What Happens When the First Overall Pick is Not in Camp

The wait is finally over as the Saskatchewan Roughriders landed in Saskatoon and opened their training camp on Sunday – but without first overall pick Joshua St. John – the offensive tackle who wants $400 k over three years.

The Riders had countered with an offer of $53 K for the first year, but this has the makings of perhaps St. John getting traded elsewhere and a question of exactly what the Riders are looking to prove. Rider GM Chris Jones said late last week the team has certain guidelines it was trying to operate under and throw in the spectacle of St. John’s agent being a doofus and the best we can hope for is trading St. John and getting draft picks and perhaps a starter in return.

There’s been more spin cycles over this particular situation, but from my perspective, unless the Riders were looking to unload St. John, they made a mistake in drafting him.

He did work out privately for the team prior to the draft, which may be important because he did not do any bench presses at the CFL combine and the book is while he may have the feet to play tackle (consult the movie The Blind Side if you want to know why tackle is important), his strength or lack of is another factor.

The Riders picked up a whack of American offensive tackles this year, including Xavier Fulton, to man the tackle position. If in the event of an extremely long shot St. John started, there is no Canadian likely to back him up, which makes it interesting from a Canadian ration perspective to ensure you have the required number of Canadians on the field.

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So realistically, the Riders would have St. John back up the first year to either learn to hit the weights or prove he is a starter. He could start next year, which would normally be an option year since CFL players sign for one year plus an option, if the Riders have another Canadian offensive tackle to back him up or another Canadian who can slip in and be a starter elsewhere in case St. John got hurt.

Now, a lot has been made about St. John starting at Oklahoma, but in his senior year he lost his starting job to a freshman. That is interesting in of itself that perhaps St. John is not ready to compete at a higher level, let alone get paid at a higher level. If I was the Riders, I would save my money for when/if Brent Jones comes loose from the New York Giants.

Jones, formerly of the University of Regina Rams, was drafted by Calgary and only became rookie of the year while centering the Calgary offensive line. John Murphy, the player personnel guy for the Riders, made the call on drafting Jones when he was in Calgary, so there is already a connection that would work.  I would trade St. John to an eastern team and let them deal with this legend in his own mind.

The Riders were doing all kinds of roster work under the Chris Jones cone of silence. As camp opened, the Riders announced the following moves – Add to the Roster  National offensive lineman Kadeem Adams (6.04 – 290 – Western); National defensive back Troy Adams (5.10 – 175 – Northeastern); National defensive back Joel Brtka (5.11 – 175 – Burlington Jr.); International wide receiver Marquez Clark (5.11 – 190 – Central Oklahoma); International wide receiver Ricky Collins (6.00 – 198 – Texas A&M-Commerce); International offensive lineman Will Corbin (6.06 – 305 – Appalachian State); International defensive back Justin Cox (6.00 – 187 – Mississippi State); International defensive back Johnnie Dixon (5.11 – 194 – Pearl River); International offensive lineman Kennedy Estelle (6.06 – 290 – West Alabama); International defensive back Kentrell Everett (6.02 – 190 – Western New Mexico); International defensive back Qudarius Ford (5.08 – 170 – South Alabama); National fullback Marvin Golding (6.01 – 235 – Saint Mary’s); National linebacker Dillon Grondin (6.00 – 230 – Windsor Jr.); International quarterback Jacob Huesman (6’2 – 228 – Tennessee-Chattanooga); National wide receiver Kyle Kawamoto (6.00 – 180 – Okanagan Jr.); National defensive lineman Kalonji Kashama (6.04 – 259 – Eastern Michigan); International defensive lineman A.C. Leonard (6.02 – 250 – Tennessee State); National wide receiver Randy Roseway (6.00 – 180 – St. Francis Xavier); International defensive back Rollins Stallworth (6.04 – 210 – Stanford); International defensive lineman Ino Vitale (6.05 – 305 – Southwest Baptist); International defensive back Xavier Walker (6.03 – 208 – Middle Tennessee).

Delete from Roster –  International wide receiver Etauj Allen; International linebacker Curtis Brown; International defensive back Victor Dean Jr. ; International offensive lineman Kamalie Matthews; International wide receiver Devrin Young.

Move to Retired List – International defensive back David Barks; National defensive lineman Rory Connop; International wide receiver Armanti Edwards; International offensive lineman Darryl Johnson.

Just a note here about social media and its impact on covering sports teams. If it wasn’t for social media, we would never have heard about most of these signings before the weekend. This begs the question of how the media is covering the Riders, except for listing things after the fact and asking ridiculous questions like why Jones wears black all the time.

The big surprise is Connop being listed for retirement. His social media account was taken down after the announcement, but according to unconfirmed reports, his final tweet was “Wow”. There was talk of Connop perhaps lining up as an offensive lineman, but apparently the Riders felt confident in their recruitment of Canadian and American offensive and defensive linemen to make this more of a hypothetical exercise.

The listing of Edwards, who was a quarterback/receiver, was not surprising since he had a knee injury at the Rider mini-camp in Florida.

Another interesting addition is AJ Leonard who was a tight end in BC last year with a tendency to drop a lot of passes. Here he has been reborn as a defensive end, where presumably his hands can now knock down passes and he can get paid for it. All of this is consistent with Jones looking to find players who can play multiple positions in case the injury bug comes to town like it did last year.

The Riders have unveiled a new system where two offensive units are on the field and driving against defensive units. This allows as many players as possible to see the field and more importantly, getting film on them so they can be evaluated.
Added to the roster today was defensive end Johnny Newsome 6’3” 247 lbs who played 14 games for the Indianapolis Colts last year but apparently failed a marijuana drug test by the NFL. Fortunately marijuana is not on the CFL banned drug list, so he is up here to add to what is shaping up to be a really interesting defensive line.

So the Riders exhibition opener against the BC Lions will be televised by TSN on June 11. Considering that TSN is still whining about hockey, I guess that counts as a step forward.