The Grey Cup winners, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, have decided to keep their winning crew from the previous season. But unlike many would assume, the first step of the management was to retain their head coach and the general manager.
While the majority of fans debated who of the players will receive a new contract, the heads of the Bombers clinched new deals with Mike O’Shea and Kyle Walters. This news was announced by Wade Miller, the president and the CEO of the Bombers on Friday. These three guys who got the nickname the “Canadian Mafia,” are the pivotal part of this franchise. If it weren’t for them, there is no doubt that Winnipeg wouldn’t see the trophy for a long time.
“I love it, the fact that we’re all Canadian, and it’s great,” Miller said at the press.
Walters is in Winnipeg since 2010, when he coached the team for two seasons. In 2013 he became the assistant general manager and during the same year, shifted to the GM spot. Walters won the Grey Cup as a player of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1999. According to his new extension, he will stay here until 2022, one year fewer than in the previous arrangement. However, the sources are suggesting that the financial aspects are much better.
Mike O’Shea, signed a deal that would keep him with the club until 2022. Three-time Grey Cup champion as a player with the Toronto Argonauts, and once as a special teams coach with the same team, added another piece of silverware to his collection.
He and Walters formed a duo, which built the championship team. The two have different roles, and while O’Shea communicates with the public, and often takes all the heat, Walters is in the background, working on special assignments.
Their next job will be to decide which of the three quarterbacks they have to release. According to the CFL’s new rule, each team is allowed to dress just two quarterbacks. At the moment, the Bombers have three, Zach Collaros, Matt Nichols, and Chris Streveler.
“The quarterback position is where it all starts. That’s going to be the price point that you have to put in and see the domino effects and how that affects the rest of the roster,” said Walters, who didn’t want to hint which one of these three guys will be left aside.
The “Canadian Mafia” brought back the Grey Cup to Winnipeg after 28 years. At the start of the previous season, they were one of the potential candidates to take the title. After 10 rounds, the Bombers were 8-2, but in the latter part of the campaign, the bombers posted three wins and five losses. Quarterback injuries created a lot of troubles to O’Shea, who entered the playoffs with the third guy in that position, Zach Collaros.
Following their demolition of the Calgary Stampeders in the second half of their matchup, the Bombers advanced to the Western Final. They would beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders before eventually trashing the Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup.
