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Post Draft Hangover

May 11, 2016 | 8:35 PM

Post draft hangover – get ready for Pickle City Thursday

Maybe Beyonce thinks that if you have nothing but Jay Z and a bunch of lemons, you make Lemonade, but here in Pickle City, you try to make the most out of a draft where the former GM left you nothing but cucumbers and the current GM traded draft picks for two guys who promptly retired.

It was that kind of mess for the 2016 CFL draft which TSN deigned to show for an hour Tuesday night but then suffered the embarrassment of being scooped by a guy in Hamilton who posted the picks long before the CFL commissioner announced them.

Of course TSN had more important things to cover like covering what haircut Austin Matthews will be getting after the World Hockey Championships so the CFL should consider itself lucky to have an hour.
TSN should be doing a better job of covering the CFL, and the CFL could be doing a better job of marketing its product. Instead of having open phone lines where a lucky reporter can post draft picks before they are being announced, why not hold the draft in Western Canada where we give a damn about our football and dedicate maybe one of the five channels TSN has to showing the whole draft?

This is our league and our country and if we don’t fight for it, we will get nothing but cheese eating drunken Toronto soccer fans ranting about how soccer is taking over Canada although it seems to have died a quiet death after high school except for the Canadian women who do well.

So onto the only team that matters, the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Earlier in the day wide receiver Jeremy Kelly whom the Riders signed from the Toronto Argonauts retired for medical reasons. He didn’t go into detail and it’s not worth it to ask, however the retirement announcement started a trend where just after the Riders announced their draft pick, there were a flurry of people posting that player had just announced his retirement.

The Riders had no second round draft picks and there was talk they would want to try to package their first round pick and maybe a player for a pair of second round draft picks.

The Riders are looking to build their Canadian content and the CFL draft has a feature that sees teams pass on players who sign with the NFL after the NFL draft because teams need players right away. You save later round draft picks for players you may not see for three years when they go down to the NFL.

The Riders went with Josiah St. John, an offensive tackle out of Oklahoma. The kid is originally from Toronto, and played two seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners, but did not start as many games as one would like, which is probably why the NFL didn’t draft him.

Then he lost his starting position in his senior year to a freshman. Which gives one pause because sure its Oklahoma, an American university with a consistent football program, but this guy apparently had problems in run blocking and while our running backs have been cleared out, one thing this team did do well was run the football.

The other thing is this guy is a tackle and the Riders have been bringing in a lot of American tackles because they are apparently are faster to deal with the defensive ends coming off the line. If we have a Canadian starting tackle, do we have a backup in place for him and then again, keeping Darian Durant in an upright and passing position should be job one for the offensive line this year.

The Riders under former GM Brendan Taman traded away picks in the second and third round and then started to get creative. They drafted Elie Bouka, a defensive back who has signed a deal with the Arizona Cardinals and if he doesn’t make it there, the Riders will have another Canadian defensive back that may make a difference. But needless to say, he won’t be in camp.

Then the Riders drafted punter/kicker Quinn van Gylswyk from UBC in an interesting move. The Riders have Tyler Crapigna as a kicker and Josh Bartel as punter, no word yet if they will bring in former draft pick Johnny Mark, but if Gylswyk sticks as a punter/kicker, the Riders maybe in good shape for years to come. Maybe Gylswyk could even buy a vowel for his name!

Another interesting pick came with David Onyemata, the top ranked Canadian who went in the fourth round to the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans has done well with Canadian trained defensive players, Akiem Hicks the former U of R Ram is one example, so if Onyemata sticks the Riders aren’t really out anything and if he does come back in four years, the Riders could get a big lift. It’s not unheard of, quite a few Canadians who have stuck in the NFL have returned to the CFL, but again, this is a roll of the dice.

A demon inside my head can’t wait to hear Rod Pedersen try to pronounce Alex Ogbongbemiga’s name after he was picked to provide special team’s depth and perhaps some linebacker help.

Alex McKay is another offensive lineman who can play multiple positions which is something Jones is looking for from his players due to the injury bugs that hit teams. Joshua Stanford is a receiver who had a great freshman year, then got into some personal problems, transferred and fell off the map until the Riders got him. If they can get inside his head and turn him around, he could contribute.

It’s useless to grade this draft as it as any draft because you need to see how the pieces work out and there are a few pieces that may not be here for years to come. The Riders made the most of a bad situation, part of it due to previous management, part of it due to the current management’s mistakes. What will be important are the free agents, both American and Canadian the Riders have been able to sign. If those work out, then it doesn’t matter that two current draft picks are south of the border and may not be here for a while, if ever.

The Riders are pussyfooting around the Eric Norwood signing; the former Hamilton defensive lineman is coming off an ACL injury that may keep him out until the Banjo Bowl. If the Riders have signed him, expect to see him on the 9 game injury list while he rehabs and the Riders will not want to rush him back early. Norwood is a pretty good defensive lineman, and having him in the mix for the second half of the season will definitely kick the Riders up a notch.

So the next stage is the Rider rookie camp and after checking the Rider website, I am beginning to suspect the Riders will have the Rookie Camp in Regina on May 25 before heading up to Saskatoon on May 27 for the main camp, although you would think it would be easier to have the rookie camp in Saskatoon. I suspect because of the number of medicals to be done, it would probably be easier to do it in Regina to begin with.

The drafted players don’t count against the roster, so between now and May 25 and likely on May 25; expect to see some cuts and/or retirements. The word for the club will be versatility and the Riders are looking for players to play multiple positions to militate against injuries.

Thursday will see the release of the new jerseys with the Rider stores in Regina and likely Saskatoon open by 9 a.m. to sell the new look, which is green. If they have green pants, then expect to hear team pickle jokes. While the CFL has been dropping hints, it seems the Rider look will resemble what they wore in the early 1990s when they went Team Pickle.

Although I hear they may add white pants.
They increased the size of the Rider logo and the new draft hats look good. While the Riders will come out of the gate with no more jerseys with tramp stamps on the back, Winnipeg will have to wait six weeks because Adidas apparently screwed up their order.

That’s Winnipeg for you.

So we have passed another signpost to the start of the season. Let the good times roll.