Im kind of disappointed in Ed not being able to articulate a trade to get back into the 1st round, more ideally Top 3.
I thought for sure we'd get back into there for a couple of later draft picks and a player for maybe Montreals 3rd pick. It would have put us in position to grab Lumbala, the running-back from UC. Or we could have swung a deal to get Edem, the Linebacker from UC. Instead, the only name I recognize in our draft prospects is Stefan Charles. A good pick, but it seems a little like overkill with a dline that boasts the likes of Odell Willis, Ted Laurent, Almondo Sewell, Marcus Howard, to name a few, and tremendous depth behind them.
Hervey said he tried to trade up in interviews after the draft, but it’s easier said than done with teams generally holding onto first round picks. What if montreal wanted someone like Coehoorn or Chambers for 3rd overall? To get quality top picks in the draft, you generally have to give up quality in return. There probably just wasn’t a fair or favourable trade for the Eskimos to be made.
Stefan Charles was the best player on the board when we drafted at #10 apart from maybe Lokombo(who will probably get drafted by the NFL next year). Charles is a DT who probably won’t be with us for at least year or possibly longer as he has signed with the Tennessee Titans. Both Odell Willis and Howard are DEs, so they probably didn’t factor into the decision to draft Charles. At DT we have NIs Laurent and Oramasionwu, as well as Sewell as you mentioned. With Laurent possibly leaving for the NFL after his contract is up this year, Charles may be a good replacement for him in 2014 if he is cut and doesn’t have any more NFL interest. Edem or Lumballa certainly would have been nice for the Esks, but I think at where we picked, they were happy to get Charles.
The DE Ngoyi (spelling?) that we drafted in the 5th or 6th round is a physical specimen and it could be interesting to see what he does in camp (probably battling NI DE Capiciotti for one roster spot). The linebacker we got with our second round pick (Norris ?) should have a decent shot at making the game day roster as well since he plays special teams too IIRC and we are pretty thin at NI LB. The two O linemen will be in tough unless they can unseat some of the other young prospects we’ve been collecting over the past 3 years. Definitely way too many OL on the roster right now though, something will give there. Drafting the long snapper who was signed by the NFL was sort of a headscratcher, but he must be pretty good to get a look down south. And at FB Smith Wright might just be the token U of A pick. He’ll be battling with Darcy Brown, Kyle Exume, and possibly Calvin McCarty to be Bertrand’s replacement.
Taking Charles as a futures type pick was a nic choice for the ESKS there situation already includes 3 Canadian DTs one was an all star last year and the other two are of starters quality. Charles can be stocked away and could be in the fold when the current DTS are reaching their 30’s.
Stocking your team with top Canadian talent on both sides of the line and I do not think you can go wrong with that philosophy. The ESKS will be looking to have 5 of the 7 ratio spots with them continuing to stock both sides of the line with the best Canadian talent out there