At CFL Week, Kyle Walters discusses his plans for the team and the draft including those missing who are pursuing NFL dreams.
http://www.bluebombers.com/2017/03/2...ters-cfl-week/“We’re just looking to upgrade overall depth,” he said. “Obviously along the offensive line every year you’re looking to draft and develop guys. We lost Rory (Kohlert) in free agency, so you’re looking at receivers as well. It’s the same groups. We start two (Canadians) along the defensive line so you’re looking for depth there. Your linebackers bring special teams depth and now we’re starting a Canadian free safety as well.
“We’re always looking for depth and we’re in a spot with our Canadian content to take the best player available regardless of his position.” ...
The list of no-shows includes Mississippi State offensive lineman Justin Senior, Laval tight end Antony Auclair, UCLA defensive tackle Eli Ankou, Manitoba’s guard Geoff Gray – ranked first, second, third and fifth in the December rankings of the CFL Scouting Bureau.
“It’s frustrating,” Walters admitted. “You sure would like all of the top prospects to come here and compete. But, unfortunately that’s not the way it works. I don’t think it’s going to hurt them, it just puts a little bit more onus on the teams to do more work and you don’t have the luxury of seeing them up here all together competing against each other which is the benefit of these types of things. But it’s the way of the world now.”
The Bombers will be represented at the combines by Walters, Head Coach Mike O’Shea, Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel Ted Goveia and National Scout Craig Smith.
The one-on-one player interviews begin Thursday evening, followed by testing on Friday and one-on-one battles on Saturday.
Walters said a player can change a team’s opinion in the next few days, but this look-see also must be tempered with what has popped out from the game film.
“There’s two lines of thought on that,” he said. “You watch a player on film who might not jump out at you, whether it was effort or something wasn’t just quite right and he shows up here and athletically he tests through the roof. And then you need to go back and figure out why he’s not performing and watch a couple more games and figure out his athleticism that he is showing here doesn’t show up in productivity on the field.
“And, conversely, you’re going to find a lot of guys that run around, play hard, that are tough, physical and the kind of football players you really want on your team but you need to see them to make sure there is that baseline of athleticism that allows them to compete here.
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