Johany Jutras/CFL
CFL.ca Staff
With files from BCLions.com and Argonauts.ca
If CFL talent evaluators agree on one thing, it’s that the depth of talent available in the May 12 CFL Draft is stronger than usual.
BC Lions General Manager Wally Buono echoed the sentiment after the 2015 CFL Combine, where several records were broken and the results were even better than expected.
“I think when you look at the combine, I don’t want to get into specific guys but each group was deep and was very skillful,” Buono told BCLions.com.
Buono said he usually gets on the plane after the combine and writes down the first two rounds to see if he can get through them. This year, he continued, he easily got through the first four.
“That shows you the depth of the draft and the quality of the CIS,” he said. “There were good quality players at each position.”
The Toronto Argonauts agree on the quality of depth.
“We’ve seen a lot of great players,” Chris Rossetti, Argos Director of Player Personnel, told Argonauts.ca during the combine. “It’s one of the deeper drafts we’ve seen in the last few years – a lot of athletic kids.”
“Just talking to our staff and hearing the overall buzz in the scouting community, everyone’s pretty excited.”
The Argos pick two spots ahead of the Lions at third overall, and will undoubtedly set aside their top three prospects in hopes of getting the best player available. Outside of that, a focus of equal importance for them will be finding quality players later on in the draft.
Rossetti said that’s how you fill the bottom of your CFL roster.
“We had success in the last couple of years,” explained Rossetti. “Last year we had guys in the fourth and fifth rounds that made our football team and we’re very happy with them.”
“You always want to find that guy that can come in and contribute in the later rounds, and good teams are the ones that can do that,” he continued. “That’s a big thing for us.”
“We’re excited to find some good ones in this year’s draft.”
The Lions, meanwhile, enter the draft with the goal of finding at least one National starter. No one will dispute that Canadian content is the key to success in this league, and while the Lions have some remaining established veterans, they’re always looking to bolster their young national content.
“We developed a goal, we have objectives,” explained Buono. “Our goal is to try to find an eighth National starter.”
“Our objective is to get bigger, faster, stronger – typical stuff. To bring in better players that can give us all depth. These are things that if you keep your eye on the objectives, then you don’t get distracted.”
Buono added that flexibility is the end goal of building on Canadian talent. The Lions pick fifth overall in the upcoming draft.
