The CFL is back, and we’re looking at a team a day leading up to regular-season kickoff on June 23. Today, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
It was the first day of CFL free agency and Andrew Harris was buzzing. The national running back had put pen to paper on a three-year deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and tweeted out his excitement: “I’m coming home PegCity!!!”
But his friends were less optimistic. They told the Manitoba native and former BC Lion that his new team “sucks.” Winnipeg had scored a league-low 309 points on offence in 2015, and as a result missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Harris doesn’t see that continuing. “We’re not going to suck,” the 29-year-old says confidently. “That was in the past. We’re a different team.”
That they are. In December the team kickstarted their off-season makeover by replacing offensive coordinator Marcel Bellefueille with former Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice. A month later they inked a deal with departed Saskatchewan receiver Weston Dressler. And on the same day they added Harris, Winnipeg grabbed Ryan Smith as part of a new-look receiving corps, giving another new option for returning quarterback Drew Willy.
So the pieces are there. But in order to change the perception of the Bombers with those around the league—and Harris’s friends—all of the stars on offence know it’s vital that they mesh quickly. “We don’t have the luxury of a transition period,” Willy says. “We gotta win from the get-go.”
| Team outlook | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
|---|---|
| 2015 record | 5-13 (4th in West) |
| Incoming players | Andrew Harris (RB), Weston Dressler (WR), Ryan Smith (SB), Justin Medlock (K/P) |
| Outgoing players | Nick Moore (SB), Lirim Hajrullahu (K/P), Graig Newman (LB), Demond Washington (DB) |
Aiding the new teammates in that regard is their existing familiarity with and respect for each other. Willy, Harris, Dressler and Smith—the four pillars on which the new offence will be built—all have spent their entire careers out West, going toe-to-toe on several occasions.
“Drew definitely has all the tools to be an all-star-calibre quarterback in this league,” Dressler says.
For his part, Willy thinks the addition of Harris, the No. 1 running back free agent this past off-season, will make things easier on him and his new receivers.
“It’s going to be awesome to get a consistent running game,” Willy says. “We have guys that can blow the roof off the top.”
That mutual respect for the skills each player brings to the offence sets a foundation for the group to foster trusting relationships. And Harris plans to continue building that trust off the field.
“I want to get these guys over to the house and have barbecues,” the Canadian running back says. “Any successful team I’ve been on—whether it was high school, junior football or in the CFL—we had a good group of guys that were really tight.”
More 2016 CFL season previews: BC Lions; Calgary Stampeders; Edmonton Eskimos; Saskatchewan Roughriders; Hamilton Tiger-Cats; Toronto Argonauts; Ottawa Redblacks; keep checking back for more as the regular season approaches
As the players bond, it’ll be LaPolice’s job to ensure the offence becomes a high-scoring, explosive unit and meets newly formed expectations.
The 45-year-old football lifer, who spent the last three seasons as a broadcaster, knows Dressler well from their time together in Saskatchewan. In Dressler’s first season in 2008, the diminutive receiver earned CFL Most Outstanding Rookie honours, catching 56 balls for 1,123 yards and six touchdowns. He followed that campaign with 62 receptions for 941 yards and four majors in 2009. Both of those years LaPolice was the Riders’ offensive coordinator.
“He was instrumental to me as a young player coming into the league,” Dressler says about LaPolice. “Working with him I learned a lot about the CFL and how the game works.
“[And] he’ll be good with the number of different weapons we’re going to have on offence this year, being able to utilize all of those and keep defences on their heels.”
As far as offensive strategy goes, LaPolice doesn’t plan on resting on what he’s done in the past. He used the time away from full-time coaching to keep up with the latest trends in the game, and the players seem intrigued with the X’s and O’s they’ve seen.
“Looking at the playbook and seeing how they’re going to use us, there is going to be a lot of opportunities for us to make plays,” Harris says.
On the other side of the ball, Richie Hall enters his second season in Winnipeg as the defensive schemer. In his first year at the helm, the Bombers gave up the second-most points and yards in the league, finishing in the bottom three in both run and pass defence.
To boost the unit, they added veteran interior defensive linemen Euclid Cummings and Keith Shologan, and defensive back Macho Harris. Plus, the Bombers grabbed defensive end and freak athlete Trent Corney with the ninth-overall pick in the 2016 draft.
Winnipeg suffered some close losses in 2015 that could’ve been wins if field goals were made, which made the signing of the CFL’s most accurate kicker—Justin Medlock—a top priority.
It was one of the busiest off-seasons in the league. Based on the names alone—and their expectations of themselves—the fan base in Winnipeg has reason for excitement.
“My goal is to get us in the playoffs,” Harris says. “That alone will be huge.”