Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The official list of Canadian Football League free agents – released last Thursday by the loop’s headquarters – is dotted with all-stars and cornerstone players, with Canadian talent and with potential game-changers.
But the most striking thing about that collection of skill is just how significant it is, with 227 players scheduled to become free agents at 11 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2017. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have the fewest number of potential free agents at 21; the Grey Cup champion Ottawa REDBLACKS have the most at 31.
And those totals aren’t surprising anyone.
“I don’t think this is an anomaly with the one-year contracts,” said Bombers GM Kyle Walters earlier this month. “This is the way the CFL is going, the potential free agents (list) every single year are going to be substantially higher every single year.”
Darvin Adams (4) of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during the game against the Edmonton Eskimos at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, MB. Thursday, July 14, 2016. (Photo: Johany Jutras)
And so the challenge here with the Bombers is the same as it is across the CFL map: how does a team seeking to build while making an effort at a semblance of continuity make all this work under the 2017 salary cap?
“It’s impossible to think in today’s day and age in a league where everybody is on a one-year contract that you can keep your entire team together year to year,” said Walters. “Where everybody wants more money in a hard-cap league, it’s impossible.”
Matt Nichols is one of the two starting quarterbacks scheduled to hit the open market in February – Darian Durant of the Saskatchewan Roughriders is the other – and Walters said how those negotiations unfold will dictate their approach to the rest of their own free agents and how they might spend in just over two months when all the talent is available.
Also of note: there are 21 divisional all-stars among the group of free agents and six 1,000-yard receivers, including six of the top eight in the CFL this year.
