Noah Picton felt he answered some questions about himself during the CFL’s national combine in Winnipeg.
Now it’s up to CFL teams to answer a query about Picton: Can the University of Regina Rams quarterback play in the league?
“I’m sure people will still have some (doubts),” Picton said after the combine wrapped up. “It’s tough to answer a lot of questions at something like this. If they really want to see the answer, they’re going to have to buy a ticket and come out to a Canada West game.
“Just getting a first-hand look at me, I’m not sure what they would have thought. Comparing this to games, to be honest with you, I don’t know how (teams) will stack them up beside each other. But I’m happy with what I did this weekend.”
Picton put up better numbers than the other quarterback at the combine, Christian Strong of Seton Hill University, in the testing portion of the event.
The 5-foot-9, 177-pound Picton had a better 40-yard dash (4.84 seconds), vertical jump (30.5 inches), broad jump (eight feet 9.5 inches), shuttle run (4.4 seconds) and three-cone drill (7.33 seconds) than Strong and finished just one repetition behind his 6-foot-4, 215-pound counterpart in the 225-pound bench press.
The bulk of Sunday’s action was done on the field, where the quarterbacks threw passes to running backs (in their one-on-one drills with linebackers) and to receivers (as they went head to head with defensive backs).
“I tested a little bit better than I thought I would, so that was good,” Picton said. “With the on-field drills, I felt I got better as the session went on, whether (the issue at the start) was nerves or something like that. There were some good throws and some bad throws, but I feel like I had a pretty good session.
“I was happy with (the combine as a whole). It’s a fun event to be at and it’s an honour to be here. Not a lot of guys get to have this opportunity, so just to be invited to something like this was pretty neat from my point of view.”
Picton, who won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2016 as the top university football player in Canada, attended the 2017 combine as an extra arm to help the quarterbacks who were invited to the event in Regina.
This time, the 2017 Canada West all-star and first-team U Sports All-Canadian was one of the draft-eligible players who were invited.
Picton has thrown for 9,840 yards over his four seasons with the Rams, a total that leaves him eighth all-time in the U Sports record book with one season of eligibility left at his disposal. He’s just 1,637 yards behind all-time leader Jeremi Roch of the Sherbrooke Vert et Or — and Picton has exceeded that total in each of his four seasons as the Rams’ starter.
But despite his resumé, CFL teams likely will be hesitant to give Picton a shot because of his size and because of his nationality.
Canadian quarterbacks are rare in the CFL, where teams employed only two homegrown pivots (Brandon Bridge of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Andrew Buckley of the Calgary Stampeders) in 2017.
Bridge and CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie have met this off-season to discuss the notion of changing the ratio to give teams an incentive to use Canadian QBs, but the issue has to be addressed during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.
In any event, Picton knows he faces an uphill climb to get to the CFL — but at least his name is out there.
“I’m very thankful and grateful for all the media buzz that’s going on,” said Picton, who met with three teams during Friday’s face-to-face interview sessions. “For the Canadian quarterbacks, a lot of credit goes to Brandon Bridge and all the work he’s proactively doing to get us some recognition.
“We don’t want a token position. If we’re good enough, then we’ll get the spot. All anyone is really looking forward to is a chance.”
Picton was one of three Regina-born players who participated in the combine. He was joined by Rams tailback Atlee Simon and University of Calgary Dinos defensive lineman Brett Wade.
Simon’s testing numbers didn’t jump out among the six running backs, with a best placing of third in the 40-yard dash (4.80 seconds). He was fourth in the bench press, fifth in the vertical jump and sixth in each of the broad jump, shuttle run and three-cone drill.
The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder was named a Canada West all-star in 2017 after rushing 152 times for 914 yards and three touchdowns and catching 27 passes for 293 yards and three TDs.
On Sunday, he took reps as a running back and as a receiver, showing the kind of versatility that could intrigue CFL teams.
The 6-foot-1, 270-pound Wade led the combine’s seven defensive linemen in the bench press (22 repetitions) and he finished fourth in both the shuttle run and three-cone drill, fifth in both the vertical jump and broad jump, and sixth in the 40-yard dash.
But Wade — a former member of the PFC’s Regina Thunder who was a Canada West all-star and second-team U Sports All-Canadian in 2017 — more than held his own in the one-on-ones.
All of the testing results from the combine can be found here.
