Mitchell Blair
The CFL’s annual draft goes tomorrow night and it’s been a venture that has been very kind to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the past. Look at the Grey Cup winning roster of 2013 and you will find nine players who walked off the Mosaic Stadium turf on that magical November night as a champion were drafted by the Green and White.
The team’s Canadian depth did take a hit in this off-season though as Keith Shologan left via the dispersal draft to Ottawa while Craig Butler and Graig Newman went elsewhere in free agency meaning the draft will once again give the football team an opportunity to find players who hopefully can make a key contribution to the squad not just this year, but in years beyond.
Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Brendan Taman has been spending the weekend with his scouting staff making final preparations for Tuesday and he is confident the team can find an impact player when they select 8th in the first round.
“There are a number of guys we are going to look at,” Taman told reporters on Friday. “I don’t think we have a specific position we are looking at, but there are five or six guys we would like to look at. If they are there when it comes our turn to pick, that’s great.”
When you are picking at the bottom of the first round, it can be an attractive pick for a team looking to move down or a team perhaps wanting to make a first round selection that could move up by offering draft choices in return. Taman has been known to make moves on draft day before, but he isn’t tipping his hand as to whether or not the team would like to keep the pick or not. He goes into Tuesday’s proceedings feeling comfortable with the spot they are at.
“Having a high pick is valuable,” Taman preached. “We have identified certain guys we would like to pick if they are available. If they aren’t there, we will decide whether or not to keep the pick and we will see who is interested in perhaps acquiring it. There might be some activity, but it has to make sense on our end.”
While the Riders did lose a lot on the Canadian side of the ball in the off-season, Taman is still happy that there is still a good chunk of Canadian talent on the team, however he realizes that can change in a heartbeat which is why the draft is so important.
“I think we’re in good shape, but you can never have enough.” Taman noted. “You are an injury or two away from really having your depth tested. We’ve lost a couple for sure and we do have to re-produce a little so that’s why Tuesday is so important.”
In all, the Riders have six picks. Besides their first round pick which was acquired after a trade with Hamilton in which they added linebacker Shomari Williams and punter Josh Bartel by giving the Ti-Cats the number 9 and 11 pick, the team will also pick 18th, 39th, 45th, 54th and 63rd. In the past no matter how many selections the team has had, they have found a way to keep picks on the roster which is an indication as to how well the team has done scouting the Canadian talent available by having 25 players drafted since the 2005 draft make the roster including offensive lineman Corey Watman and long-snapper Levi Steinhauer last year with receiver Alex Anthony spending his season on the practice roster with offensive lineman Matt Vonk going back to school yet expected to compete for a job at this year’s training camp. Taman says if you can find two guys who make the opening week roster, you can consider the draft a success.
“If you have a really good team that is deep in Canadians, it’s really tough for one guy to crack the roster, but I think two is an accurate number,” Taman said. “If you get two guys who can make an impact on your team I think at the end of the day you can sit back and say it’s been a good draft.”
If past history is any indication, it should be that way again Tuesday night. The proceedings begin at 5 PM Saskatchewan time with the first round being shown on TSN.
