Good finds sometimes too good, Lions discover
In late February, B.C. Lions director of football operations Neil McEvoy took in Justin Senior’s pro day at Mississippi State and fell in love with the offensive tackle from Montreal.
This was not a good thing. McEvoy was hoping to see a player the Lions would take in the first round of the CFL draft. Instead, he saw a player who was destined for that other league south of the border.
Senior, a 6-foot-5, 331-pound offensive lineman, should be the first player taken in Sunday’s CFL draft, but the Seattle Seahawks have already invested a sixth-round pick in him, which alters his draft-day value considerably.
“I liked him,” McEvoy recounts. “Then I saw his pro day and thought I don’t like him anymore. He’s just too good. When you see a player like him, you think there’s no way. The NFL is going to take him.”
Which means Senior might as well be a 331-pound receiver for all the good he’ll do a CFL team.
On Sunday, the Lions hold the third, seventh and 16th overall picks in the CFL draft, which in another league would represent an opportunity to remake their franchise. In the Canadian game, however, things aren’t quite that simple.
Talent, to be sure, is a consideration, but other factors creep into the equation — most notably the allure of the NFL.
As it happens, there are a handful of players at the top of this year’s draft — University of Manitoba offensive lineman Geoff Gray, Laval tight end Antony Auclair, UCLA defensive lineman Eli Ankou — who are headed south on free-agent tryouts, which means the Lions and others won’t be targeting the best available player, but rather the best player who’ll make himself available to their team.
“You’ve got to project these guys,” says McEvoy. “How long are their NFL careers going to last? Are they going to make an NFL team this season? You hope it’s forever, but that doesn’t help us.”
To reinforce the point, McEvoy says the Lions make two lists: an early one that ranks the players by ability and a later master list that factors in their availability. Suffice to say the two lists are pretty different.
The Lions, therefore, are realistic about their chances of landing a game-changer with either of their two first-rounders. They hope to add depth at the traditional Canadian positions: offensive line, receiver, running back and the secondary and landing a starter would be found money.
But the more likely case is bringing in an athlete who can learn his craft and be moulded into a productive player.
Last year, for example, the Lions took Laval offensive lineman Charles Vaillancourt with the fifth pick of the first round. Vaillancourt started some games, but was the Leos’ sixth offensive linemen for most of the season. He projects as a starter down the road.
In the CFL draft, that represents a home run.
McEvoy has been assessing Canadian talent since the late ’90s and, like everyone connected with the CFL, he’s witnessed a pronounced upgrade in the quality of homegrown talent. That’s represented by the number of Canucks playing in NCAA schools. But it’s also seen in the players coming out of U Sports schools.
This year, Gray has signed a free-agent deal with the Green Bay Packers. The Lions will be taking a long look at Danny Vandervoort from McMaster and Nate Behar from Carleton, the two top receivers on the board. They’re also thought to be high on Junior Luke, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound defensive lineman from the University of Montreal.
Mason Woods, a 6-foot-9, 320-pound offensive lineman from Idaho by way of Port Coquitlam; Dariusz Bladek, an offensive lineman from BethuneCookman; and Faith Ekakitie, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle from Idaho, are the other names at the top of most boards.
“The individual players who are at (U Sports) schools compare to the guys who play in the States,” says McEvoy. “The (U Sports) schools have great athletes coming out now.”
Which wasn’t always the case. McEvoy remembers earlier combines where you could count on some prospect getting pinned by the bar when they were benchpressing 225 pounds. Lions GM Wally Buono, meanwhile, goes back even farther and says you don’t have to be a supreme talent scout to notice how the players have changed.
“It’s the eyeball test,” says Buono. “When you go to the combines, the defensive linemen looked like professional defensive linemen and the offensive linemen looked like professional offensive linemen. In the old days, you’d see guys that were this high (holding his hand at shoulder height).”
At least the NFL wasn’t interested in those guys.