Brent Just/Electric Umbrella
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have a specific player in mind with the No. 2 pick in the CFL draft.
“A really good Canadian,” a chuckling John Murphy says when asked what the Roughriders are looking at with their first-round pick in Sunday’s lottery.
“Last year, we got caught in a little bit of a position to have to draft as much for need — best player but best player at a position we needed,” continues Murphy, Saskatchewan’s assistant vice-president of football operations and personnel.
“To see some of our young guys come in throughout the season, to add a guy like Henoc (Muamba, a national linebacker) when we did, and then to add other guys during the free-agent period this year puts us in a much better strategic position to be drafting best available all the time as opposed to best available in certain circumstances.”
The 2016 draft was the first at the Roughriders’ helm for head coach/GM Chris Jones, who was hired in December of 2015 after guiding the Edmonton Eskimos to the Grey Cup title.
Jones subsequently hired Murphy — a long-time CFL talent evaluator — and retained then-Roughriders interim GM Jeremy O’Day as an assistant vice-president of football operations and administration.
The group immediately started rebuilding the Roughriders’ roster, and one of the tools used was the 2016 CFL draft. Saskatchewan had the No. 1 overall selection.
After listening to trade offers, Jones and Co. opted to use the pick on offensive lineman Josiah St. John from the University of Oklahoma.
He was followed in Saskatchewan’s draft order by University of Calgary defensive back Elie Bouka (third round, 24th overall), UBC punter-kicker Quinn Van Gylswyk (third round, 26th overall), University of Manitoba defensive lineman David Onyemata (fourth round, 35th overall), Calgary Colts linebacker Alex Ogbongbemiga (fifth round, 36th overall), Manitoba offensive lineman Alex McKay (sixth round, 52nd overall) and University of Kansas receiver Josh Stanford (eighth round, 62nd overall).
Bouka and Onyemata never joined the Roughriders — Onyemata was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 2016 NFL draft, while Bouka signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals — and St. John missed Saskatchewan’s training camp due to a contract holdout. He finally reported in early July.
Of the Roughriders’ four other picks, two (Van Gylswyk and Stanford) remain with the team. McKay was released in July and subsequently joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, while Ogbongbemiga played one game for Saskatchewan before being traded to the Eskimos in August.
After ending his holdout, St. John dressed for 10 regular-season games and started six. Stanford appeared in four games and caught three passes for 59 yards, while Van Gylswyk played in one game and hit a 54-yard field goal.
The restocking of the Roughriders’ Canadian talent continued during the season — the biggest signing was that of Muamba, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft by Winnipeg — and resumed in the off-season.
Players like running backs Kienan LaFrance and Aaron Milton, safety Marc-Olivier Brouillette and defensive tackle Eddie Steele were signed in free agency to bolster the team’s Canadian depth.
Receiver Mitchell Baines and linebacker Alexandre Gagne also joined the Green and White as undrafted free agents in the off-season. Offensive lineman Dillon Guy, who missed the 2016 season with a knee injury, showed during Saskatchewan’s mini-camp in April that he could be ready to contribute.
Now comes another opportunity to add to the depth. Saskatchewan currently has nine picks in the draft: The second, 11th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, 46th, 55th, 57th and 64th selections overall. The Roughriders’ forfeited their third-round pick (what would have been No. 20 overall) when they selected safety/linebacker Kevin Francis in the 2016 supplement draft.
At No. 2, the Roughriders will have an opportunity to land a player who could make an impact as a rookie. The hope also is to find prospects in the later rounds who will contribute at some point.
“It’s just as important to hit with the fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-rounders now as it is to hit with the early picks, especially because of the salary-cap implications,” Murphy says.
Unfortunately for the Roughriders, they haven’t been able to build a lasting foundation through the draft.
Only six of the 42 players Saskatchewan has selected this decade are still with the team. Those six are St. John, Stanford and Van Gylswyk from 2016, Nic Demski from 2015, and Spencer Moore and Matt Vonk from 2013. Some of the remaining 36 are in the league with other teams.
If the Roughriders are to reap the benefits from this season’s draft, they may choose to return a draft pick to his Canadian university for his final season of eligibility. There, he can work on whatever weaknesses in his game that the Roughriders may have identified.
“It’s all about the content — having multiple Canadians from each draft who are able to contribute right away and contribute further on down the line,” Murphy says. “It’s not just a one-and-done thing anymore.”
