Griffin's Return Quietly Costs Winnipeg a National Starter

Michael Griffin II (American) reclaims the SAM linebacker job after six games out, which pushes Canadian Jaylen Smith to the reserve roster with a hip injury — Smith was the ratio patch for those six weeks. Griffin's 35 defensive tackles in a partial season is elite per-game production, but the real transaction is the national spot the Bombers now have to backfill elsewhere in the lineup. Smith being listed questionable before the move suggests this was injury-forced, not a clean tactical swap.