Stamps bet big on future
CALGARY — John Hufnagel invested in the Calgary Stampeders’ future.
Technically, that’s always what the CFL Draft is about.
In a unique year that saw an extraordinary number of draft-eligible Canadians with very real NFL talent, though, the Stamps’ president/gm used two of his team’s picks to select players who may not wind up playing in Calgary for a couple of years, if at all.
If the likes of Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga and his college teammate Chuba Hubbard – who got Heisman Trophy consideration a year ago – do make their way to Mcmahon Stadium eventually, though? The rest of the CFL has a lot to be worried about.
The Stamps took Ogbongbemiga with their first-round selection. Only a couple days ago, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers. He almost certainly won’t be at training camp this year and it’s possible that he’ll have a long, multi-year NFL career ahead of him.
Hubbard was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round of last year’s draft, so he is sure to stick around in the NFL for at least a couple of years.
If the Stamps ever get those guys, they could be gamechanging players. The question is if they ever will.
The decision to pick players who may not be around immediately was intentional, though, and it didn’t just come down to Hufnagel crossing his fingers and hoping that Ogbongbemiga and Hubbard have short stints in the NFL.
The reality is the CFL only allows so many players at training camp. The Stamps also have to bring all the players who they drafted before last year’s cancelled season to Mcmahon Stadium for camp, as well, and that could be difficult.
“I have nine players from last year’s draft class coming to camp and we’re restricted to the number of people we can bring,” Hufnagel said. “That’s one of the reasons why I did want to be able to draft players who are futures.
“That was a big part of it, it was a numbers game. The fact that we had so many from last year’s class coming, that’s kind of what the plan and strategy was going in. Going in, I thought it would be three-and-three. Three bodies and three futures, but we decided to go four (players who will be at training camp) and two futures, just with the way the draft was going.”
With the No. 1 overall pick — a random draw was held to determine the draft order after the 2020 season was cancelled because of the pandemic — the Hamilton Tiger-cats took Boston College tight end Jake Burt, who spent the 2020 season on the practice roster of the National Football League’s New England Patriots.
At No. 2, the Saskatchewan Roughriders took Saskatchewan Huskies defensive back Nelson Lokombo.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers selected offensive lineman Liam Dobson, who grew up in Ottawa. Dobson, who was at the University of Maine, has transferred to Texas State.
With the fourth pick, the B.C. Lions took North Carolina State defensive lineman Daniel Joseph (his older brother Faith Ekakitie was the No. 1 overall pick in 2017).
At No. 5, the Edmonton Football Team selected Alberta defensive lineman Cole Nelson.
The Ottawa Redblacks chose University of Maine linebacker Deshawn Stevens with the sixth overall pick.
At No. 7, the Toronto Argos selected Calgary offensive lineman Peter Nicastro.
After the Stampeders picked Ogbongbemiga, who is from Calgary, as the eighth pick, the Hamilton Tiger Cats selected UBC linebacker Nick Cross with the final pick of the first round, obtained from Montreal in the Johnny Manziel trade in 2018.