Ed Tait
Winnipeg Free Press
Paul LaPolice stepped in front of the TV cameras and rattled off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ draft-day handiwork with the breathless excitement of an eight-year-old on Christmas morning.
“We feel it was a great day for Bomber football,” said the Bombers’ new head coach. “Everyone in our backroom is ecstatic with what we have. We’re really comfortable with what we did.”
Of course, the scene here was likely no different than what was playing out across the CFL map in the wake of Sunday’s annual talent show.
No doubt B.C. Lions kingpin Wally Buono and new Toronto Argonauts head coach Jim Barker were spitting out the same messages to reporters in Vancouver and the Big Smoke. They were clicking their heels together in Saskatchewan and we can guaran-dang-tee you the Stampeders, Ticats, Alouettes and Eskimos are absolutely ecstatic with their new collection of prospects.
All that said, this was an important day in Bomberland for a new regime that first rolled up its sleeves back in February with two critical mandates: stock the quarterback position and somehow beef up the overall Canadian content knowing they had just three picks heading into the 2010 draft.
And so what the Bombers accomplished Sunday — even taking into consideration the unknowns at play with homegrown collegians and QB prospects — shouldn’t be waved off as of no consequence. LaPolice, GM Joe Mack & Co. made two trades and in the process were able to add one more draft pick and land another pivot in former Washington State’s Alex Brink.
The two trades — with Edmonton and Hamilton to move down spots but gain an extra pick and the rights to the QB — yielded a possible future starter in receiver Cory Watson, linebacker depth in Chris Smith, a talented-but-oft- injured tailback in Anthony Woodson and a project-type defensive lineman in Christopher Greaves.
Couple that with Brink and that’s not a bad day’s work at the office.
“We would have been happy today to come away with Cory Watson and maybe one more pick,” LaPolice said. “So now we’ve got Cory Watson, we’ve got Chris Smith, we got two more players and we also got a guy we really feel can compete at quarterback.”
Watson, already 26, could have the most immediate impact. A big, physical target who chats regularly with current Bomber receiver Jabari Arthur, he’s expected to push for a roster spot in June and give the squad the ability to use two Canadian pass-catchers in certain offensive packages. One of nine kids raised by a single mother after emigrating to Montreal from Jamaica when he was nine, Watson once drew interest from big-time U.S. schools like Michigan State, Syracuse and South Carolina, but ran into academic troubles before landing in Concordia, where he blossomed.
“I’m excited to be a Blue Bomber,” said Watson from Montreal. “I was hearing through Jabari that I was going to be his teammate so I was waiting for the moment. I’m a versatile player, I can play any position that you put me at. I’m a very physical player, really big in size. I consider myself a fast receiver as well and I’m reliable and dedicated.”
Adding Brink means the Bombers now have five QBs on their depth chart including Buck Pierce, Steven Jyles, Ricky Santos and Adam DiMichele.
“He’s a quarterback we know a lot about and we feel we’ll get a contract signed with him pretty soon,” said LaPolice of Brink. “He is a tremendous talent. He’s been with the Jets and some other places in the NFL (Houston) and we had conversations (with Hamilton) trying to get him before. It puts us in the position where a position of weakness at the beginning of the year is now a position of strength.”
The most intriguing of the four Bomber picks may be Woodson. The son of former Stampeder linebacker Anthony Woodson, he’ll come to Bomber camp having played just three games in the last two years after suffering through foot, rib and lung injuries. But he will also arrive with a size-large point to prove.
“Once the door is open, it’s about what you do with the opportunity and I definitely think I can show I was a good steal in this draft,” Woodson told the Calgary Herald. “And I think in years to come, they (the Bombers) might look back on it and be happy about it.”
