Paul Boudreau | Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Paul Boudreau enters his seventh season leading the Bombers special teams in 2023.

The Blue Bombers remain one of the Canadian Football League’s most innovative and consistent special teams units under his leadership, backed by outstanding kick return and kick cover units. The Blue Bombers special teams units were also the least penalized in the CFL by a wide margin, with their 14 infractions 20 fewer than the closest rival.

Kick returner Janarion Grant earned his first CFL All-Star team berth in 2022, a year in which he had three return scores during the regular season — two via punts a third on a kickoff — and then added two more touchdowns in the playoffs, both punts, with one coming in the Western Final and his Grey Cup record 102-yard return in the championship game loss.

Grant also became the Blue Bombers all-time leader in career kick-return touchdowns in 2022, with his seven regular season kick-return scores pushing him one past Keith Stokes.

Back in the championship season of 2021, the club used four different placekickers  in Tyler Crapigna, Marc Liegghio, Ali Mourtada and, finally, Sergio Castillo, who was superb in hitting five field goals in the 108th Grey Cup victory. As well, the Blue Bombers were one of four teams who did not surrender a kick-return touchdown in 2021 while finishing second in opponents’ post-kickoff field position. Winnipeg also showed a great deal of discipline on special teams, being called on just eight return penalties all season.

The 2019 campaign was a superb one for the Blue Bombers special teams. Winnipeg finished third in both punt and kickoff-return average that season, and the team’s four kick-return touchdowns was second in the league to Hamilton, which had five. As well, the Bombers were the least-penalized team on special-teams, allowed the lowest punt-return average in the league and the fewest ‘big-play’ returns. Winnipeg’s three blocked kicks in 2019 also tied for most in the CFL.

In 2018, the Bombers led the CFL by blocking three kicks while finishing with the third fewest penalties and six return touchdowns. And in 2017, Boudreau’s special teams unit allowed the fewest return TDs and had the second highest average kickoff yards in the CFL.

Previous to joining the Bombers, Boudreau spent four seasons as the assistant special teams coach with the St. Louis Rams. In 2014, his squad was seventh in the NFL in punt coverage. One year earlier, his team paced the league, allowing just 2.6 yards per punt return.

Before jumping to the NFL, Boudreau spent 16 years coaching at the collegiate level. During that span, he coached quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs, as well as acting as Widener University’s Passing Game Coordinator.