After what can be considered a down year in 2025 by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ standards, the team that has been the poster child for sustained success in the Canadian Football League will look to once again get back to the top of the West Division, and the league in 2026.
Winnipeg failed to make a Western Final or Grey Cup last season, snapping six- and five-year streaks, respectively. While injuries, including to franchise quarterback Zach Collaros, hampered the Bombers, clear holes on the roster emerged in 2025. General manager Kyle Walters and head coach Mike O’Shea have done well to fill those holes this off-season.
The championship infrastructure has largely stayed the same, while some shiny new reinforcements have been applied. Let’s take an in-depth look at what the Blue Bombers are made of heading into the 2026 season.
Offence
The offence was a problem area for Winnipeg in 2025 and is the part of the team that has undergone the most construction.
What hasn’t changed is who’s at running back, as Brady Oliveira is the star of the show. The Winnipeg native has been fantastic over the past four seasons, claiming the Most Outstanding Player award, back-to-back Most Outstanding Canadian awards, and two All-CFL nominations along the way. Despite missing three games with a shoulder injury in 2025, the back led the league in scrimmage yards (1,709) and yards per carry (5.8), while sitting second in receptions amongst backs (61) and fourth in rushing yards after contact (704).
The run game is once again set up to do some fun things in 2026, following a year that saw the unit post the second-highest rush yards per game (124.1) and the second-highest average gain per rush (5.5).
Winnipeg can maul in between the tackles or bounce it outside, can get creative in heavy packages with extra linemen and their fullbacks in second-round pick Dante Daniels and second-year man Michael Chris-Ike, and generally get good blocking from their receiving core. With Oliveira as the engine, this has been their identity.
The biggest question is how that will mesh with new offensive coordinator Tommy Condell now at the helm. The playcalling was certainly questioned last campaign under first-year coordinator Jason Hogan, leading to a demotion to running backs coach for 2026 with Condell now in town.
The experienced coach has typically led high passing-rate attacks (though he’s never had a back as good as Oliveira), and he’s been tasked with fixing what was a dysfunctional passing game last season, while also not abandoning the run.
What helps is having chemistry with franchise arm Zach Collaros, as the pair go back more than a decade, having worked together on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2014 and 2015.
While the team was mauling in the run game, they struggled to move the ball through the air, posting the lowest passing yards per game by far at 235.0 (more than 100 fewer than the leader, BC Lions).
After battling through head and neck injuries last season while also posting the lowest numbers across the board of his Bombers career, Collaros is hoping to bounce back with some new additions to the pass game.
The Bombers’ trench play notably took a step down on both sides of the ball in 2025. They addressed the offensive side of things with arguably the best player available in free agency in tackle Jarrell Broxton.
The 2025 All-CFL selection has allowed the lowest pressure rate among qualified tackles over the past two seasons and now plugs in opposite of four-time Most Outstanding Linemen and eight-time All-CFL member Stanley Bryant, forming a fantastic pass-protection tackle duo. Add in the swap of the younger Asotui Eli in at centre for the departed Chris Kolankowski, and the offensive line should be much improved in the pass game in 2026.
The receiving core also got a boost, as Walters and co. acquired three-time CFL all-star Tim White and Canadian breakout Tommy Nield. Injuries hit the pass catchers last season as the group overall lacked pop. White and Nield should help in that regard.
They’ll be joined by Mr. Reliable in Nic Demski, who has recorded three straight 1,000-yard seasons while posting one of the highest contested catch rates last season (63.6). Add in Ontaria Wilson, who was one of the best deep threats in the league over the final six games of the season after coming back from a stint in the NFL, and that’s not half bad.
Overall, it’s a versatile group that Collaros and Condell will get to work with, while having a great running game with Oliveria that should lead the charge. Seeing the marriage of all of this coming together, while Condell sprinkles in his concepts with a group you can get creative with, could lead to a bounce-back year from Collaros and an offence that sat bottom three in offensive points per game (23.1), touchdown drive percentage (15.8), and red zone opportunities (47) in 2025.
Defence
This is a group that could return to the very top of the CFL in 2026, as it only added more juice to what was a great unit last season.
While the offence seemed like it was trying to figure things out every week in 2025, Jordan Younger’s unit was dialled in from Week 1. Younger has put together an elite pass defence unit since he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2024.
Over the past two seasons, the Bombers have allowed the fewest number of passing yards per game (248.1), passing touchdowns (41), the lowest opponent completion percentage (61.6 per cent), and the most pass knockdowns (Willie Jefferson plays a big factor in that, too).
The group of defensive backs is loaded, beginning with star halfback duo Deatrick Nichols and Evan Holm. Both have gotten multiple All-CFL nods in their time as a duo since 2022 and are great in coverage. They are also both durable, with one game being missed between the pair since 2023.
It’s a very intriguing group around them on the interior as well, as Canadian Redha Kramdi (who has grown into one of the better nickels in the league, especially in the run game), and Americans Michael Griffin and Cam Allen lock down the nickel/safety rotation.
On the outside, former all-star and free agent acquisition Jonathan Moxey mans the strong side, while rookie American Major Williams has won the corner job on the weak side. Superstar special teams returner Trey Vaval can soak up snaps as well.
What Younger and Winnipeg have failed to do over the past two seasons is pair these dynamic cover men with a pass rush, as the defence has ranked last in sacks (39) and tackles for loss (49) over that span.
The front seven’s pass rush needed a shot in the arm, and it will look to get it with free agent acquisition Jake Ceresna. Known as one of the best disruptors from the interior, last season’s down year, which saw the 31-year-old post career lows across the board while battling through injury, is not indicative of his play. Over the past three seasons before 2025, the two-time All-CFL selection posted 88 tackles and 30 sacks, eye-popping numbers for a defensive tackle.
He’ll look to supplement a front that wasn’t up to standard in 2025, as even former Most Outstanding Defensive Player and six-time All-CFL team member Jefferson will look to have a more productive year off the edge after posting the worst stats of his Bombers’ tenure.
Canadian Cameron Lawson on the interior and a mix of young Americans in De’Shaan Dixon and Kydran Jenkins on the edge will also help. Overall, it’s a front that has questions to be answered in durability and inexperience, and it needs the veterans to produce as they have previously.
While the team also made an addition to the linebacking core in free agency in veteran Jovan Santos-Knox, he has been ruled out for the season after suffering an injury during training camp. That leaves the same duo from last season at inside backer in Tony Jones and Kyrie Wilson.
The latter finally stayed healthy for the first time since his breakout 2019 campaign and will be looking to repeat that in 2026, while Jones broke out in 2025. The defender posted the second most total tackles (104) and defensive plays (116) in the league en route to a West All-CFL selection and will be asked to deliver a similar output.
For this Winnipeg team, it’s a veteran group that no question can get back to a sixth Grey Cup in seven seasons if things break right. But there are valid questions to be asked, like can the offence fully come together after major changes from what was a dysfunctional year? Can the trench play improve on both sides of the ball? And can the veterans like Collaros, Ceresna, and Jefferson stay healthy and bounce back?
The Blue Bombers have tried their best to extend their championship window, and 2026 could prove whether it’s been propped open for just a little longer or if it has slammed shut.
