Jake Wieneke Superstar, teacher, and now mentor
The Montreal Alouettes have an embarrassment of riches at the wide receiver position following draft day. Led by returning veterans, and arguably two of the best wideouts in the league, the unit added two rookies to the mix this offseason. Some veterans would turn a cold shoulder to these young guys brought in to serve as insurance for, or eventually replace those veterans.
Drafted in round 1 was WR Tyson Philpot one-half of an intriguing pair of twins drafted in the first round. Selected 8th overall, Philpot will likely serve as the third wide receiver in his rookie season looking to make an ascension up the depth chart in the future. At 6’1 195 lbs, he certainly fills a slightly different role than Wieneke. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t eventually take Wieneke’s spot in the lineup long term.
As if selecting a receiver in round one wasn’t enough, the Alouettes followed that up by selecting another wideout in round 3. Vincent Forbes-Mombleau from Laval was the next wide receiver to hear his name called by Montreal. He is 5’10, 195 lbs, and more of a slot receiver than anything. It will be interesting to see how Montreal finds a way to use Louis, Weineke, Philpot, and Forbes-Mombleau together this season. That isn’t even considering William Stanback is still their top running back.
Even with his team spending first and third-round picks, Jake Weineke heading into his third season with the CFL, and fourth-year overall, is approaching the offseason the same way he always does. Working to be the best receiver he can be. Does that mean he will take a page out of the Ryan Tannehill handbook, and give these young guys the cold shoulder? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I got the opportunity to speak with Jake, and one thing I wanted to ask was “Are you the type of guy to take the rookies under your wing?” Jake responded quite quickly “Yeah, I always do the best I can to help out the rookies, and make sure they are good with everything.” If you watch him play, it’s no surprise he isn’t intimidated by the prospect of fending off a couple of rookies.
At just 27 years old he is still fairly young, with lots of football ahead of him. It also helps he is coming off a two-season stretch in which he led the league in touchdowns scored, and obviously in turn led his team in touchdowns as well.
Montreal by many accounts won the offseason. This fact is not lost on the star wide receiver for the Alouettes. Jake Wieneke sees the potential on this roster and says “I am excited. It’s going to be a fun year.”
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