The Green Bay Packers did not offer a contract tender to linebacker Andy Mulumba on Wednesday, allowing the three-year NFL veteran to become a free agent.
Mulumba, 26, was drafted second overall by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 2013 draft and the team retains his CFL rights. But the Eastern Michigan product is now free to sign with any NFL team he chooses, including Green Bay should they try to re-sign him to a less expensive deal.
While it’s clear Mulumba will exhaust all NFL opportunities before coming north, he told the Winnipeg Free Press in 2013 that “[he]’d be really proud to be a Blue Bomber.” Assuming Mulumba’s feelings on the CFL haven’t changed over the past three years, it’s entirely possible that he could be wearing blue and gold sometime in the near future.
Mulumba shone during his rookie season in Green Bay, starting three games and registering 15 tackles and one sack. After missing virtually the entire 2014 campaign with a torn ACL, Mulumba appeared in just six games in 2015, recording two tackles while struggling to earn playing time.
Mulumba, an outside linebacker with the Packers, would make the switch back to his college position of defensive end with Winnipeg should he eventually come north. Coincidentally, the CFL player to whom Mulumba most closely compares is already a Blue Bomber.
Mulumba (6’3, 260 pounds) is virtually identical in size to star rush end Jamaal Westerman (6’2, 260 pounds) and the two posted eerily similar testing numbers coming out of college in the 40 yard dash (Mulumba, 4.80; Westerman, 4.78), bench press (Mulumba, 23; Westerman, 20), and vertical jump (Mulumba, 36 inches; Westerman, 36.5 inches). And while Mulumba is not yet as polished as Westerman when it comes to raw pass rushing ability, it was Mulumba’s ability to stop the run — not rush the passer — that garnered him NFL interest in the first place.
Having Mulumba at rush end opposite Westerman would give the Bombers an all-Canadian pass rushing duo unlike any in the recent memory of the CFL. And while there’s no guarantee Mulumba ever signs a CFL contract, there’s no doubt the Bomber brain trust on Chancellor Mathison Road will be keeping a close eye on the future Andy Mulumba.
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