2021 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season

2021 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season
General manager	Kyle Walters
Head coach	Mike O'Shea
Home stadium	IG Field
Results
Record	11–3
Division place	1st, West
Playoffs	Won Grey Cup
Team MOP	Zach Collaros
Team MODP	Adam Bighill
Team MOC	Nic Demski
Team MOOL	Stanley Bryant
Team MOST	Mike Miller
Team MOR	DeAundre Alford
Uniform
←  2020 Blue Bombers seasons 2022  →

The 2021 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season was the 63rd season for the team in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and their 88th season overall. The Blue Bombers entered the season as the defending Grey Cup champions for the first time in 30 years, having ended the franchise's lengthy drought with last year's championship win in the 107th Grey Cup game. The Blue Bombers qualified for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season following a victory over the Edmonton Elks on October 16, 2021. ^[1] The team won their first division title since 2011, and first west division title since 1972, after they defeated the BC Lions on October 23, 2021. ^[2]

The Blue Bombers won the 12th Grey Cup championship in franchise history following their 33–25 overtime victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 108th Grey Cup game.

This was the seventh season under head coach Mike O'Shea and the seventh full season under general manager Kyle Walters. ^[3]

An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule. ^{[4] [5]} On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021. ^[6]

Offseason

CFL Global Draft

The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021. ^{[7] [8]} With the format being a snake draft, the Blue Bombers selected fourth in the odd-numbered rounds and sixth in the even-numbered rounds. ^[7]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	University/Club Team	Nationality
1	4	Les Maruo	LB	Texas, San Antonio	Japan
2	15	Tomoya Machino	OL	Fujitsu Frontiers	Japan
3	22	Ayo Oyelola	LB	Nottingham	Great Britain
4	33	Arryn Siposs	P	Auburn	Australia

CFL National Draft

The 2021 CFL draft took place on May 4, 2021. ^{[9] [10]} The Blue Bombers had six selections in the six-round snake draft and had the third pick in odd rounds and the seventh pick in even rounds. ^{[10] [11]}

Round	Pick	Player	Position	University Team	Hometown
1	3	Liam Dobson	OL	Maine	Ottawa, ON
2	16	Redha Kramdi	DB	Montreal	Montreal, QC
3	21	Patrice Rene	DB	North Carolina	Ottawa, ON
4	34	Robbie Lowes	LB	Regina	Regina, SK
5	39	Kyle Borsa	RB	Regina	Regina, SK
6	48	Shae Weekes	DB	Manitoba	St. Adolphe, MB

Preseason

Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021. ^[6]

Planned schedule

Week	Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	TV	Venue
A	Bye
B	1	Fri, May 28	7:30 p.m. CDT	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	NA	IG Field
C	2	Fri, June 4	8:00 p.m. CDT	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	NA	Mosaic Stadium

^[12]

Regular season

Standings

West Division view talk edit
Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	PF	PA	Div	Stk
Winnipeg Blue Bombers	14	11	3	0	22	351	187	8–1	L2	Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders	14	9	5	0	18	290	285	5–4	L1	Details
Calgary Stampeders	14	8	6	0	16	315	263	6–4	W3	Details
BC Lions	14	5	9	0	10	313	351	2–7	W1	Details
Edmonton Elks	14	3	11	0	6	246	377	2–7	L1	Details

Schedule

The Blue Bombers initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 10 and ending on October 30. ^[4] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the Canadian Football League delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Blue Bombers began their 14-game season that same day. ^[6]

Week	Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
					Score	Record
1	1	Thu, Aug 5	7:30 p.m. CDT	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 19–6	1–0	TSN/ESPN2	IG Field	29,376	Recap
2	2	Fri, Aug 13	7:30 p.m. CDT	Toronto Argonauts	W 20–7	2–0	TSN/RDS	IG Field	22,143	Recap
3	3	Sat, Aug 21	3:00 p.m. CDT	@ Toronto Argonauts	L 23–30	2–1	TSN/ESPN2	BMO Field	9,866	Recap
4	4	Sun, Aug 29	6:00 p.m. CDT	Calgary Stampeders	W 18–16	3–1	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	IG Field	22,806	Recap
5	5	Sun, Sept 5	5:00 p.m. CDT	@ Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 23–8	4–1	TSN/ESPNews	Mosaic Stadium	32,975	Recap
6	6	Sat, Sept 11	3:00 p.m. CDT	Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 33–9	5–1	TSN	IG Field	33,234	Recap
7	7	Sat, Sept 18	8:45 p.m. CDT	@ Edmonton Elks	W 37–22	6–1	TSN	Commonwealth Stadium	23,310	Recap
8	Bye
9	8	Fri, Oct 1	9:00 p.m. CDT	@ BC Lions	W 30–9	7–1	TSN/ESPNews	BC Place	12,500	Recap
10	9	Fri, Oct 8	7:30 p.m. CDT	Edmonton Elks	W 30–3	8–1	TSN/RDS2	IG Field	27,388	Recap
11	10	Fri, Oct 15	8:00 p.m. CDT	@ Edmonton Elks	W 23–16	9–1	TSN	Commonwealth Stadium	24,276	Recap
12	11	Sat, Oct 23	6:00 p.m. CDT	BC Lions	W 45–0	10–1	TSN	IG Field	23,750	Recap
13	Bye
14	12	Sat, Nov 6	6:00 p.m. CDT	Montreal Alouettes	W 31–21	11–1	TSN/RDS	IG Field	22,933	Recap
15	13	Sat, Nov 13	12:00 p.m. CST	@ Montreal Alouettes	L 14–28	11–2	TSN/RDS	Molson Stadium	12,605	Recap
16	14	Sat, Nov 20	6:00 p.m. CST	@ Calgary Stampeders	L 12–13	11–3	TSN	McMahon Stadium	19,103	Recap

^{[13] [14] [15]}

Post-season

Schedule

Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
				Score	Record
West Semi-Final	Bye
West Final	Sun, Dec 5	3:00 p.m. CST	Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 21–17	1–0	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	IG Field	31,160	Recap
108th Grey Cup	Sun, Dec 12	5:00 p.m. CST	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 33–25 (OT)	2–0	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	Tim Hortons Field	26,324	Recap

^[12]

Team

Roster

Winnipeg Blue Bombers roster

	Quarterbacks  8 Zach Collaros 12 Sean McGuire Receivers 88 Rasheed Bailey  1 Darvin Adams 10 Nic Demski 80 Janarion Grant KR/WR 89 Kenny Lawler 84 Brendon O'Leary-Orange 82 Drew Wolitarsky Running backs 27 Johnny Augustine 33 Andrew Harris 20 Brady Oliveira Fullbacks 24 Mike Miller Offensive linemen 66 Stanley Bryant LT 59 Michael Couture C 61 Drew Desjarlais LG 68 Geoff Gray 51 Jermarcus Hardrick RT 67 Chris Kolankowski 53 Patrick Neufeld RG		Defensive linemen  3 Thiadric Hansen 94 Jackson Jeffcoat  5 Willie Jefferson  2 Jonathan Kongbo 98 Steven Richardson 90 Casey Sayles 95 Jake Thomas 96 Ricky Walker Linebackers  4 Adam Bighill 34 Jesse Briggs 47 Tanner Cadwallader 44 Shayne Gauthier 19 Kyrie Wilson Defensive backs 37 Brandon Alexander 45 DeAundre Alford 22 Alden Darby 21 Nick Hallett 43 Redha Kramdi 25 Josh Miller 32 Deatrick Nichols 30 Winston Rose  9 Nick Taylor		Special teams 40 Mike Benson LS 14 Sergio Castillo K 13 Marc Liegghio P 1-Game Injured List 15 Tobi Antigha DL 41 Kevin Brown DB 16 Mike Jones DB 6-Game Injured List 14 Tyler Crapigna K 23 Noah Hallett DB  0 Josh Johnson DB  7 Mercy Maston DB 60 Drew Richmond OL 50 Ezekiel Rose DL		Practice Roster 86 Carlton Agudosi WR 18 Dru Brown QB 52 Jalen Burks OL 38 Shaq Cooper RB/KR 35 Demerio Houston DB 39 Robbie Lowes LB 69 Tomoya Machino OL 54 Les Maruo LB 87 Kelvin McKnight WR 42 Ali Mourtada K/P  6 Charles Nelson WR/KR 55 Ayo Oyelola LB 26 Sergio Schiaffino DB 83 James Tyrrell WR Suspended 65 Asotui Eli OL
Italics indicate American player • Bold indicates Global player • 45 Active, 10 Injured, 14 Practice, 1 Suspended Roster updated 2021-12-12 • Depth chart Archived 2009-11-25 at the Wayback Machine • Transactions • More CFL rosters

Coaching staff

Winnipeg Blue Bombers staff

	Front office Owner – None Chairperson of the board of governors – Dayna Spiring President/CEO – Wade Miller General manager of football operations – Kyle Walters Assistant General Manager / Director of U.S. Scouting – Danny McManus Assistant general manager / director of player personnel – Ted Goveia Director of football operations – Matt Gulakow Equipment staff Head equipment manager – Brad Fotty Assistant equipment manager – Kevin Todd			Head coaches Head coach – Mike O'Shea Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks – Buck Pierce Receivers – Kevin Bourgoin Running backs – Pete Costanza Offensive line – Marty Costello Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Richie Hall Defensive line – Darrell Patterson Defensive backs – Jordan Younger Pass game analyst and linebackers – James Stanley Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Paul Boudreau, Jr. Video coaches Video coordinator – Colin Thurston Video assistant – Shannon Myran → Coaching Staff Archived 2017-04-27 at the Wayback Machine → More CFL staffs

References

1. "Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs Edmonton Elks". Canadian Football League. October 16, 2021.
2. "BC Lions vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers". Canadian Football League. October 23, 2021.
3. "Canadian Mafia sticking together". Winnipeg Blue Bombers. December 13, 2019.
4. "Divisional games take centre stage in unique 2021 schedule". Canadian Football League. November 20, 2020.
5. "CFL Announces Plans To Return-to-play For 2021 Season". Canadian Football League. April 21, 2021.
6. "Circle your calendars: CFL releases 2021 schedule". Canadian Football League. June 15, 2021.
7. "CFL calendar busy with free agency, virtual combines, drafts". Canadian Football League. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
8. "2021 Global Draft tracker". Canadian Football League . Retrieved April 15, 2021.
9. "CFL announces date for 2021 CFL National Draft". cfl.ca. Canadian Football League. March 30, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
10. "2021 CFL Draft to feature some significant changes". CFL.ca. November 5, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
11. "Ti-Cats snag first selection as CFL reveals 2021 order". CFL.ca. November 21, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
12. "2021 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Schedule". Winnipeg Blue Bombers . Retrieved November 20, 2020.
13. "2021 Schedule". Canadian Football League . Retrieved June 14, 2021.
14. "Le football de la LCF de retour sur RDS dès le samedi 7 août" (in French). Canadian Football League. August 3, 2021.
15. "ESPN Networks, ESPN+ to carry entire 2021 CFL season". Canadian Football League. August 4, 2021.