Bombers GM Walters: ‘Henoc will not be coming here’

Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters has made it official: Canadian linebacker Henoc Muamba will NOT be returning to the blue and gold.

Walters spoke to the media in advance of Mark’s CFL Week on Tuesday and was crystal clear on where things stand with the former Bomber, currently a free agent.

Here is his answer, unedited, on how things unfolded with Muamba:

“Coincidentally enough, the last time I was up here (speaking to the media) Henoc had just been released. It had happened a day or two prior and I stood up here and said, ‘Sure, we’re interested. Everybody’s interested. I will warn you though, that Henoc and his agent have a track record of prolonging these things. They do their due diligence – it’s not a negative – they do their due diligence and they take their time and they will certainly look to maximize their value. That’s what they’ve done, that’s what they do, and it’s neither good nor bad, it’s just their track record.

Muamba celebrates a tackle while a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (The Canadian Press)

“We brought Henoc out here three weeks ago, showed him our organization, told him what we were about and thought it went very well. He asked us questions, we answered them. He sat with Mike, he sat with me, we showed him some things we’re doing in the community… all the standard stuff that I think went very well.

“It was our understanding that they were going to have a decision within 48 hours after returning from their visit, to sit and talk with the family, to talk with the agent. We had presented an offer prior to him coming out and were prepared to make Henoc the second-highest paid Canadian on our team. And within our salary cap and what we deemed was fair, we thought it was a good, fair offer. We were certainly not prepared to offer Henoc Muamba a contract higher than Andrew Harris, which is what they were asking for. It was not going to happen on our end for a multitude of reasons.

“We’ve been told that the offer we put together is not going to get the job done so Henoc will not be coming here based on the communication I’ve had.

“You can get a pretty quick read on these things, truth be told, of when guys want to come here and when they don’t. We just went through the Adarius Bowman one… he wanted to come to Winnipeg. You guys talked to Adarius and figured out why. It was evident he wanted to come here and as soon as we sat down and figured out how to make it work within the cap, it was done. It was done that quick.

“Once we didn’t get an answer (from Muamba) and it was dragging on, it was pretty clear this offer was not going to get it done. It is what it is.”

Muamba, now 29, began his pro career with the Bombers after being selected first pick overall in the 2011 CFL Draft. He spent three years in Winnipeg and by 2013, was not only the team’s Most Outstanding Player, Most Outstanding Canadian and Most Outstanding Defender, but also a CFL All-Star.

He parlayed that success into a contract with the Indianapolis Colts, where he played 13 games in 2014 before being released in 2015. Coveted by every CFL team upon his return to Canada, Muamba signed with the Montreal Alouettes, appearing in four games in 2015 before heading back to the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys. Released by Dallas in 2016, he returned to the CFL again and opted to sign with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Riders cut him last month before he was due a signing bonus.

The Bombers had hoped Muamba would eye a return to the Bombers to allow them to start a Canadian at middle linebacker and flew him in for a visit recently. But now they have prepared to move on at the position.

“We’re now planning mini-camp,” said Walters. “The follow-up to (the Muamba situation) is there had to be some sort of closure on this. The scouting department is going ‘Are we signing (Muamba)? Are we looking at American linebackers? Are we not? We have mini-camp coming up… do we get the neg list linebackers? What are we doing?’

“So there had to be some sort of forward movement on that front so that we could start planning with mini-camp a month away. We need to start getting that competition set for mini-camp up here, which will be receivers, DBs, linebackers and running backs. We’re bringing up more bodies and all those guys you see at mini-camp will be fighting for training camp roster spots.”