Blue Bombers Training Camp Report | Day 2

Take an informal poll of those in and around Bomberland and they’ll laugh off the Vegas Grey Cup odds as a big, fat nothing burger.

In case you missed it, Vegas bookies have pegged the Blue Bombers as having the fourth-best odds to win the championship this November in their own back yard, listed behind the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts, Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

And, just to be clear, it truly is worth nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders until the real games start getting played next month and then through the regular season to late fall.

Still, nothing burger or not, it is a conversation starter as the Blue Bombers start to get a lay of the land two days into training camp.

Tony Jones

“Look, if people want to sleep on us a bit right now, that’s OK,” began linebacker Tony Jones in a chat with bluebombers.com “In fact, we love that. Maybe it’s good to be a bit of an underdog.

“But we know what we have in the locker room. We know what we can do and the team we can be and that if we come in every day locked in, we can beat anybody. I will say that after the first couple of days we look around and think we’re pretty solid.”

That’s a sentiment certainly being parroted across the Canadian Football League these days, what with camps in their infancy and preseason games still more than a week away.

Yet, what feels a tad different about those odds here in Winnipeg is how they represent the outside narrative about the Blue Bombers following a winter in which four starters exited in free agency in Kenny Lawler, Tyrell Ford, Liam Dobson and TyJuan Garbutt, while the club moved on from three others in Brandon Alexander, Adam Bighill and Drew Wolitarsky and another, Ontaria Wilson, is currently chasing his NFL dream with the New York Jets.

There are a pile of CFL vets who have been brought in as possible replacements, among them receivers Dillon Mitchell, Reggie White, Jr. and Jerreth Sterns, running back/returner Peyton Logan, defensive end James Vaughters and linebacker Jonathan Jones.

Their arrivals plus the usual stellar job the scouting staff does every offseason to unearth new talent has the returning vets buoyed by what they see taking shape around them.

“I like what management did (in the offseason),” said veteran defensive end Willie Jefferson after practice on Tuesday. “The hardest part of this job is seeing guys leave, especially when you’ve built relationships and have a camaraderie with guys like that, a chemistry. To see them go to other teams, you wish them well, you wish them the best and try to stay in contact as much as possible.

“It’s a business, right? And the front office did exactly what they needed to do to bring in some good athletes, some older guys so they can lead.

“We just have to line it up and see how things shake out It’s a long season. There’s a lot of unforeseen things that can happen so when it comes time for us to play those teams that everybody thinks is better than us, we’ll see then.”

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH… Random thoughts after two days of Blue Bombers training camp:

-Read into this what you will, if anything, but the Blue Bombers No. 1 receiving corps to start sessions the last couple of days has featured Canadians Nic Demski and Kevens Clercius along with Keric Wheatfall and Myron Mitchell with reps also going to Dillon Mitchell, White, Jr. and Sterns.

Gabe Wallace and Tui Eli have been getting the majority of work in Dobson’s old left guard spot, with Kyrie Wilson at weak-side linebacker and Marquise Bridges in Ford’s cornerback spot and Jamal Parker, Jr. getting looks at safety.

-Receiver Dalton Schoen, defensive tackle Cam Lawson and defensive back Jake Kelly — all coming off season-ending injuries from last year — have yet to practice. Both Lawson and Schoen were placed on the injured veteran list to start camp.

“It’s just the smart way to do things,” said head coach Mike O’Shea on Sunday. “Both those guys would work themselves to a point where you’ve got to slow them down, anyway, so this is a way to slow them down and make sure we ease them into it. I mean, we’d like to see those guys for an entire season rather than just drop them in there right now in camp.”

-Defensive tackle Devin Adams was back on the field Monday after attending his Peru State graduation Saturday and then driving back to Winnipeg a day later. Global end Kemari Munier-Bailey has missed the first two days of main camp while Canadian defensive back Enock Makonzo left the field Tuesday with the aid of trainers after suffering an apparent arm/shoulder injury.

-O’Shea on the notion long held by some veterans over the years of simply surviving camp vs. the notion he first brought up on Sunday and then offered a follow-up today.

From Sunday: “It’s the fine details and the desire to work through training camp — it’s all got to be there. We just have to put our mind to it and think about training camp and what it can provide for you if you bust your ass compared to, ‘Ahh, training camp.’ If you attack training camp it can really pay off for you in the season.”

And from today: “We can’t just survive (it). I don’t think that’s the way pro sport or high-end sport is going to work. We’re given an opportunity to practise a certain number of days, to have preseason games, to watch film together, to learn, to come together as a team — and it’s an opportunity, it’s not just a chore. We want to come out of camp really good, so we have to make use of all the time we’re given and think of it as an opportunity, think of of it as a way to get better and not just try to get by and pass the time.”

CONGRATS TO… QB Taylor Elgersma, a second-round pick of the Blue Bombers earlier this month who is apparently on the verge of signing with the Green Bay Packers, as reported by Justin Dunk of 3Down Nation.

The Blue Bombers still have a pile of bodies in their QB room with Zach Collaros, Chris Streveler, Terry Wilson, Shea Patterson and Chase Artopoeus.

NEXT: Day 3 of Blue Bombers camp runs 8:30-11:35 a.m. at Princess Auto Stadium and is open to the public.

week one of too many to count#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/czKCWGgWSV

— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) May 11, 2025