CFL Draft Preview: Saskatchewan Roughriders

We are 8 days from the CFL Draft. Hooray for actual football news!

For the second year in a row O’Day has all 8 of his original picks. After living through some very different regimes and approaches to drafting, O’Day is a bit of a breath of fresh air.

Taman acted like he always wanted to be a wall street trader the way he was addicted to trading picks. In 2013, we had a first round pick and then took a nap until the 5^th round. Chris Jones was actually a better early round drafter than most people gave him credit for (Judge, Bladek, Teitz, Shepley) but he never met a supplemental draft he didn’t like and would always do something weird (like draft an OL who had been out of football for over a year).

If you look back at his six drafts since becoming GM you can see impact players in every draft class:

-        2019: Justin McInnis, Brayden Lenius, Charbel Dabire

-        2020: Kian Schaefer-Baker, AJ Allen

-        2021: Everyone gets one mulligan.

-        2022: Sam Emilus, Zach Fry, Jayden Dalke

-        2023: Lake Korte-Moore, Jaxson Ford, Thomas Bertrand-Hudon

-        2024: Ajou Ajou, Dhel Duncan Busby, Malique Straker (and that's despite his first round pick still  being the NFL and his second round pick being on IR, this class could get better still).

Picks: 8 picks, first selection is 4^th  Overall

Potential Pipeline: DL David Oneymata (Atlanta/Never coming to the CFL), DL Neville Gallimore (Indy), OL Sidy Sow (New England), DL Tavius Robinson (Baltimore), OL Kyle Hergel (New Orleans).

Current Strengths:

We have emerged from some dark years and are back to drafting from a position of strength. We have no glaring needs that we have to address.

Receiver remains a strength despite the loss of Ajou. Emilus and Baker are impact starters. Busby and Picton are solid depth. Neild adds further depth.

OL is looking pretty solid. Ferland is a flat out stud. The additions of Gagnon and McEwen give us a strong starting interior. We have depth in guys like Fry and Zerr who were forced into starting roles last year and did well.

Special teams are rock solid. Other than the very predictable (and inevitable) early season slump that makes everyone doubt Lauther, he is and will be a stud. Korsak is a great punter. I think we take for granted how good Jorgen Hus is. He has not missed a game in 7 straight seasons and I honestly don’t recall him missing a snap either. Our cover teams are solid with guys like Allen, the Herdmans, Straker, Exume and Oneyka.

Current Needs:

There is theory and there is reality when it comes to our Canadian starters in the secondary. In theory we are in good shape with Lokombo and Campbell as starters and Dalke and Ford as depth. We all know I am not a Lokombo believer. Campbell hasn’t touched a CFL field in years and was not a starter when he left. In theory he could be awesome but its far from a sure thing. Ford seems to be hurt a lot. Dalke has a tendency to take penalties. Point being we could use some top end talent here.

Defense in general could use reinforcements. I love guys like Dabire, Korte-Moore and Allen but outside of the previously mentioned Lokombo and Campbell we lack bona fide Canadian starters on D.

Unless Kyle Hergel unexpectedly shows up OL is always a place where more depth is needed

Prediction:

Logic would point to a defensive player with the 4^th overall pick. That’s where we are lacking in impact players/starters. If Darien Newell unexpectedly falls to 4 we would likely grab him. Hayden Harris or Ali Saas are another possibility if we wanted to beef up the DL. That said with limited roster spots available for DL at this point we may opt for a DB like Jackson Findlay or LB like Jaylen Smith.

Second round I think we target an O-lineman. Also, given that we are keenly aware of the need to plan for the future at QB I would not rule out drafting Kurtis Rourke or Taylor Elgersma.

Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: Riders Listen?!

I was as shocked as anyone when the Riders announced that for 2025, Season Ticket holders would have benefits this season. Now in reality it should not be notable that a team does something the thank its most loyal supporters… but this is the Riders. For the last number of years the only thing season ticket holders have gotten is higher concession prices. 

I find it interesting how things are coming full circle. There used to be a time where the team was so desperate for people to buy seasons that they would have offered up anything short of fellatio (and even that was probably not out of the question for the right corporate donor). As the team was gaining popularity under the Shivers regime, season ticket holder packages included swag, treat a friend vouchers, coupons etc… But then things exploded in 2007 and the team was so popular they could literally have put a Rider logo on your dog’s turd and sold it back to you at a crazy mark-up. They stopped having to try. People were going out of their way to throw money at them. It was it as this point that the season ticket packages started shrinking. No vouchers. Then no swag. Eventually no tickets. For the last number of years the season ticket package was simply an email saying your tickets are now loaded.

So while its probably a couple seasons later than it should have been, its clear the Riders have clued into the fact that the effortless money train is waning and they may have to try again. I think its great. There should be perks for those fans at the core of financially supporting the team. I appreciate their effort here and hope it is the start of a larger trend of fan-centric decision making. 

The other notable thing in the announcement of the perks (other than them misspelling Member Appreciation… they must have had to lay off the proofreader to afford the new perks) was a clear indication that the notoriously tone-deaf Riders may actually be listening to feedback. When announcing the gift for season ticket holders they specified that it was “one per seat”. This is no doubt in response to negative feedback received from people like me when the commemorative rings they gave out were one per account regardless of how many seats were on that account (See? Because of me now they have a warning). 

Do I think they have fully turned the corner? No. This is a team that still gives free jerseys as part of their MVP program but insists you get an MVP patch on it even if you don’t want the patch (why should it matter to the team what you want?).  But this is an important step in the right direction. 

I look forward to looking down my nose at people in the normal lines, as I twirl my lanyard in the season ticket holder line. I mean sure I will just end up in the same long concession line paying the same jacked up prices as those folks. But for that fleeting moment, won’t I be high and mighty.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Don’t Be First

Tanking for last place to get the top draft pick is a time-honoured sports tradition. Be it hockey, basketball or even football, the short-term pain of a dreadful season can be totally worth it if it leads to a generational player joining your team. Connor Bedard, Victor Wembenyama, Joe Burrow just to name a few. 

But in keeping with its general quirkiness, the CFL does not operate like other leagues in this respect. In fact, if you look at the recent history, your odds of drafting a top end player actually go significantly up if you pick pretty much anywhere but first overall. The Riders are a perfect example. Sure we hit some home runs with the first overall pick including Scott Schultz (2001) and Ben Heenan (2012). But those are more than balanced out by our misses. And when we miss, we don’t just kinda miss. We miss the ball, send our bat flying into the stands injuring a grandma and our pants end up falling down mid swing as we trip and fall on our face. As evidence I point you to Tyson St James (2000), Shomari Williams (2010) and Josiah St John (2016). To be fair 2010 just a god awful draft year, legitimately the best player in the draft was a kicker and despite being taken at 5^th overall, in retrospect Rob Maver may have been drafted far too low relative the rest of that class. 

But this first pick futility is not just a Riders thing. I went back and looked at the 12 drafts since we took Ben Heenan. Almost half of those selected were massive wastes of picks and even those that were decent picks often not end up being the best player in that draft. First overall picks do not pan out in other leagues as well but the rate of that occurring in the CFL is staggering.

Take 2013 when the Ti-Cats selected DL Linden Gaydosh. At the time it was actually viewed as a solid pick but Gaydosh played just 12 games for the Ti-Cats and 29 overall. Apparently he was briefly on the Riders’ offseason roster in 2017 (I know a ton of obscure Rider facts but I have no recollection of that at all). 

In 2017 it was the Bombers’ turn. They took Faith Ekakitie. He lasted just 4 games in Winnipeg and was out of the league before then end of the next calendar year. Hard to blame a guy for wanting to make a speedy exit from a job in Winnipeg but the Bombers were not much ahead of if they had just passed on the pick. 

Speaking of teams that essentially passed on a pick. Hamilton selected WR Mark Chapman in 2018. His selection was the last moment his name was mentioned in relation to the CFL. At no point did he play a down or even report to camp. He made the Jordan Sisco selection by the Riders look like a stunning success by comparison. Clearly not having enough embarrassment, just 3 years later the Ti-Cats took TE Jake Burt first overall. His 40 career yards did eclipse the high bar set by Chapman for top picks. Really makes one wonder why the Ti-Cats have the longest Grey Cup drought in the CFL. 

All goes to say I am very happy the Riders aren’t picking first overall this year. We will gladly give the Stamps to honour of prolifically whiffing on a pick. And based on how their last few seasons have gone, they are well qualified to do so.