{"id":772053,"date":"2026-06-30T23:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772053\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:06:15","slug":"need-to-know-week-5-at-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772053\/","title":{"rendered":"Need to Know | Week 5 at Hamilton"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no sense in complicating this, so Dru Brown won\u2019t even look at going down that road.<\/p>\n

The veteran quarterback was back in Winnipeg Blue Bombers colours Tuesday morning as the team returned to practice at Fort Garry Lions Field and it marks the start of a new chapter with the team that first brought him to the Canadian Football League.<\/p>\n

And so what happened in Ottawa \u2014 how he went from starter to being traded back to Winnipeg \u2014 is a topic he\u2019ll address in the right here and right now, but it\u2019s also all about keeping his eyes forward now with the Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust coming back and seeing all the guys has been pretty cool. In a way, it feels like I never left,\u201d he said after practice. \u201cIt was a lot of fun today and I\u2019m excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown did address some of the issues around his exit in this week\u2019s edition of The Handled Internally<\/a> podcast, with the summation of that chat in this story:<\/p>\n

Brown: \u201cI can\u2019t really express how excited we are.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In his media availability on Tuesday Brown hardly fanned the flames of his exit to create a potential talking point, instead acknowledging Ottawa RedBlacks GM and head coach Ryan Dinwiddie had every right to pull the trigger on a deal.<\/p>\n

He did push back slightly on the narrative his arm strength was an issue that led to the trade and the suggestion he was a distraction after Dinwiddie made the switch to Jake Maier at quarterback after one preseason game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said that it was an arm strength thing \u2014 that\u2019s what he told me,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThat\u2019s his opinion and he\u2019s entitled to that and he makes the calls over there. I wasn\u2019t his guy and that\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown confirmed that he asked for his release before he was dealt to the Blue Bombers for a 2027 first round pick in the CFL Canadian Draft and a conditional second-round selection. Asked if the RedBlacks said no to his request \u2014 ultimately they did and turned the situation into a couple high draft picks \u2014 Brown added:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that side of it too well. But I just know that if that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to do things then I would prefer to be elsewhere. Again, that was in private. Nothing ever got out of the room. But everything\u2019s all good. No issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s first stop in Winnipeg clearly was a major factor in his return. He\u2019s respected in the room for his skills as a player but also his knowledge of the offence and, just as important, his quality as a person. Those relationships were critical in Winnipeg pursuing the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved my time here and I created a lot of relationships with the whole operation here \u2014 teammates, management, coaches and all that. Obviously, you never know how those things are going to play out, but I\u2019m super happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Blue Bombers are thrilled to add him to a QB room that already features veteran Zach Collaros, promising rookie Taylor Elgersma and veteran Bryce Perkins, who has been dynamic in running the short-yardage package.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou add another smart guy like that into a good quarterback room already and I think you maybe add more opportunities,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n

As to whether the Blue Bombers are getting a guy now with a \u2018chip on his shoulder\u2019, O\u2019Shea added this:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that way. I think Dru is extremely emotionally intelligent. Now, he may say differently but what I see is a guy who has a high EQ and would be able to draw on other experiences. Now, in certain situations would he use that? I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s a question for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an emotionally intelligent man, so I don\u2019t know if he is carrying that extra baggage around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

NEW NEUFELD ARRIVALS: Pat Neufeld stepped in front of a swarm of media and began his session as if he was being grilled by a team of detectives.<\/p>\n

The veteran Blue Bombers guard was a late scratch for last week\u2019s loss to the Edmonton Elks. And, it turns out, he had a valid reason. A couple of them, actually.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to play the game, but my wife and I had twins, so it was a kind of an important family moment,\u201d began Neufeld after practice. \u201cI obviously wanted to be out there with the boys, but I had to be there for my wife. She did an unbelievable job and we have twins \u2014 a baby boy (Eli) and a baby girl (Rowan).\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the Neufeld\u2019s third child, as their older daughter 2 1\/2.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool. It\u2019s hard to put into words,\u201d said Neufeld. \u201cOur older daughter, I think she\u2019s more excited than we are. When she first met them in the hospital she just kind of sloughed mom and dad off to the side and said, \u2018Where\u2019s my baby brother and sister?\u2019 right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, pretty powerful. Pretty cool. I\u2019m extremely proud of my wife and very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s it going to be like going from having one child to now three under the age of three?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what everyone is saying now,\u201d Neufeld said. \u201cWe\u2019re going from man coverage to zone coverage pretty quick, but we have a tremendous support system.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy in-laws are in town staying at our house and my mom and dad moved to Winnipeg a couple years ago to help out and now they\u2019re definitely helping out. We have a full house right now but it\u2019s definitely awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

FYI: The Blue Bombers practice did feature a pair of players who did not finish last week\u2019s loss to the Edmonton Elks in full gear in WR Pokey Wilson and DT Jake Ceresna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no sense in complicating this, so Dru Brown won\u2019t even look at going down that road. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-772053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772053","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=772053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}