Feeling the 2020 Draft

Now that the outcome of the Nick Arbuckle acquisition has been determined, let's take a deeper look at the impact that it will have going forward.

As a reminder, the team gave up a third-round draft choice for his rights, then swapped places with Calgary in the first round of the coming college draft (from first to sixth) when they were able to sign him prior to free agency starting on February 11th.

Here are a couple of quotes from general manager Marcel Desjardins, as found in the Ottawa Sun and provided by Tim Baines, at the time that the trade with Calgary was first announced.

“We were willing to give up a third-round pick to see how it plays out… Look, we’ve got guys from last year’s draft, guys who didn’t play, coming back. We’ve got Samson Abbott, Chris Larsen, Gabriel Polan, Clement Lebreux. Those guys might make our team. Plus we get a territorial draft pick (at the end of the first round).” 

“When we’ve drafted toward the back end of the first round, we’ve always ended up with a pretty good football player. We certainly feel like we’ll get a good player at six. It’s something I proposed, that we flip those picks.”

The territorial pick is actually at the end of the second round. Tim Baines' addition to Desjardins' first comment above, in parentheses, is incorrect.

So we lose a third and drop in the first. To evaluate the impact of those moves, let's review how we are doing for Canadian talent.

By my unofficial count, and including draft choices from previous drafts that are expected to show up, but not guys that are becoming free agents in 10 days, we have...

FB - 3 (Beaulieu, Gosselin, Polan...all from Sherbrooke!) 

WR - 4 (Dubois, Lewis, Sinopoli, Tyrell)  

OL - 10 (Fontana, Gagnon, Johnson, Korte, Lauzon-Seguin, MacMillan, Mateas, Omara, Pickett, Secord) 

DL - 7 (Abbott, Grant, Larsen, Laurent,  Lebreux, Onyeka, Romick)  

LB - 1 (Côté) 

DB - 4 (Bolduc, Hamlin, Howell, Pruneau)

The fullback count does not include Brendan Gillanders since he is listed simply as a running back.

You're always looking to improve and add depth, of course, but many of those positions are pretty full. You can only keep so many guys around.

But even if that were not the case, the team added some Canadian players late last year that could turn into good "substitutes" for draft choices.

DB Nate Hamlin was picked up last October following his release by BC. The Lions had drafted him in the fourth round in 2017. He did not play in 2019 but the Carleton product could continue to contribute on special teams, as he did with the Lions, and hopefully grow from there. He turns 25 in June.

I already wrote a post about WR James Tyrrell upon his signing last November. I found him to be an interesting pickup.

In 2018, Tyrrell recorded 17 receptions for 292 yards and a score. He went undrafted in the spring of 2019.

In his 2019 season with Concordia, his numbers blew up to 52 catches for 779 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers are at the top of the USports receiving stats and in line with what the top receiving non-NCAA prospect, Waterloo's Tyler Ternowski (16th on the CFL's latest Scouting Bureau release) put together.  Tyrell is now a Redblack, acquired for "free". This could turn into a quality move quickly.

There may be a better one. DT Julien Laurent was brought in last October, much like Hamlin, and also like Hamlin, he had been released by BC.

Laurent, however, came much more highly-touted. Prior to the 2018 draft, Laurent was considered a top-10 prospect. BC ultimately chose him in the first round, 7th overall. Ottawa got him as a free agent.

This isn't to say that the third-round choice given up and picking lower in the round don't represent a certain value. Of course they do. It's entirely possible that we could have all the players above and that Arbuckle could have been acquired as a free agent without paying that cost.

But based on what could be some shrewd late-season acquisitions in 2019 and being awarded a territorial pick, if you're going to pay that cost, this appears to be a good year to take the chance.