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What will
the first draft of the Jeremy O’Day era bring? I doubt it will be as
interesting or whacky as the Chris Jones era (but then again aside from his
wardrobe choices, its tough to be as interesting and whacky as Jones). Outside
of 2017, Jones did not have a great drafting record. 2016 was abysmal. With St
John not re-signed there is no one left from that draft and we got a solid half
season out of him (not a great return on investment for a first overall pick).
2017 was a solid draft (Bladek, Judge, Chevrier). 2018 (as I’ll discuss below
hinges a lot on one guy). Hopefully O’Day can prove to be a great drafter
because the string of poor drafting GMs we’ve had goes back a while Jones,
Taman, Tillman, Shiv.
Picks: 6 picks, first selection is 6th
overall
2018 Draft Assessment: Not going to go quite as far as
to say the success of this draft hinges entirely on Dakota Shepley but it’s
pretty close to that. We took a risk in drafting him as high as we did but it
has paid off with us only having to wait 1 year for him. He’s signed and will
be in camp (of course pending whatever happens in collective bargaining). If he
even comes close to his potential it’s a win. If he ends up not panning out
then it’s a bad draft as the rest of the draftees are a solid meh. Teitz seems
like he can contribute on teams. Breton and Mufata (I can’t help myself
whenever I heart that name I picture Scar yelling “never, ever mention that
name!”) are developmental projects that may or may not pan out.
Potential Pipeline: DL David Oneymata (NFL – New
Orleans), TE Anthony Auclair (NFL – Tampa Bay), TE Adam Zaruba – neg list
(rugby), OL Christopher Smith (college), DB Elie Bouka (free agent, we don’t
officially own his rights but given that we released him early, hopefully there
is some goodwill there)
Current Strengths: O-line depth looks good with
Labatte, Blake, Bladek, Clark, Shepley and Schram (who saw some limited action last
season). Some definite playmakers on D with Evans, Edem and Judge. Also a very
strong special teams core. Good snapper in Hus. Solid at kicking with Lauther,
Bartel, Crapigna (and possibly John Ryan). Gagne and Chevrier had 23 and 16
special teams tackles. Plus the Riders should get Radford back who had 24 in
2017. Patrick Lavoie is a solid utility player.
Current Needs: With Jake Harty out again with
injury the Riders' Cdn WR situation is pretty bleak. We have 35 year old Cory Watson
who has topped 500 once in the past 7 years and Mitch Picton who has not taken
a pro snap. That does not instill much confidence in a team that needs to start
a Cdn WR. Depth on defense is concerning outside of LB. We have zero depth
behind Edem and while I like Makana Henry, I’d like more than just him backing
up Evans. Also, as much as depth at OL is good, 3 of them are the wrong side of
30 and another is moving off season ending injury. Can’t just stand pat.
Prediction: With so many good WR prospects this
year and our desperate need there, I have a hard time seeing us not taking one
in the first round. Either Justin McInnis or Hergy Mayala. In round 2, we will
be looking for a DL or a DB. My guess is that D-line is most likely because the
DB crop is so thin. The other thing to
watch is whether we are able to move Tyler Crapigna for an extra mid-round
pick. You can bet we are trying.
1 comment:
Bang on assessment, RP. Good depth on OL but we also have an import, Coleman who's 34 in June so do we need 4 Cdns on the O-line? LaBatte has a lot of miles on him as good as he's been & Blake's 33. We desperately need some help @ WR so, yes, pick one up. With Steele gone, Henry is the only option to spell off Evans & he is 32 & so-so. Plus Edem better not get hurt. Overall we have to do well at this draft & we are okay if we don't get injuries at our National positions for WR, DT & Safety. Pretty much zero depth on the roster in those areas & that's not good.
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