The Winnipeg Blue Bombers knew what they saw and liked on tape from James Vaughters over his four seasons and 57 games with the Calgary Stampeders, plus his three years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and the Atlanta Falcons.
There was the explosiveness off the edge by the 31-year-old defensive end and his relentless pursuit of the ball. And with all those years of experience comes a base of knowledge that seldom had him in the wrong place on a defensive snap.
Still, sometimes you really know about a guy until you get him into your building and onto your practice field. And so far, Vaughters comes more than as advertised.
“He’s another one of those guys that you just like watching out there,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea on one of the team’s key offseason free agent additions. “He pursues really hard, and I think that helps for a guy who has played as long as he had… he’s running to the football all the time.
“I had conversation with him, just appreciating how hard he goes all the time and he mentioned Willie (Jefferson)… ‘Well, Willie does scout team for special teams, so nobody has any excuse.’ So, when you’ve got leaders like that that put in that much work and showing everybody how to do it, it’s fun to watch.
“You don’t get to see practice habits (from game film). You see the game and then coaches all believe you play the way you practice. I’d be one of those guys — you’ve got to practice hard if you want to be able to play hard, for a variety of reasons. So, because you don’t get to see how a guy handles his business in a practice setting you don’t really know. But we do like the way he played on film and thought he played hard and sure enough he practises hard.
“You would expect that, but you don’t always know so it’s nice to see.”
Vaughters had five sacks in six games to start 2023 before a season-ending bicep injury and it took him a spell into last year before he admittedly stopped worrying about being hurt again. His five sacks last year came in the final 13 games, and he regained his confidence and strength. And now — less than a week into his stint with the Blue Bombers — the Stanford product offered his own assessment of his new football home.
“I like it a lot,” he began after practice earlier this week. “I like the attention we do everything with. I like the camaraderie of it, and I like that we have the ability and the resources to really push each other and push ourselves during camp. We’re in Day 5 today and it’s one of the more endurance-based, stamina-based camps I’ve probably been in the last six-seven years. I really appreciate everybody being really professional about everything and the lack of excuses and just the standard that they set that players that come in have to rise to.
“I appreciate that the staff and the front office thought highly enough of me to bring me in and think I could have a positive impact on what they already have going here. Guys like Willie are a part of that.
“I’m just glad I can feel part of something and on a special year like this where the Grey Cup is coming to Winnipeg I understand the urgency.”
Vaughters’s decade-plus years at the pro level also means he’s seen and heard some things during stints with the Stampeders, Bears and Falcons as well as stints with the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers. And he not only is soaking up his new surroundings but marvelled at what he has seen about how the Blue Bombers operate.
“This is my 11th year as a pro and one thing about football is when you join a new team, new faces, new coaches, there’s always going to be a novelty to it,” he said. “That’s what keeps the game interesting even when you’ve been playing it for a long time.
“It’s even stuff as small as the schedule on a daily basis. I’ve never been at a camp where we finished practice with a double-team combo drill instead of a team period. Almost everywhere I’ve been we finish practice with a team period and then everybody brings it up. Having to stay in the moment allows you to move on from the good things that happened and even the bad things that happened throughout a game, throughout a season.
“It’s the mental aspect of training the mind, training the body to stay in the moment, be able to bounce back and be ready for things to change, be ready for unpredictability. It’s a skill that if you want to be a good team… it’s something I’ve never dealt with as a player no matter where I’ve been north or south. I like it a lot.”
Asked if that reaffirmed his decision to sign in Winnipeg, Vaughters added:
“The proof is in the result, right? It doesn’t matter what kind of team I’m coming from — there’s nobody else in the league that’s been to the Grey Cup the last five years. I don’t want to call it blind faith but if you come in and you go, ‘Oh, I’ve never done it like that but that’s the way they do things here’ and if the results are there to back it up you can’t really argue with it.”
MOTHER NATURE GETS MEAN: The Blue Bombers had been soaking up the sunshine through rookie camp and main camp with temperatures reaching into the 30s. But Friday was a nasty, windy, rain-soaked session that covered almost four hours.
“You just need to get through it. It’s good,” said O’Shea. “They worked hard, and I thought the offence had a great day today. It’s not without corrections, it’s not always going to be the cleanest, but I thought it was perfect.
“There’s only one place we play indoors. So, wet footballs, heavy footballs, slippery turf… it’s all part of it.”
Deatrick Nichols
FYI: Not practising on Friday were OL Eric Lofton, RB/KR Peyton Logan and receiver Kody Case, while DB Jamal Parker, Jr. and LB Lane Novak were both back. O’Shea said after the session there is no timetable on when receiver Dalton Schoen or defensive tackle Cam Lawson — both coming off knee injuries — will begin practising… Gabe Wallace and Tui Eli continue to share work at the guard spot left vacant by the departure of Liam Dobson, with Kendall Randolph and Micah Vanterpool getting looks at Lofton’s right tackle spot… Among the receivers who continue to impress are second-year man Myron Mitchell and newcomer Keilahn Harris while DB Cam Allen, taking a ton of work at safety, continues to make play after play.
NEXT: The Blue Bombers practice schedule for the next few days — all practices at Princess Auto Stadium unless otherwise indicated and are open to the public:
Saturday, May 17: 8:30-11:35 a.m.
Sunday, May 18: Practice: 8:30 a.m. -11:35 a.m.
Monday, May 19 (at field beside WSF South): 9 a.m. -12:25 p.m.
Tuesday, May 20 (at field beside WSF South): 9 a.m.-12:25 p.m.
Wednesday, May 21: 8:30-11:25 a.m.
