Trying to predict what Eskimos general manager Eric Tillman will do in, well, anything is proving to be a useless exercise.
With the second overall pick in the CFL Canadian Draft, many league pundits felt Tillman really wanted to land University of Saskatchewan offensive lineman Ben Heenan. In fact, Heenan was given the royal tour last week of the facilities at Commonwealth Stadium.
Perhaps that was to put some pressure on the Saskatchewan Roughriders to possibly make a trade with the Eskimos for the number one selection.
As it turns out, the Riders killed the suspense early by announcing their intentions to draft Heenan first overall, which they did.
The Eskimos then decided to trade their pick to the B.C. Lions, along with the 20th overall selection, in exchange for the fourth, 14th and 38th choices.
At the time of the trade, you might have heard a collective gasp coming from the Eskimos Empire.
The number two pick was part of the Ricky Ray trade back in December. Optically, you would think the Eskimos would need to make that pick count. Tillman however isn’t concerned about optics, the Ricky Ray trade proved that.
While all the talk was about Ben Heenan, the Eskimos had their sights set on University of Virginia offensive lineman Austin Pasztor.
The only problem was that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers held the third pick. The Bombers went off the board and chose offensive lineman Tyson Pencer from Washington State leaving Pasztor wide open for the Eskimos to take. Tillman says Pasztor is the player the team wanted all along.
“Much was made of the Heenan trip (last week) but very quietly, Kavis (Reed) and I went and met with Austin Pasztor in the United States,” Tillman explained.
“Paul Jones (Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel) met us and so we met in Mobile, AL a few weeks ago prior to the draft. We kept it very quiet so all along we had him targeted as our guy.”
Tillman says there were discussions with the Riders about the first overall pick. The Eskimos offered their sixth pick and a later pick but the Riders refused to budge.
With the sixth overall selection, the Esks picked perhaps the most pure athlete in the Draft in Wilfred Laurier receiver Shamawd Chambers.
At E-camp, Chambers ran the fastest time in the 40-yard dash clocking in at 4.42 seconds. Speed isn’t everything but it helps. His six-foot-three frame, however, is very attractive and could present a matchup problem for opposing secondarys.
Reed says he sees no shades of grey with Chambers, he believes it’ll be a go big or go hoe selection.
“He has all the potential, all the measurables are there,” Reed said. “His attitude seems to be correct; we went as far as to have a psychologist profile him. I think we really turned over every leaf with this kid. Everything came back to say that he’s possibly going to be a Shawn Gore like guy. He can be Paris Jackson, those kinds of guys that I mentioned that are difference makers.”
Pasztor gives the Eskimos the option in a year or two to have an all-Canadian offensive line. Chambers gives the Eskimos the option of eventually starting two Canadians in the receiving corps. The Edmonton brass does admit however that selecting both Pasztor and Chambers is a bit of risky play.
Pasztor has signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings and will attend their training camp. Chambers has a mini-camp tryout later this month with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Pasztor’s signing bonus with the Vikings wasn’t very big meaning they might not be that high on him to begin with. Chambers hasn’t signed yet with the Eagles. Bottom line, these two players probably won’t be seen in Edmonton for perhaps one to two years tops.
The Eskimos have better depth on the offensive line with the likes of Scott Mitchell, Dylan Steenbergen and Dale Stevenson all waiting in the wings.
At the receiver position the Eskimos have Nate Coehoorn, Andrew Nowacki, Tyler Scott, Matt Carter, and Aaron Hargreaves.
Point is, the Eskimos are in a position where they can wait for both Pasztor and Chambers.
Last year’s draft was about helping to fix their Canadian content. This year’s draft was about adding to what the Eskimos feel is already a deep group of non-import talent.
NOTES: The Eskimos had three picks after the first round. With their 14th pick, the team selected Simon Fraser defensive lineman Justin Capicciotti. Akron defensive end Hasan Hazime was selected 36th overall. Saint Mary’s linebacker and former Edmonton Wildcat Ryan King with their 38th selection
