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Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager Kyle Walters is pretty thrilled with their haul in Tuesday’s CFL Canadian Draft.
After losing four national players in the offseason, the Bombers upgraded their Canadian content with nine new players, including two picks inside the top 10.
The Bombers added four players on offence, four players on defence and a special teamer for a fairly balanced draft.
The Bombers used the 20th selection on six-foot-seven-inch offensive lineman Kevin Cline, who was one of the top-ranked players. He fell in the draft after already signing a contract with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but for Walters, he’s worth the wait as he can play either tackle or guard.
With their first pick at fourth overall, the Bombers got defensive end Nuer Gatkuoth of Edmonton. The Bombers currently don’t have any Canadians that play the end position but he’ll attend minicamp with the Denver Broncos.
Overall, Walters felt they had a very good draft.
“Like every team this morning, feeling good,” said Walters. “Added some talent, little bit of everything. Help with some defence with a Canadian defensive end that we haven’t had in a while that we think can get after the quarterback.
“A real good O-line (Cline) that we hope to see sooner rather than later but you never know. As usual, added some good defensive special teams, versatile guys that really meet our mould. And then a couple receivers late that are very intriguing prospects and our kicker at the end.
“So, kind of a wide group of guys that I think touched on a little bit of everything for our roster. We certainly feel that our roster improved after last night and they’ll be some real strong competition in training camp for sure.”
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The Bombers were aggressive on draft day, making a trade with the Ottawa RedBlacks to move up three slots in the second round to pick tight end Dante Daniels from North Carolina State.
“Wait til you see this f–king guy,” Walters said in a video posted by the team on social media. “Six-six, 260, s–t-kicking blocker, mean mother f–ker.”
Receivers of his size are few and far between in the CFL, so Walters jumped at the opportunity to trade up to get a player of his caliber — a player who could help the Bombers get back to dominating the line of scrimmage.
“You get to that point and there’s just a guy that we really, really, really wanted,” said Walters. “And we had talks with a bunch of teams in front of us. Willing to jump up and get this guy. And it was just one of those moments, and it was, again you heard it.
“Eff it. Let’s just go get the guy. I don’t care. We’ll worry about it later. We’ve picked up extra draft picks in the second round throughout the years. Let’s be aggressive, which I addressed earlier, we normally don’t. We’re not aggressive in those ways and just felt strongly enough about this guy and how a unique piece he is.”
The Bombers selected two more players in Wednesday’s CFL Global Draft in defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen of Finland and Australian punter Keegan Andrews.
Vesterinen already has an NFL minicamp invite, but is a six-foot-three-inch 280-pounder who started 28 games at West Virginia and Walters likes what he’s seen on video.
“The first thing in the Global (Draft) is contacting these guys and the ones that don’t hang up instantly are like OK we got a live one here,” Walters said.
“He’s a polite young man and seemed interested. Obviously, focused on the NFL, but he got into a minicamp. Film is really interesting. He reminds me of (Jake) Ceresna. Just a hundred miles an hour, lunatic, Tazmanian devil in a really positive way.”
DE – Nuer Gatkuoth
“He’s explosive off the edge,” said Walters. “He can get after the quarterback; that’s his strength down there which as we know in our league, having the ability to get after the quarterback is big.”
TE – Dante Daniels
“You just don’t see guys like that, bodies like that,” Walters said. “We’ve spoken to him. The NFL wanted him to put on a few pounds as being a road-grader, essentially a guard at the end of the line of scrimmage.
“We envision him losing 10-15 pounds, being more of dual receiver threat, because he’s not blocking 280 pound defensive ends up here. There’ll be smaller guys so he doesn’t need that weight.”
OL – Kevin Cline
“It was pretty evident that this was a different looking offensive lineman,” said Walters. “Really, really liked his film. The more we talked to him and the more educated he became on the CFL, it seemed like an option for him.
“He got some interest with the Dolphins and now we’ll have to see.”
CFL rookie camps will start on May 6, with main training camps to begin on May 10.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
