CFL Draft 2013 Preview: Ottawa Red Blacks

For the first time in the history of the blog I get to talk about an Ottawa CFL from an actual analysis perspective. I mean I’m very experienced at mocking their failure riddle history but to actually talk about them from a current day football perspective is uncharted territory for me.

Picks: 4 picks, first pick 8^th overall

Needs: Ottawa has the luxury of what amounts to 4 bonus picks. They can select only red-shirt juniors from the NCAA so essentially can take flyers on whoever they want. Expect high profile guys like offensive tackles Brander Craighead and Hunter Steward or DLs Jesse Joseph or Nolan McMillan to be high on their radar. Ottawa may also be in the best position to take a chance on consensus top player LB Bo Lokombo who is widely expected to end up in the NFL.

Prediction: As long as they don’t draft a dead guy, it will pretty much be a successful day for the Red Blacks (you know minus the general consensus across the nation that their chosen name is questionable). On a more serious note, outside of possibly Lokombo I fully expect them to draft along the O-line and D-line as those can be the toughest Cdn positions to get top end talent at. Brander Craighead at #9 is my call for the new franchise’s first pick.