Redblacks tried to pass on Bombers’ players in expansion draft, were forced to take Rory Kohlert, who’s now back in Winnipeg

The greatest insult possible in the CFL? Being told your team is so bad that other franchises would rather pass than take your players. That's reportedly what happened to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in December's Ottawa Redblacks expansion draft, a story that emerged this week thanks to Canadian receiver Rory Kohlert returning to Winnipeg in free agency. Kohlert was the lone pending free agent chosen by Ottawa; many teams left pending free agents unsigned until after the draft, likely gambling that the Redblacks wouldn't risk taking them, and they were proved right in every case but Kohlert's, which caused him to stick out at the time and saw some jokes that they thought about passing. This week, it came out that the jokes were true, as TSN's Dave Naylor tweeted that the Redblacks tried to pass rather than taking anyone from Winnipeg, but were forced to make a pick by the league:

If that's accurate, that's a pretty scathing indictment of the depth of Winnipeg's Canadian content. It doesn't mean that the Bombers had no players who would fit in on the Redblacks, as Ottawa quite willingly chose import receiver Wallace Miles in round one and non-import LB James Green in round two, but it does mean that by the time Winnipeg had protected six further Canadians in advance of round three (for a total of 12), there was no one left that the Redblacks wanted to take. Granted, many of the pickings across the league were slim by the third round, but Ottawa still managed to grab some quality talent in it, including OL Marwan Hage, LB Jay Pottinger and DB Eric Fraser, so the Bombers having no one left unprotected who interested the Redblacks doesn't say anything good about the state of their Canadian talent. Granted, Winnipeg had a lot of pending free agents, including Kohlert, so Ottawa's avoidance of those guys is also a factor here (and that, rather than any comment on his ability, may be why they didn't want Kohlert), but that doesn't negate the problematic state of their non-import depth.

It's interesting that the league stepped in to tell Ottawa to pick someone from the Bombers anyway, but it's hard to blame them for doing so; no selection from Winnipeg would have been an obvious public black eye for the CFL. The Redblacks weren't hurt by that decision, either. Although Kohlert's selection didn't work out in the end, with him returning to Winnipeg, they at least got exclusive rights to try and negotiate with him for a couple of months, and while those negotiations didn't work out, they were worth a shot. While Kohlert hasn't accomplished much in the CFL yet, he's a Canadian receiver with at least a little potential, one who's caught 55 passes for 641 yards and four touchdowns over two seasons. It's just hilarious that the Redblacks tried to pass altogether thanks to the paucity of available non-free-agent options on the Bombers' roster.

Of course, Winnipeg general manager Kyle Walters (who only received that full tag this offseason) is trying to change things around there, and he's found some success so far. While Canadian linebacker Henoc Muamba's departure for the NFL is a major loss, Walters has already picked up some quality import players this offseason, adding a promising quarterback in Drew Willy (although Walters was spurned by his top two targets before he made a move for Willy), a strong defensive back in Chris Randle and a top receiver in Nick Moore, who signed with Winnipeg as a free agent late on Tuesday. The team may miss departing players like Justin Sorensen and Akeem Foster (Edmonton), Jovon Johnson (Ottawa), Brandon Stewart (Hamilton) and Chris Cvetkovic and Pierre-Luc Labbe (retirement), though, and their Canadian depth overall still looks rather shoddy. Bringing back Kohlert seems like a solid move on that front, but Walters shouldn't be done yet. There's a lot of work to do to build this team into a decent CFL franchise, not a punchline.