Interesting article from today's free press:

The image on the big screen in Kyle Walters' office is paused momentarily, frozen on one of the receiving prospects the Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager is evaluating for this spring's Canadian Draft.

And the brown uniforms and gold helmets eliminate any doubt as to who is under the microscope at the moment: University of Manitoba Bisons slotback Nic Demski.

"He's a stud," said Walters. "A stud, stud, stud. There's three receivers from the draft -- Demski, Lemar Durant from Simon Fraser and Addison Richards from Regina -- who could come in here and wouldn't be out of place competing for a starting spot, in my opinion."

It's here the debate is unfolding in the Bomber football offices, a discussion that will only be further fuelled when assistant GM/director of player personnel Ted Goveia, assistant GM/director of U.S. scouting Danny McManus and national scout Drew Morris arrive in Winnipeg on Monday to begin fine-tuning the team's preparations for the draft, in advance of the three regional player combines and the main evaluation camp later this month.

The draft is scheduled for May 12.

And the meat of the discussion goes something like this:

Should the Bombers grab an offensive lineman with the second overall pick they own, or go against the grain and nab a receiver, then hope that a draft deep in O-linemen will still serve up a solid prospect when they pick again at Nos. 11 and 15? Or even move down in the first round via trade and hope to land another later pick in a deep draft?

"The conventional wisdom is always O-line, O-line, O-line," said Walters. "The guard we would draft at No. 2 would be picked just because this is what you do: draft and develop offensive linemen. So you draft the O-lineman at No. 2... he's going to be good and you let him compete this year and you add some depth. Maybe in a year or two he's playing.

"But then because it's such a good draft, you could also bite the bullet this year and say, 'We got (Dominic) Picard in free agency. We feel comfortable with Picard, (Chris) Greaves, (Patrick) Neufeld and Matthias (Goossen). Three of them are going to be playing.

"So what if we went with the best football player with our first pick?"

Now, as much as the tried-and-true blueprint is to always draft O-linemen early, there could be some merit for the Bombers to go against the grain with the second pick. They plan to start two Canadians in their receiving corps -- Rory Kohlert and Julian Feoli-Gudino -- and traded Cory Watson and the 26th pick to Saskatchewan for homegrown prospect Kris Bastien, the rights to a neg-list player and the 15th selection. Kurt Goodrich and Ezra Millington, two other Canadian receivers, will also be in camp.

Granted, there isn't a Gerald Wilcox among that crew -- he was the last Canadian Bomber receiver to finish with more than 1,000 yards, way back in 1995 -- but landing another Canadian who could possibly start much more quickly than an offensive lineman would give the Bombers considerably more roster flexibility.

As it stands, the club's seven Canadian starters would come along the O-line (3), at receiver (2), linebacker (1) and cornerback (1).

"It's such a great draft and we're going to get a good one at No. 2 if we pick an O-lineman," said Walters.

"But none of them are going to come in and have you saying, 'Slam dunk, this kid is going to be better than Greaves, Picard, or Neufeld or Matthias.' There are a bunch of them that are going to be like Matthias -- good solid prospects that will be good pros. But they need some development.

"(Receiver) is a position where we could keep loading up. Since Cory (selected ninth in 2010), we really haven't spent any draft picks on receivers. All of this has sparked a ton of debate."

BLUE 'TO-DO' LIST

The Bombers still have some big-time holes on their depth chart and hope to find some plugs at next month's free-agent camp in Florida. Some of the numbers:

14 receivers are coming to the mini-c six would likely be invited to main camp.

Eight linebackers will be in Florida; five will advance to main camp.

12 defensive backs, seven to main camp.

The Bombers are also looking for a specific type of receiver.

"Big guys," said Walters. "We're looking for that 'X' receiver (wideout), that guy who is big, physical and a precise route-runner. That's one of the issues we had last year: Denny (Clarence Denmark) and Nick (Moore) are more or less the same type of guy, a slotback who handles the underneath stuff. But we need that big-play explosive receiver that can win one-on-one battles. That's what we need to find and we're trying to find as many as possible. They either have to be big Chris Matthews types who can just win with their size, or precise route runners."

This team needs Canadian o-linemen, period. We start more Americans than anyone and we still stink. We upgrade DelMonaco with Wylie, we still stink. Just draft the BEST o-lineman b/c it makes sense for this team.

OK so I will ask - what the hell is an "X" receiver? Wolvervine?

X is the Split End who lines up on the LOS wide. The Z is the flanker who lines up wide a yard off the LOS. If this was theNFL the Y receiver is the tight end.

It's pretty obvious that we are going with 2 import tackles this year with the pickup of Bryant, Dile plus Daniels, Tyler and Mims. Personally I would love to have 4 non-imports on OL but it looks like the trend right now is 2-imp/3-non-imp OL.

 

We have 6 (or 7) bodies available now for the 3 position inside with Picard, Greaves, Neufeld, Goossen, Morley, Everett and Griffith. Plus if we need a 4th NI OL it should be a guy who can play tackle on the CFL level.

 

From what I read the tackle type players on the last rankings are Boyko, Groulx, Ruby and Guy. Boyko is a future pick. Groulx will probably fall on that category depending on the NFL interest and I honestly think he will be like Matt Sewell. Ruby and Guy will probably fall on the 2nd-3rd round.

 

I think, Walters will not spend his #2 overall for a future pick and our Canadian content is not there yet to gamble our #2 overall for a future pick.

This team needs Canadian o-linemen, period. We start more Americans than anyone and we still stink. We upgrade DelMonaco with Wylie, we still stink. Just draft the BEST o-lineman b/c it makes sense for this team.

We signed two americans who should be upgrades on the OL and we signed a veteran Canadian centre... Those upgrades plus the continued development of the guy they drafted last year should make the OL stronger and less of a problem area. We need Canadian receivers too because it's the #2 Canadian position on the team and we don't have a lot of game breaking ability there. 

 

This team needs top level Canadians at every position, if there's a receiver in this draft who can be that guy then by all means take him. 

I'll check the rulebook, but I'm almost positive lining up 7 non-imports on the interior of the offensive line won't work when it comes to meeting the ratio requirements.

This team needs Canadian o-linemen, period. We start more Americans than anyone and we still stink. We upgrade DelMonaco with Wylie, we still stink. Just draft the BEST o-lineman b/c it makes sense for this team.

 

This is just untrue.

I also think that there are teams across the league who also lack (or have lacked) talent on the offensive line but have done a better job schematically of masking those problems.  

I also think that there are teams across the league who also lack (or have lacked) talent on the offensive line but have done a better job schematically of masking those problems.

Agreed. A mobile QB will do wonders for a sub-par OL.

I wonder how much the fact that it will be pretty easy to keep Demski in Winnipeg past his first contract plays into their decision.

 

This team needs Canadian o-linemen, period. We start more Americans than anyone and we still stink. We upgrade DelMonaco with Wylie, we still stink. Just draft the BEST o-lineman b/c it makes sense for this team.

 

This is just untrue.

 

 

If he means the number of different imports that have started on our OL over the last three years... its kind of true.

I wonder how much the fact that it will be pretty easy to keep Demski in Winnipeg past his first contract plays into their decision.

 

It might also be fairly easy to draw him back here after his first contract is up on another team. That's actually why I think we should draft someone else. Let Demski go through his growing pains/development into a pro on another team. Try to get him back here after.

I wonder how much the fact that it will be pretty easy to keep Demski in Winnipeg past his first contract plays into their decision.

It might also be fairly easy to draw him back here after his first contract is up on another team. That's actually why I think we should draft someone else. Let Demski go through his growing pains/development into a pro on another team. Try to get him back here after.

Yep, I like this strategy.

I guess there is no guarantee that Demski would come back to us. However, he is a huge lifelong Bomber fan. If we were going to roll the dice on being able to pick up a guy after his first contract then Demski would be that guy.

 

 

I wonder how much the fact that it will be pretty easy to keep Demski in Winnipeg past his first contract plays into their decision.

It might also be fairly easy to draw him back here after his first contract is up on another team. That's actually why I think we should draft someone else. Let Demski go through his growing pains/development into a pro on another team. Try to get him back here after.

Yep, I like this strategy.

 

 

If that's that easy then I hope we can get Coombs after his first contract.

Doug Brown is right.

Doug Brown is right.

When?

Doug Brown is right.

When?

50% of the time.

Easy to say bring him in after but if he is guy you value you want to have him in right away and develop him with in your own system.

Is that how we landed Andrew Harris?

Is that how we landed Andrew Harris?

 

I'm not saying we are guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs when they become free agents, but Harris is different as he played junior football in BC and was a territorial exemption pickup for BC.

 

He wasn't a local kid that grew up here and played their football here.

The local connection is all the more reason I say to hell with OL and draft the kid. Would be great to get more local flavour on the team. It's just good all around. The fact that he's a talented player helps a bunch too. 

 

Is that how we landed Andrew Harris?

 

I'm not saying we are guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs when they become free agents, but Harris is different as he played junior football in BC and was a territorial exemption pickup for BC.

 

He wasn't a local kid that grew up here and played their football here.

 

Harris was born in Winnipeg and played high school football here before going to BC to play junior football. He is also here in the off-season iirc. How is that not a local kid?

Harris was very much a local kid who grew up as a huge Bombers/Charles Roberts fan before going to BC to play Jr ball...

There's a reason Harris left Manitoba.

There's a reason Harris left Manitoba.

I heard he left for personal reasons. I know what the reasons are but won't post on here as they are private family matters.