Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg @ Calgary, June 5, 2026

[gobombersgo]

Calgary Stampeders sit out Jaylon Hutchings, Folarin Orimolade against Winnipeg
by 3Down Staff  June 4, 2026

The Calgary Stampeders will not have two of their defensive stalwarts in the lineup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday night after all. The issued its official depth chart on Thursday morning.

Jaylon Hutchings and Folarin Orimolade were both cleared to practice this week, making it appear they'd be available to boost the team's defensive line. The former was a limited participant due to a hamstring injury, while the latter was a full participant coming off an Achilles tear he suffered last season. Despite that, both will sit for Week 1.

Hutchings signed a three-year contract with the team this past weekend, rejoining the squad on which he was named All-CFL in 2025. The six-foot, 304-pound defender signed with the Minnesota Vikings in January but was waived in April with an injury designation. He remained a free agent until he signed back with the Stampeders.

Orimolade suffered a torn Achilles in September. The 30-year-old made 19 defensive tackles and four sacks over 12 regular-season games in 2025, his first season back in Calgary since he was reacquired via trade.

"I thought (Orimolade) looked great," said head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson during the practice week. "I've been ready to activate him for a couple of weeks now. He's just flying around. I will be smart but if (he and Hutchings are) good to go, they're playing."

Instead, Orimolade has been placed on Calgary's reserve roster, while Hutchings is on the one-game injured list. Also on the one-game injured list are Canadian receiver Clark Barnes, American linebacker Morice Blackwell II, and Canadian defensive back Anton Haie.

Dejon Brissett, who signed with the team in February, will start at field-side wideout. The Mississauga, Ont. native led the Toronto Argonauts with 65 catches for 907 yards and three touchdowns last season.

The Stampeders have also had to make a change at kicker with Rene Paredes being placed on the six-game injured list. Jude McAtamney, the team's first-round pick in the 2026 CFL Global Draft, will handle placekicking duties. The native of Derry, Northern Ireland played collegiately at Rutgers University before a stint with the New York Giants.

Also on Calgary's six-game injured list to open the season are American receiver Reggie Begelton, American offensive lineman Preston Nichols, Canadian defensive linemen Daniel Joseph and Justin Sambu, American defensive back Sheldon Arnold II, and Global defensive back Bailey Devine-Scott.

Damon Webb has shifted from safety to boundary halfback, with third-year veteran Jackson Sombach starting at safety. The 26-year-old defender was originally a seventh-round pick in the 2024 CFL Draft out of the University of Regina.

The Calgary Stampeders (0-0) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (0-0) at McMahon Stadium on Friday, June 5 with kickoff scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EDT. The Blue Bombers are coming off an East Semi-Final loss to the Montreal Alouettes, while the Stampeders lost last year's West Semi-Final to the B.C. Lions.

The weather forecast in Calgary calls for a high of 20 degrees and a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg and 770 CHQR in Calgary.

https://3downnation.com/2026/06/04/calgary-stampeders-sit-out-jaylon-hutchings-folarin-orimolade-against-winnipeg/

[Sir Blue and Gold]

That's good news for us. Like our week one lineup significantly more than last year.

[Blueforlife]

That's good news for us. Like our week one lineup significantly more than last year.

hope is on the rise

[TBURGESS]

Cobb was anointed as the starter in week 1 when we got all the good press about him.

No Hutchings, Orimolade, Begelton or Paredes. Gotta change my pick to the Bombers.

Eli still not the starting centre despite being given every opportunity. Maybe he's already peeked at extra O linemen.

Jones is going to get a lot of work with Ceresna and Jefferson on the other side.

Go Bombers!

[Blue In BC]

The two man reserve is optional, I believe .

Good to know. It's still seems a curious change to rosters. From an SMS point of view the cost is the same as adding that player to the 1 game IR. OTOH, I suppose that player COULD be added to the AR as a late GTD. Tht can't be done from the 1 game IR on the same day.

In the case of Vibert we don't really need a 7th OL so it's moot.

I think Woodbey is a DI so he may see less reps than his previous role? Not sure that's true. Glad he's still on the roster though.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

As expected Ball, Novak and Allen added to the 6 game IR. Not expected was Vanterpool added to the 6 game IR.

Vibert moved to the 2 man reserve. At the moment he's the only one. I'm not sure having 2 is mandatory or not. I think we have 1 too many imports but that's less clear at the moment.

Also we have open spots for globals on the PR but Sheehan is the only global on our roster.

So were saving a few schekels on the opening day roster as far as SMS. lol

Eli is on the AR but did Elsbury actually beat him out or are they waiting for him to have some additional low activity to recover from nicks in TC?

I thought Jones at WIL and K. Wilson at MLB was just a TC thing but it appears that is actually the plan.  Kramdi at safety to all 3 LB positions switched around.

Wow mind blowing, an official depth chart released more than 24 hours prior to game time, O'Shea must be turning over a new leaf!  Offensive backups look scant, a couple of injuries and they could be in a heap of trouble, little depth at receiver and the O-line, Vibert on the game reserve is a bit of a surprise.  Not sure if Eli is nicked up or he got beat out, but might be putting his health at risk if they have to use him a lot. 

Strange Vanterpool ended up on the 6 game, did they know that before they cut Randolph?  All in all I'd guess they're not done manipulating the roster and may bring in a few more players in next week to fill in a few gaps.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

To be honest, I'm not overly impressed or scared of this Calgary roster without Hutchings.
They just have a lot of new names. Don't get me wrong... they could be very good! Just a lot of unknowns...

If it's going to be Cobb over Clercius long-term, I would be a little less happy but still okay. It's our 5th WR after all...

Hicks and Brown can still be pretty dangerous, Brown is the same monster that took out Strev. and Zach 2 years ago when he was wearing green.

[Tecno]

I don't know why people are placing cgy on a pedestal. I checked play now and pretty sure we're the 1.5 favourites now. Plus, they have Wpg more favoured to win the West and cup than cgy.

Cgys chart doesn't scare me. Lots of question marks. And vaj has been known to have totally off years from time to time for no apparent reason. He's overdue...

We need revenge for their 3 win sweep last season. We won't let teams walk all over us like before.

[Tecno]

I agree that we can't read much into the starting center situation. It's been said for over a week that Eli is dinged. Maybe he's close but iffy and can do some jumbo, but best not to play every snap.

And if the plan really was elsbury to be desired starting c, then ya that starts to get intriguing. I've been asking for that paradigm for a couple of years now. Most intriguing is that we put the imp at c and not lg...

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I guess we will see, Cobb just has such little upside or even big-play potential. Obviously the focus is on the run game but ehhh. Just don't love it.

Focus on the run game and they'll lose most games, at best it's a 60/40 split and in reality probably an 80/20 split in favour of the passing game.  A run centric team could not keep up in the CFL, it takes too long to march the field and score.  A good running game is a great compliment to a passing attack, but to prioritize the run looks a lot like a low scoring Strevy led game from last season, which is pretty awful.

[Pete]

It seems like we are falling into the same pattern of only 6 dlinemen, in order to accommodate extra lbs. (cal has 8 )
1 goes down and were worn out by 4th

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Good to know. It's still seems a curious change to rosters. From an SMS point of view the cost is the same as adding that player to the 1 game IR. OTOH, I suppose that player COULD be added to the AR as a late GTD. Tht can't be done from the 1 game IR on the same day.

In the case of Vibert we don't really need a 7th OL so it's moot.

I think Woodbey is a DI so he may see less reps than his previous role? Not sure that's true. Glad he's still on the roster though.

Looks like there's going to be a whole lot of rotation among the LB's, including Tony Jones who didn't come off the field much last season, he's not a pass coverage guy so can't see why he would play WIL.  Expect to see plenty of Woodbey, Smith, Shay, and Ayers rotating with Kyrie and Jones, danger is too much rotation can lead to an increase in confusion.

[LXTSN]

I agree that we can't read much into the starting center situation. It's been said for over a week that Eli is dinged. Maybe he's close but iffy and can do some jumbo, but best not to play every snap.

And if the plan really was elsbury to be desired starting c, then ya that starts to get intriguing. I've been asking for that paradigm for a couple of years now. Most intriguing is that we put the imp at c and not lg...

I think they might like Wallace more than they like Eli.
If Eli is good to play Friday, why wouldn't they start him?
I don't think it would make sense to AR Eli if he was good to go Friday, but not quite good enough to start the game.
I believe they've had their eyes on Elsbury for a little while, and they just weren't bringing that info forward. Or he just won that position in camp...

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

It seems like we are falling into the same pattern of only 6 dlinemen, in order to accommodate extra lbs. (cal has
1 goes down and were worn out by 4th

Won't be surprised if we see a lot of 3 man front as well, hopefully an extra LB can help out with the rush, no matter who they are relying on 3 to pressure the QB is never going to work.

[Tecno]

The Shay/Kyrie swap is also intriguing.  I think we saw some of this in the PS1 game?

I like the move as I think we were hurt by not having more violence & beef at WILL.  Kyrie isn't much beef, and in his old age he may not be wanting to lay as much wood as is required at that spot.  Whereas Jones is a bit of a nutter who can mollywop you.

It also puts more brains at MLB, where it's supposed to be.  Kyrie is the wise old sage.  He can direct things better from there.  If Kyrie is running the show from the middle LB level, then Kramdi can focus on running the DBs from the middle FS spot.  This could really help stop all the brain toots like we saw in the ESF where we couldn't stop the deep pass OR the run.

Plus, getting Jones used to WILL might be us getting ready for the "real solution" (i.e. brains + braun, a la Biggie) to move into MLB, probably in 2027.  That real solution might be a target in FA.

I had hoped it would be Shay, but it would appear he's at least another 1-2 seasons off.  Or a total bust.

This also could help stop all the outside run explosions the good teams exploited against us in '25.  We were pretty good at stopping the gut runs.  It was when they bounced it outside, through a B seal-off or C gap or edge around, that they would ream us.  I still have nightmares.  We now have beef at SAM (instead of lightweight Kramdi) and beef at WILL.  The middle isn't as important as it gets more help from the cavalry.

In 2026, we simply can't have Oullette, Mills, and Scott just waltzing in for 15Y TDs just by going a bit outside the tackles.