The Saskatchewan Roughriders had to endure a void in hopes of filling some holes during the CFL draft.
Thanks to trades that had previously been made, Saskatchewan had to wait more than two whole rounds — from the second round (14th overall) to the fifth (36th overall) — to make a selection during Thursday’s event.
“The biggest thing is you’re hoping the guys you want are falling,” Jeremy O’Day, the Roughriders’ assistant vice-president of football operations and administration, said after the draft ended. “But there were guys there.
“We were worried that there weren’t going to be our guys there with the later picks, but there were still guys on our board.”
The Roughriders selected two offensive linemen in the draft, the ninth and 10th Canadians currently under the team’s control. Dakoda Shepley and Christopher Smith join other youngsters like Emmanuel Adusei, Dariusz Bladek, Dalton Houghton, Danny Sprukulis, Josiah St. John and Jeremy Zver.
Two defensive linemen also were picked, bolstering the Roughriders’ stock of Canadian D-linemen to five. Mathieu Breton and Tresor Buama-Mafuta join Zack Evans (who’s 27 years old), Makana Henry (31) and Eddie Steele (29) in that stable.
The addition of Micah Teitz gives Saskatchewan eight national linebackers, only one of whom (Sam Hurl) is older than 26.
Here’s a quick look at each player selected Thursday, with comments from O’Day.
First round (fifth overall): OL Dakoda Shepley, UBC — 6-foot-4, 306 pounds … Born Dec. 27, 1994, in Windsor, Ont. … Played 39 games over four seasons with the Thunderbirds … Played guard and tackle during his college career, but also took a turn at centre … Was a Canada West all-star at right tackle in 2017 … Starred at the CFL’s national combine in testing and in the one-on-ones … Has signed as an undrafted free agent with the NFL’s New York Jets … O’Day: “You always run the risk of not seeing him for a while (because of his NFL deal), but he’s a guy who plays all three positions on the offensive line. He’s one of the best testers of the group (in the draft class). He has the size that fits and he’s a guy who we had up at the top of the O-linemen.”
Second round (14th overall): LB Micah Teitz, Calgary — 6-foot-1, 229 pounds … Born May 24, 1996, in Calgary … Appeared in 39 career games with the Dinos, recording 138 solo tackles, 82 assists, 15 tackles for losses, seven sacks and one forced fumble … Was named a Canada West all-star in 2015 and 2017 and a U Sports All-Canadian in 2015 … Was a special-teams stalwart for the Dinos … O’Day: “At that point (of the draft), he was our highest-ranked special-teams guy. He’ll have a great guy to learn from in Sam Hurl who came from the same school. He’s a high-character guy who will help on special teams.”
LB Micah Teitz
Fifth round (36th overall): DL Mathieu Breton, Bishop’s — 6-foot-7, 274 pounds … Born March 23, 1994, in Roxboro, Que. … Appeared in 27 career regular-season games with the Gaiters … Had 59 solo tackles, 38 assists, 8.5 tackles for losses, five sacks and a forced fumble … O’Day: “The thing that we liked about him is he’s a guy who plays to the whistle. A lot of his plays were made with hustle. His size is tremendous. We look at him as having the potential to switch over and play offensive line. He’ll get tried at both spots.”
DL Mathieu Breton
Sixth round (45th overall): DL Tresor Buama-Mafuta, Saint Mary’s — 6-foot-0, 290 pounds … Born July 5, 1993, in Montreal … Played in 19 career games with the Huskies, recording 49 solo tackles, 36 assists, 24.5 tackles for losses, 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles … Didn’t play in 2017 due to eligibility issues … Attended the Eastern regional combine and tied for the lead with 28 reps on the bench press. Also tied for sixth among all participants with a 33-inch vertical jump … O’Day: “We looked at him a lot, but (Thursday) morning we actually looked at him again. We compared him to the guys we were looking at on film. He was a guy we considered taking earlier, but we didn’t have a third or fourth pick.”
Eighth round (63rd overall): OL Christopher Smith, York — 6-foot-6, 290 pounds … Born Nov. 23, 1993, in Brampton, Ont. … Started 31 games over four seasons at tackle for the Lions … Wasn’t selected to attend any of the CFL’s regional or national combines … O’Day: “We naturally looked at him as a guy who could be a potential late-round guy. He’s another guy we considered taking a little bit higher. We were kind of holding our breath — as funny as it is to say for an eighth-round pick — but he’s a guy we knew was flying under the radar.”
