Bombers return star Vaval pushing for starting role on defence in second CFL season

WINNIPEG — Trey Vaval dominated the CFL in 2025, rewriting league and franchise record books during a historic rookie season.

As the Winnipeg Blue Bombers open training camp, many around the three-down game are wondering what the dynamic returner has planned for an encore in his second year. While fans might expect more record-breaking returns, Vaval’s second act is aimed at a completely different phase of the game.

With significant vacancies in the club’s secondary, the 25-year-old hopes to parlay his success as a specialist into a full-time starting role on defence.

“I believe I can make an impact on defence. But no matter where I am on the field, I just want to be out there helping my team,” Vaval said, standing in the south end zone at Princess Auto Stadium Sunday following the league’s first day of training camp. “I want to play every spot — returning, defence, offence. I will do anything for my team.”

While modesty has become a defining characteristic of Vaval off the field, on it, he’s a ruthless competitor. The native of Blue Springs, Mo., is coming off a rookie campaign that established him as one of the game’s most dangerous open-field threats.

Last August, Vaval became the first player in Bombers history to return both a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same game, leading Winnipeg to a Week 9 win over the Toronto Argonauts. In September, he set a CFL single-game record for missed field goal return yardage in a victory over the Ottawa Redblacks, punctuated by a 128-yard score that tied for the seventh-longest in league history.

Named the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player during Grey Cup week in Winnipeg, Vaval finished the 2025 season as the CFL’s leader in punt return yards (957), missed field goal return yards (391) and return touchdowns, with four. He’s under contract with the Bombers through 2027.

Vaval’s steep rise in the CFL alone might warrant filling one of the defensive back vacancies left by departed veterans Demerio Houston, Jamal Parker and Terrell Bonds. But he also has a foundation to build on, having started four games at field-side corner last year and finishing with 21 defensive tackles, four special team tackles and an interception.

“I like being a winner. I like to dominate,” Vaval said. “The Bombers like to dominate. We’re winners. That’s who we are. In every phase of the game, I want to make a name for myself.”

His chances of earning a starting spot are heightened by a conditioning level that even Winnipeg’s top veteran found daunting this off-season. Running back Brady Oliveira, the league’s Most Outstanding Player in 2024 and a fitness freak, spent part of the winter training with Vaval, a much leaner teammate.

“I was trying to run with him this off-season so that when the season comes, it becomes a lot easier,” Oliveira said. “But I realized my legs got cooked one day because he just kept me out here much longer than I expected. I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m 230 (pounds), you’re 170, there’s levels to this.’ He pushed me, and it was really good to just get to know him better.”

Oliveira added that Vaval has become the blueprint for American rookies coming up to Canada: “He went from a rookie to being one of the best players in the CFL right now.”

Veteran defensive back Deatrick Nichols puts Vaval firmly in the mix for the open defensive spots, noting he already possesses the Bombers’ just-do-your-job attitude.

“It’s not boxing or tennis — you’ve got 10 guys out there with you,” Nichols said. “Everybody has a role. If you can master your role — and his was to be a star on special teams — then you succeed. He’s got the abilities. It’s about bringing that attitude into everything you do.”

Head coach Mike O’Shea credited Vaval’s breakout rookie season to a “thirst for knowledge” regarding the nuances of the Canadian game. While O’Shea is encouraged by Vaval’s physicality — noting he isn’t shy to “stick his nose in there and whack guys” — the coach emphasized that the transition to full-time corner also requires mental discipline.

“He’s so athletic, you could put him in a spot and say, ‘Hey, you’re just going to go on an island and do your thing,'” O’Shea said. “That’s not the way we do it here, so he’s got to learn, and he has. He does have a tremendous desire to learn as much as he can and be as good as he possibly can, for the right reasons, for his teammates.”

Vaval enters his second Bombers training camp with newfound confidence after a winter in which he worked out for six NFL teams, including the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and Atlanta Falcons.

Indeed, the transition from quiet rookie to respected team leader is already taking shape.

“First day last year, I didn’t know anybody. Now I walk in, and I’m cool with everybody,” Vaval said. “We all know how to play the game — it’s just about perfecting it.”

Despite the accolades in the return game and his push for a bigger role on defence, Vaval remains focused on one thing above all else.

“Get that Grey Cup,” he said. “That’s the biggest goal.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026.

Jeff Hamilton, The Canadian Press