Did anyone happen to notice the Riders only have a grand total of 2 draft picks for this year's draft? They have traded away their 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th round picks. This will not bode well down the line a few years. We have good quality Canadian talent in their prime now but they will not be in their primes anymore when the draft picks of 2009 will be ready to compete for starting spots.
im not to worried, we have young, fresh, veteran etc canadian talent coming out the woodworks. If i only had 1 pick and got to choose this year or next year id want it for next year anyways.
I am not worried about this really either. Most of our Canadian talent could still play for several more seasons (if not more) so one bad draft year shouldnt hurt. The fact that the picks were used for bad trades (I think the first round pick was traded for Henri Childs....yuck) does suck but its part of pro sports. You need to take risks some times and some times they dont pay off like you hoped. Either way I think Canadian talent is the last thing we need to worry about. I am more concerned about our defensive line and quarterbacking situation. I think that our d-line was terrible last year and needs to step up this year a lot. For quarterbacking I like Durant but I am still not 100% sold on him. If he doesnt pan out this year than who is next in line? Jyles is a back up at best in my eyes and Bell is a rookie. Hopefully I am worrying about nothing though lol.
Our Canadian talent is fine. Hopefully a change in scheme will help the pass rush. Maybe more stunts and some more creative blitzes. We have very athletic linebackers and I think a very good D line. We just need to find ways to maximize what we have. I think Durant can get the job done. Our recievers should be able to make his job easier. No question he will make more mistakes but as long as he learns from them and limits them I think we will be fine. I'm not sure if our D will be able to win us games like they have in the past but overall we'll be fine. So I am not worried that we only have 2 picks...
My point never was that our Canadian talent is weak right now, but if they keep trading it away, it will become something we are all complaining about 3 years from now. I see they traded away the second round pick now so all that is left is the third round pick. They also got a good start on ridding themselves of next year's picks by trading a 3rd rounder in 2010.
Don't worry about the 2009 draft. There is no one on the list of prospects the riders could use other than Rottier and he will go first or second overall most likely. If the riders did not draft Michael Stadnyk and Jonathan St. Pierre last year in the second round, they would have been a first rounders this year, maybe even first and second overall.
The riders have lots of non-imports 26 years old and under: Stu Foord, David McKoy, Adam Nicolson, J.-F. Morin-Roberge, Nuvraj Bassi, Kevin Scott, Konrad Wasiela, Leron Mitchell, Donavon Alexander, Yannick Carter, Keith Shologan, Rob Bagg, Chris Getzlaf, Chris Best and Luca Congi. That is fifteen. Add on Jonathan St. Pierre and Michael Stadnyk who could be here eventually and you are up to seventeen. Young Canadian talent for the most part is not the riders' problem.
I don't agree that the Canadian talent is weak with the riders: O'Day, Smith, Makowsky, Best, McGrath, Fantuz, Clermont, Szarka, Hughes, Schultz, Mitchell and now Alexander. That is twelve potential solid starters when you only need to field seven. I think a lot of teams wish they had that depth.
what he said ^
They've decided to try and develop talent in Sask. Instead of getting the most athletic guys, they find guys with potential, and work to develop them into football players. They also seem to be able to pick up some high-quality castoffs from other teams for their picks.
Our Canadian talent is pretty good now. But you can't maintain that, or improve upon it without any draft picks. Giving up two picks to get one unproven guy is a little questionable. I keep hearing how weak the draft will be this year. My thoughts on that are, it is tough enough predicting how these kids will perform year to year without guessing two years ahead how good they'll be.
As for the actual players we have, they are young. But most of them won't be playing ball in 2 to 3 years anyway. You draft guys, push the vets and replace people. Of that impressive list of players and the "12 starters" you predict, we have only added two boanafide starters in the last 3 years---Fantuz and Congi. Not one other guy on your list is a sure starter, except of course our big free agent signing, Clermont. Which tells me they aren't going to play the young receivers as much as I thought we might see this year.
We have traded away a lot of picks in the last couple of years and gotten little to nothing in return. That is a trend that can't continue.
Well said Arius.
Not really swami. The Riders recognize, as have fans in this thread, that it is a weak draft class this year. Riders 1 - Arius 0. You are one of few men(?) who complain based on potential happenings(see bold). Amazing!
Is it a weak class next year as well? We have also traded away some of those picks. Was it a weak class last year, as we traded away some of those picks. Which year can we expect the good crop so we can anticipate having a few picks? As I said, the draft is crap shoot enough without a bunch of people rambling on about how they know for sure that there aren't any good players available this year. One pundit says only one player in the entire draft would be any good for us, proving his point. And to belabour that point, apparently we took the guys who would have been #1 and # 2 in the draft last year. By my calculations, given how weak the draft was already being touted in 2008 for 2009, that means neither of those guys is likely much of a prospect, doesn't it. I mean you really can't have your cake and eat it too.
And even if the draft is weak--even pundits are correct on occasion--what have we got for our efforts? I mean crappy prospects or not, shouldn't we get something in return for them? More than Michael Bishop I mean.....
And to belabour my point for a moment, I wonder if anyone might acknowledge that Wally is a fair judge of talent.? And that he knew he was likely losing Wake, and knows Brent Johnson isn't getting younger. So he could have taken Stadnyk with his pick. But he decided to trade that pick for a draft pick in the 2009 "weak" draft. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
This draft isn't weak, its average. Last year was exceptional in one area. There were 10 or so Div 1 starters mostly on the Oline. This year's draft is deep at the receiver and db/lb position somewhat unusual. There are also one top notch prospect at every position something that is unusual as well.
Those who say this year's draft is week (IE: Jim Barker) have a history of drafting NCAA players and think of everything else as "sub par" or less interesting.
Drafting Canadians isn't the only way to build a winning football team but some teams do very well at develooping their draft picks (Montreal, Saskatchewan,BC) in particular. Then you have teams like the Bombers, Argos, Eskimos, Stamps(until recently) who prefer to trade or "steal" them on the FA market, then there is Hamilton who's been a farm team for the rest of the league.
If you look at the consistent teams in this league , they develop and retain their CND talent.
And here is why assuming you can give away next years picks is not a good plan:
The talk for the past year or so has been about this year's draft class being weaker than in previous years. That sentiment seems to have fallen by the wayside after chats with several GMs and scouts on the weekend (Video). What appears to have happened is that in past years, there were a few players who stood out from the pack while the rest of the draft wasn't as deep. This year, it seems as though there are more players clustered together, with no real standouts (yes, Jamall Lee tested extremely well, but I'm not sure Toronto or Hamilton will draft a running back with picks 1-4). Now that talent evaluators have had a chance to interview, test and observe the players, the prevailing view is that the level of talent is much higher than initially predicted.[url=http://www.cfl.ca/article/stein-evaluating-the-e-camp-talent]http://www.cfl.ca/article/stein-evaluat ... amp-talent[/url]
The opposite of the "predictions" seems to have occurred. No real standouts but depth. So a good year to have lots of picks.... oops!!
Smart to keep an eye on Wally. I don't think he would ever think of a weak draft. Just a draft where it might b more difficult than other years to find the gems that he and his team do, year after year. :roll:
I jut hope RedHead and Coach Ken can make the most of their picks... Asses the best possible candidates at time of selection and weigh the values of each player brought to the table... I don´t think that having 2 piks this year is horrible lookin at our roster and seeing where we stand already..
Don't we only have one left?
We took a gamble last year and got Stadnyk. Now that he's signed, we can breathe a little bit easier. I hope he turns out to be a keeper for us.
Yep. Only a 3rd rounder left.
We picked up a 2nd rounder from Hamilton ( 9th overall ) and a 5th round pick from Winnipeg.
Only cost us Bowman and Morin-Roberge