuff,\u201d Daniels told the Free Press earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to be some sort of presence at the house. And I just didn\u2019t have rides to school either so I kind of pushed school aside to focus on my family first.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one would blame Daniels if he were bitter about the hand he was dealt. But he isn\u2019t. In fact, he\u2019s grateful for those tumultuous times.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old tight end from Windsor, Ont., was selected in the second round, 10th overall, by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in last month\u2019s CFL Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had everything handed to me growing up and I didn\u2019t go through any struggles, I feel like I wouldn\u2019t have the work ethic that I have today,\u201d said Daniels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to prove to kids that come from struggles that they can make it. I want people to be like, \u2018Hey, look up to him, he\u2019s done it and made a life for himself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniels is the third oldest of six children. When he was seven, his biological father, Edward, left the family and moved to Detroit. By the time Daniels started high school, his two oldest siblings had already moved out, and his biological mother, Danielle, was also in the process of relocating to Detroit.<\/p>\n
When Joel and Jennifer Fillion heard Daniels had nowhere to call home, they welcomed him into theirs. Their oldest son, Paul, had grown up playing T-ball with Daniels, and the two quickly became close friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Look, you\u2019ve always got a place to stay at our place,\u2019\u201d said Joel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe funny thing is we only had a two-bedroom house with two teenage boys in the house. We were like, \u2018There\u2019s always room on the couch.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Daniels was 16, the Fillions received a phone call informing them that Danielle was in the hospital after overdosing. Shortly afterward, the Fillions registered to become his legal guardians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey definitely didn\u2019t have to do what they did,\u201d said Daniels. \u201cThey\u2019re amazing people.\u201d<\/p>\n
To make things official, they built a triple-bunk bed to accommodate Daniels, Paul and their youngest son, Joseph.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to let his former home life be an obstacle,\u201d said Joel. \u201c\u2018You have the ultimate control. I\u2019m gonna give you the tools that you need \u2014 you\u2019ve got a place to stay, you can do your homework here,\u2019 we got him a cell phone and did all those things \u2013 and, \u2018You just got to deliver on your end.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI consider him my kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of what was happening in his life, sports became an escape for Daniels. He excelled in baseball \u2014 \u201cI say to this day that I was the best pitcher in Windsor,\u201d he claims \u2014 and basketball before eventually turning his full attention to football.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Bombers tight end Dante Daniels foster family, the Fillions, fully intend on making the trip to Winnipeg in the near future for a game. From left: Dante Daniels\u2019 foster brother Joseph, foster father Joel, Delaney (foster brother Paul\u2019s girlfriend), foster brother Paul, Charlee (Delaney and Paul\u2019s daughter), foster mother Jennifer, Reagan (Dante\u2019s wife) and Winnipeg Blue Bomber Daniels.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would never know that he had all these outside distractions going on at that time,\u201d said Matt Bauer, his football coach at F.J. Brennan Catholic High School.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many times he tried to help his mom. And, obviously, it never kind of worked out the way he wanted it to. But he always sees the good in people, and he always wants better for those around him. He makes you realize as an educator that you do have influence on these kids\u2019 lives, and they have an influence on us. You get into coaching, you get into teaching for kids like Dante.<\/p>\n \u201cI would let my daughter marry him,\u201d Bauer added. \u201cHe\u2019s that kind of kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Theo Johnson, a tight end for the New York Giants who was born in Winnipeg but grew up in Windsor, encouraged Daniels to take the game more seriously. The two played summer league football together for the Essex Ravens.<\/p>\n \u201cIn high school I realized I was actually better than the competition in my hometown,\u201d said Daniels. \u201cAnd Theo was telling me, \u2018Hey, you can take football far. You have the talent and skills, you just need the work ethic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Once under the Fillions\u2019 roof, Daniels became a straight-A student. However, all those earlier absences had damaged his GPA, leading him to take the junior college route.<\/p>\n He spent three years at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., before playing at the NCAA Division I level for North Carolina State (2024-25).<\/p>\n Early in his time at Butler, Daniels told his American host family that he wanted to drop out. A surprise visit from the Fillions quickly changed his outlook. He went on to make the Dean\u2019s Honour Roll with a 90 per cent average.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore we left, my wife hugged him and said, \u2018You\u2019re not welcome home until you graduate,\u2019\u201d said Joel. \u201cIt was one of those things where we wanted him to work it out.\u201d<\/p>\n At N.C. State, Daniels built a reputation as a ferocious blocker.<\/p>\n \u201cI like how I can legally hit someone as hard as I want and force my will on them,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n With that mindset \u2014 and his size at six-foot-five and more than 270 pounds \u2014 the Bombers saw a prospect oozing with potential. Teams rarely trade up in the CFL Draft, but general manager Kyle Walters did just that to land Daniels. Winnipeg sent the No. 13 pick and a second-round selection in 2026 to Ottawa to move up to No. 10 and ensure they got their guy.<\/p>\n In fact, the Bombers even uploaded a video to social media from the team\u2019s draft room in which an enthusiastic Walters dropped more than a few expletives while celebrating the move.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just don\u2019t see guys like that, bodies like that (in the CFL Draft),\u201d Walters told reporters afterwards.<\/p>\n For Daniels, it was a surreal moment.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Winnipeg Blue Bombers tight end Dante Daniels became a straight-A student once he was under his foster family\u2019s roof. From left: Dante Daniels, Daniels\u2019 foster brother Joseph, foster mother Jennifer, faster father Joel and foster brother Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to prove to them that they picked me for a reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He got his first taste of pro action last Saturday in Saskatoon, when the Bombers opened the pre-season with a 31-27 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He\u2019ll get another tune-up tonight when the Bombers host the B.C. Lions in their pre-season finale (7:30 p.m. kickoff).<\/p>\n Daniels\u2019 loved ones proudly watched the stream of his CFL debut, including Edward, with whom he has reconnected, and his grandmother on his mother\u2019s side, who did the best she could to support him and his siblings over the years. He does not currently have a relationship with Danielle, but hopes she can overcome her addiction so they can reconnect in the future.<\/p>\n His grandmother passed away earlier this week.<\/p>\n \u201cShe got to watch it before she passed. My dad was telling me that he thinks she was waiting to watch my first pre-season game,\u201d said Daniels, who currently resides in Wichita, Kan., with his wife, Reagan.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she commented on my picture (on Facebook) an hour before she passed saying, \u2018I love you,\u2019 so I\u2019ll have that to cherish forever.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fillions fully intend on making the trip to Winnipeg in the near future for a game.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cObviously it\u2019s great and hopefully he makes the team and is considered a pro athlete, but I think the bigger thing for me is the fact he\u2019s been able to persevere,\u201d said Joel.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what makes me the proudest.\u201d<\/p>\n The selflessness Daniels once showed helping hold his family together is the same mentality he now hopes to bring to the Bombers.<\/p>\n \u201cI want us to win a Grey Cup really bad. I don\u2019t care if I\u2019m on the field, off the field, I want to help this team succeed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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