The release of the CFL Scouting Bureau’s final draft rankings always signifies the start of a fascinating stretch of time. The CFL Draft is scheduled for May 3, which just happens to be the week following the NFL Draft.
Of course, that timing is anything but a coincidence and it opens up some very interesting conversations behind closed doors.
Limbo land
It’s been seven years, and six straight drafts, since the top-ranked prospect in the Bureau’s final rankings has been a CFL first round pick. Rice offensive lineman Scott Mitchell was ranked number one that year and ended up going second overall to the Edmonton Eskimos; Mitchell finished his active career with the Argos in 2016.
Since then, though, its been a different story for top ranked prospects, as illustrated below:
| YEAR | PLAYER | POS. | SCHOOL | DRAFTED |
| 2012 | Tyrone Crawford | DE | Boise State | Not drafted |
| 2013 | Boseko Lokombo | LB | Oregon | BC (3rd round) |
| 2014 | Laurent Duvernay-Tardif | OL | McGill | Calgary (3rd round) |
| 2015 | Christian Covington | DL | Rice | BC (4th round) |
| 2016 | David Onyemata | DT | Manitoba | Saskatchewan (4th round) |
| 2017 | Justin Senior | OL | Mississippi State | Edmonton (5th round) |
If you’ve been following the CFL Draft over the last number of years, none of this is news to you. But if you’re wondering why all of these top-ranked guys fell so dramatically in the draft, the answer is simple: they all had significant interest from NFL teams, too.
Of the six top-ranked players above, only Lokombo went undrafted in the NFL and, thus, is the only player with any CFL experience; he’s now a member of the San Francisco 49ers. In the five other cases, though, the players were taken in the NFL Draft and have been cutting their teeth south of the border ever since.
This trend goes beyond the number one-ranked prospects, too. Take 2017 for instance: UCLA defensive lineman Eli Ankou was ranked second and fell to Ottawa in the third round. Similarly, Laval tight end Antony Auclair was the seventh ranked player and wound up going in the fourth round to Riders. Neither Ankou nor Auclair were taken in the NFL Draft but were instead signed as free agents immediately following.
It all combines to make the CFL Draft one of the most interesting showcases in professional sports. Teams have a lot of different factors to weigh before making their picks. Is it worth it to use a high pick on a guy who might end up on an NFL roster? Or is it better to play it safe? It really can work both ways.
The Eskimos used a 2016 second round pick on Michigan State DB Arjen Colquhoun, which seemed risky at the time. Well, after Colquhoun spent a year with the Dallas Cowboys, he signed on with Edmonton and is now a starter at corner. On talent alone, Colquhoun was a first round pick, and the Esks were able to get him with a second round pick, which worked out nicely.
FORMER ESKS SECOND ROUND PICK ARJEN COLQUHOUN WAS ONE ‘FUTURES’ PICK THAT’S WORKED OUT (MICHIGAN STATE)
On the other hand, take the example of Duvernay-Tardif. Despite him going in the sixth round to the Kansas City Chiefs, Calgary elected to use its 19th overall pick on him a week later. Duvernay-Tardif is a regular starter at guard for the Chiefs and may never play a down in Canada.
So let’s apply all of this to 2018. This year’s top prospect in the final rankings is Bowling Green offensive lineman Ryan Hunter, but there’s a good chance he drops, too. Hunter has NFL interest as do fellow linemen Dakoda Shepley (#3, UBC) and Trey Rutherford (#4, Connecticut).
That puts those three players in the “risky” category, which means I’ll be watching them very closely during NFL Draft weekend and the days that follow. Drafting is always a crapshoot in any sport, which always makes it interesting. With all the elements that go into the CFL Draft, though, I don’t know if there’s a more interesting draft out there.