CFL needs a star to widen overseas appeal, not a profusion of punters
League's global draft light on international prospects who play high-skill positions
One has to take pleasure in the small amusements of these trying times. As such, I was properly delighted by the headline on the front page of the Canadian Football League's website on Friday morning: “Jake Ford highlights a punter-heavy global draft.”
Imagine the poor soul tasked with writing the copy to tease coverage of the global draft, the tent pole event of commissioner Randy Ambrosie's international outreach program, and having no better adjectival choice than “punter-heavy.” This is like writing ad copy for a new sports car: “Four tires highlight changes to 2022 coupe.”
Understand that this is not a criticism of the headline or indeed the copy at CFL.CA. It is dead accurate. The global draft was certainly punter-heavy. Not only was a punter taken first overall — a sequence of words never written in that order before Thursday night, I am certain — but there were three more punters taken in the first round. All of them, like new B.C. Lion Jake Ford, are from Australia, land of many sports that involve kicking a funny shaped ball.
Over the four rounds of the global draft, where the 36 picks included players representing an impressive 18 countries, seven of the CFL'S nine teams took a punter. Four took a placekicker. Only Edmonton and Ottawa did not get in on puntermania. None of this is meant as disrespect to punters, who are members of a football team like anyone else and possess a skill set that is a hell of a lot more impressive than anything I could do with a football. Punting is a part of the game, even if a growing number of coaches are finally realizing that there is also good value to be had by not punting.
It's just that punters are somewhat of a fungible asset. There are plenty of Canadians, and countless Americans, who could handle those duties. Canadians generally fill the punting spots on a CFL roster because having a homegrown player at that position keeps other roster spots open — quarterback, running back, receiver — that are harder to fill with Canadians who can match their American peers.
That so many punters were selected in Thursday's draft suggests that front offices used the global picks because they had to use them on someone, not because they expect many of the draftees to compete for serious playing time in the 2021 season, whenever that happens.
Aside from my giddiness at the phrase “first overall punter,” the global draft was significant for what it said about CFL 2.0, which was, until the pandemic hit, the signature element of Ambrosie's time as commissioner, along with awarding a franchise to Halifax that didn't have anywhere to play.
Ambrosie's vision, which has involved partnerships with football leagues and associations from Mexico to Japan and all over Europe, is that the CFL would add players from these nations, who would then drive interest in the CFL in their home countries, who would eventually give the Canadian league money in the form of broadcast or streaming deals so they could watch their local heroes pursue glory in Saskatchewan and Montreal and the like. But that requires global players who are having a visible impact on the field.
In 2019, the first season with such players on CFL rosters, the biggest success story was Thiadric Hansen of Germany, who had five tackles and a sack for Winnipeg. The vast majority never saw the field in a game. Ambrosie, at the Grey Cup that season, said the potential revenue from all of the global efforts would not be realized until the CFL had itself an international star. Attention would come, he said, when the league had a global player with “notable on-field success.”
Then the pandemic hit, which killed the second global draft and everything else about the 2020 CFL season. Now there is a new crop of international draftees, and it is not exactly bursting with star power. The 36 players include 11 kickers, 11 linemen, six linebackers, three defensive backs, three receivers and two running backs. Just two skill-position players were taken in the draft's first two rounds.
Even the most enthusiastic backer of CFL 2.0 would have to admit it's a stretch to imagine international TV money coming to broadcast the exploits of an offensive lineman or the guy who hoofs it long on third down. I enjoy the rouge as much as the next guy, but is Australia going to fall for the CFL because some native sons might handle punting duties? As mentioned, it's not like the country lacks for sports in which people kick things.
Meanwhile, the commissioner's globe-trotting has certainly resulted in players from many countries, but that dilutes the pool from any one nation, the critical mass that might increase interest back in that country. Mexico was the first place the CFL sought to plant a flag, with an alliance with a semi-pro league announced at the 2018 Grey Cup. There was much talk about how the CFL might grow interest in that country. One Mexican player was drafted on Thursday, an offensive lineman.
Thursday's draft took place amid uncertainty over the league's plans for 2021, and as it continues to consider some kind of partnership with Dwayne Johnson's XFL, which is presently in stasis. It was said that Johnson and his partners were interested in the CFL in part because of all the global outreach the Canadian league had already done. One wonders what The Rock and friends think of the fruits of all that labour now.