Drew Willy and his Blue Bombers teammates were finding it tough to clean out their lockers on Sunday.

Adding to the misery of missing the CFL playoffs for a fourth straight season was the fact they were making room for another team to move in when Winnipeg hosts the Grey Cup on Nov. 29.

Willy said it's "hard to bet against" the championship finalists being the Edmonton Eskimos and Ottawa Redblacks, teams that have turned their fortunes around compared to the 5-13 Bombers.

The quarterback was asked why Winnipeg hasn't been able to do the same thing.

"Obviously, I think if I would have played this year it would have been a bit different," said Willy, who suffered a season-ending fracture and partial torn ligament in his right knee on Aug. 9.

"They've done a good job. Those two franchises have done good."

The Redblacks (12-6) were 2-16 last year, while the Eskimos went from 4-14 in 2013 to 12-6 last season and 14-4 this year.

Willy is staying in Winnipeg for the next month to continue rehabbing his knee and will attend the championship game the Bombers haven't won for 25 straight seasons.

Rookie Jamaal Westerman, who played six seasons in the NFL, said he's become a big fan of the CFL and might watch the game in person.

But the defensive end who was fined four times by the league this season warned, with a grin, that his locker might not be in great condition for the visiting player who gets it.

"I think I'm going to leave my locker dirty," Westerman joked. "Dirty it real bad so whoever has to use it, it'll be a bad time for them. Maybe put some tacks down or something."

He's rooting for the B.C. Lions and his brother, Jabar, to be in the Grey Cup.

Westerman was Winnipeg's nominee for three awards; most outstanding player, most outstanding defensive player and most outstanding Canadian.

He finished with 61 tackles and 17 quarterback sacks, two back of sack leader John Bowman, who finished with 19 after Montreal lost 30-24 to Saskatchewan Sunday.

The division finalists will be announced this week and it's believed Westerman's best chance is for the top Canadian category. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., but grew up in Brampton, Ont.

Change is expected for the Bombers, who unofficially have a dozen players who could become free agents.

Willy said an overhaul of the roster isn't needed.

"No, I don't think so," he said. "There's a lot of good pieces. Obviously, we probably need to add some, too. But at the same, I think there are a lot of good players here and we just need to keep working."

Head coach Mike O' Shea is expected to stay around for a third year, even though the team is 12-24 under his leadership. He also took over as special-teams co-ordinator after Pat Tracey was fired in early September.

Offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille may be another coaching casualty after Winnipeg's offence didn't progress in his second full season at the helm.

Willy said it would be hard to see Bellefeuille hurt by the business side of the game.

"Obviously, I have full support for coach Bellefeuille, but that's above me," Willy said. "I just wish I could have helped him more because he is a good man."

Veteran centre Dominic Picard was brought in to upgrade Winnipeg's offensive line, as well as tackle Stanley Bryant.

While the unit gave up 59 sacks, down from its franchise-record 71 in 2014, it still struggled to help the five different quarterbacks who started this season and the ground game was lacklustre.

"I can tell you the organization's been really working hard," Picard said. "I love this organization. That's the reason why I came back here".

"They're going to do their job. Me, I have to do my job and I'm going to keep doing mine, getting back healthy and starting to work out in the next couple weeks for 2016."