Riderville.com
The unofficial kick-off to the football season begins with the CFL Draft tonight at 6pm Regina time.
For the second straight year, the Ottawa REDBLACKS will have the first overall pick heading into the draft and General Manager, Marcel Desjardins has outright said he will be selecting an offensive lineman. As for the next four picks, the best guess has a run of offensive lineman being selected before the Riders make their first pick. This may force the hand of General Manager, Brendan Taman and the rest of the Rider Canadian Scouting staff to pick the best available player instead of drafting by need.
“There is probably a position or two that probably stands out probably more than others. The question is, is there a guy good enough in those areas to pick at that point to make it worth a pick,” Taman says. “Whereas you got other guys that are probably good, better players in positions you might not need as much. That’s the magical game we have to meet on and decide over the next 24 hours and figure out what we are going to do.”
A quick overview of the past five drafts shows that Rider scouting staff has done well with their top picks.
Eight of the nine first and second round selections are still in football;
Three are on the Rider roster (Dylan Ainsworth (2nd/11th ’14), Alex Pierzchalski (2nd/18th ’14), Corey Watman (1st/4th ’13)) three are still on CFL rosters (Sam Hurl (2nd/12th ’12), Craig Butler (2nd/15th ’11), , Shomari Williams (1st/1st ’10) and then Ben Heenan (1st/1st ’12) is currently with the Indianapolis Colts and Matt O’Donnell (2nd/15th ’11) is with the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL.
The overall draft record of the Saskatchewan Roughriders over the last five years is quite remarkable. Of the 28 total picks, 12 are currently on the Rider roster, another nine are on other CFL rosters with Heenan in the NFL. Only six players selected in the past five years are not currently on a CFL roster.
Late round gems are really what carry a team over the line and the Riders have been very good with the final three rounds with nine players currently on the roster chosen after pick 36 (or 32 before the REDBLACKS returned in 2014). Taman says it’s a trend that needs to continue, “Your first 10 to 20 picks are the first 10 to 20 picks, you’ll get some decent kids. It’s what you do at the end of those draft rounds that you really make your hay.”
Couple more quick facts:
– Only two players in the past five years have been selected from NCAA schools (Corey Watman – Eastern Michigan ’13 and Bruno Lapointe – Buffalo ’10)
– Nine of the 25 picks have been offensive linemen
– 6 offensive players, 10 defensive and two kickers have been selected
– Calgary has had the most Rider selections with four. Western Ontario, Saskatchewan and Queen’s are next with three picks from each school.
To get yourself ready for the CFL Draft, check out CFL Prospect Central here http://www.cfl.ca/prospects
For your pick by pick rundown for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, the Rider App and of course riderville.com.
The draft begins at 6pm CST on TSN2
