THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jim Barker and other CFL coaches and GMs have much more to consider this week as they prepare for the Canadian college draft.
With five top Canadian university prospects having either signed NFL contracts or committed to mini-camps this week, Barker and other CFL officials are back at the drawing board heading into the draft Sunday (noon ET). They’re busy researching which players have the best chance of going to an NFL training camp this summer while reassessing who they’ll select and when once the draft begins.
And with three selections among the first 11 – including first overall – getting it right is crucial to Toronto head coach Barker, who is looking to rebuild an Argos club that posted a 3-15 record last year.
“There’s no question it means doing a lot more research and following up,” Barker said. “Everything we do in this league in the draft is based on probabilities, so the probabilities change as the circumstances change.”
CFL officials knew months ago offensive linemen Joe Bender of Nevada and Danny Watkins of Baylor, as well as defensive linemen Brian Bulcke of Stanford and J’Michael Deane of Michigan State, were all returning to school this fall. All four are quality draft-eligible prospects, but because they’re unavailable until next season, they’re deemed future players who could be taken later in the draft after those prospects a team knows will be in training camp this summer.
Two such prospects included offensive linemen Joel Reinders of the Waterloo Warriors and Kristian Matte of the Concordia Stingers. But that all changed Saturday when they signed NFL deals with Cleveland and Houston, respectively.
Further complicating matters was having three more solid CFL draft prospects – Bishop’s receivers Steven Turner (Chicago Bears), Shawn Gore (Green Bay Packers) and Wilfrid Laurier defensive end Chima Ihekwoaba (Detroit Lions) – all committed to NFL mini-camps. Another, Concordia linebacker Cory Greenwood, could be headed to the Kansas City Chief’s mini-camp as well.
These developments create no shortage of uncertainty regarding when the NFL-bound players might be available to play in Canada. What’s more, CFL teams that gave the players a first-round grade now must decide whether to stick to their guns or take a flyer and gamble they’ll still be on the board in the later rounds.
“The problem is they (NFL teams) don’t start mini-camps till Friday or Saturday so as of Sunday who knows where they (Canadians) are going to be at,” said Neil McEvoy, the B.C. Lions assistant GM and player-personnel director. “They could be on a plane home, you don’t know and that’s why it’s going to be a test, it’s going to be something that we haven’t had to deal with in a long time or ever.
“It’s going to put a little bit of a raffle into the draft but that’s what the draft is all about. Now you have to make decisions and take chances on these guys.”
Added Barker: “There will be decisions made right up until draft time, I can promise you that because most of these mini-camps will conclude Sunday morning.”
CFL teams have traditionally used the draft to stockpile Canadian offensive linemen and both Reinders and Matte were regarded as solid pro prospects. But with both being under contract to NFL teams and expected to attend training camp – and therefore be unavailable until August or September at the earliest – CFL teams that had looked at drafting Reinders or Matte early on must review their position.
“It can change the thinking,” said Craig Smith, the Saskatchewan Roughiders’ player-personnel director. “It sounds like those two are going to camp for sure so it means if they get cut it will be sometime in August, so that’s a heck of a long time not to have them.”
Many CFL teams use their early draft picks on players they know will report to training camp when it opens before selecting NCAA-or NFL-bound prospects in later rounds as future selections.
There’s no doubt all nine players in question will be drafted. But with five potential first-or second-round picks having already committed to the NFL, officials in Canada must research which of those prospects have the best shot of being invited to an NFL training camp, or better still, making a roster south of the border.
With that in mind, CFL teams must also reassess whether to still take the players in question in the first or second rounds or gamble and select them in later rounds.
Making an NFL roster as an undrafted free agent is a longshot but not impossible, something Barker knows all too well.
“Two years ago (when Barker was with the Calgary Stampeders) we had a guy go through our mini-camp,” Barker said. “That guy was Clifton Smith, a running back from Fresno State and he ended up going to an NFL training camp with Tampa Bay and ended up in the Pro Bowl (as a kick returner).
“(Former Bucs head coach) Jon Gruden just fell in love with the guy. That’s all it takes.”
A factor working in Barker’s favour is his team has three early selections, giving it the luxury of, say, using two to take players who could help the Argos immediately while using the other on a future prospect.
Saskatchewan is in a similar position – it has the second-and fourth-overall selections – and Smith said with the potential for so many future players the Riders have discussed using the picks to address present and future needs.
“That could definitely happen,” Smith said. “We just go out of a draft meeting and the discussion was something like that.
“We have two picks, No. 2 and No. 4 and maybe we could get help right away and then take a redshirt. It’s definitely a possibility. It’s so important to get good Canadian people. It’s half our league. You can’t waste these things, you have to make sure you get the proper guys.”
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