The Edmonton Eskimos draft day battle plan on May 10th will be driven by Draft Coordinator Rob Ralph, a job once held by Ed Hervey. This year’s CFL draft is deep and players continue to shift throughout the Scouting Bureau rankings in part due to bowl game play, combine results and NFL draft interest. This leaves the Eskimos with plenty of possible scenarios requiring Ralph and Hervey to have a fairly deep draft board, be prepared to take some risks and look for opportunities to make deals adding picks.
Edmonton Eskimos Draft Day Battle Plan
Wheeling and Dealing
Sonny Weaver, Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Draft Day, would be proud of Ed Hervey and his draft day deals. In 2015, Hervey dealt Jorgen Hus and a third rounder in 2016 to Saskatchewan for Cory Watson and a second rounder in 2016. In September, Hervey added backup right tackle Selvish Capers to the second round selection from the Riders and traded both to Winnipeg for a critical piece of the championship team starting left guard Chris Greaves.
In 2014, Hervey dealt the Eskimos fourth and 21st overall selection to Toronto for the sixth and 15th overall selection, Tony Washington, and Otha Foster. While the 15th overall pick, Aaron Milton has been injured more than healthy, and Foster is now in Riderville, Washington is still the starting left tackle and the sixth overall pick became Devon Bailey. One can fully expect Bailey to be given a shot in camp to start this season and it is make or break for the best receiver in the 2014 draft.
Bailey is one of seven National receivers currently on the Eskimos roster that also includes Natey Adjei, Anthony Barrett, Nate Coehoorn, Chris Getzlaf, Andrew Johnson and Cory Watson. Although there are nine quality receivers available in the first five rounds, most will need time to develop, and finding a veteran Canadian receiver is critical to ensuring teams can compete now. Eskimos fans can certainly expect another draft day deal, and most likely one that includes moving a veteran receiver that allows Bailey the prime opportunity to become a starter. If the Eskimos can deal to add a pick in the second or third round, it will be made most likely with either of the ratio challenged Argos or Ti-Cats. Both teams need National receivers, and undoubtedly veteran Canadian receivers are preferred.
Shifting Sands
Under Hervey, the Edmonton Eskimos draft day battle plan has always had the philosophy of drafting the best player available in the first four rounds, and moving up or down to seize the pick accordingly. In rounds five through seven, the Esks look for value, and typical diamonds in the rough, which can play special teams.
Offensive linemen were selected in the first six of nine picks in 2015, three of nine picks in 2014 and five of nine picks in 2013, but where they went is just as important. Keep in mind, while offensive linemen are always ranked high in the pre-draft rankings, for various reasons some tumble down the draft. Danny Groulx fell to seventh last year, and two years ago both Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and David Foucault dropped in the draft. Certainly, quality players will all be selected before the Eskimos pick at eigth, but in a deep draft there are plenty of players in the first two rounds.
Primary Need at Right Tackle
Every CFL team needs Canadian talent on the offensive line and with International right tackle, D’Anthony Batiste turning 34-years-old on March 29th, the time is now to plan for the future. The Eskimos started to prepare for a fourth National starter on the offensive line last year with the second round selection of Alberta’s David Beard. A follow-up selection at tackle would improve the depth and competition going forward.
In this year’s draft, as the champions and selecting last, the Esks are at the mercy of other teams. However, at pick number eight, the Esks could have one of SFU’s OT/C Michael Couture, Concordia’s OT/OG Roman Grozman, Laval’s OT/OG Jason Lauzon-Seguin and Buffalo’s OG/OT Dillon Guy.
The Esks draft board has to have the 6’ 4” 285 lbs Couture slightly ahead of the 6’ 4” 295 lbs Lauzon-Seguin and 6’ 4” 310 lbs Grozman. Couture has played both at tackle and centre, has quicker feet and shows a nasty streak. Grozman is a bit of mauler who uses his strength, but has played more at guard and has had some NFL draft interest as a potential late rounder. Lauzon-Seguin looks rangy and good in pass protection, but a little awkward in run blocking. Guy has been injured off and on during his NCAA career and is coming off an ACL injury, which has him dropping on some boards.
Canadian DE or DT?
Hervey’s the man with the draft day master battle plan that once drafted Simon Fraser defensive end Justin Capicciotti in 2012 and developed him until Ottawa plucked away the future defensive star via the expansion draft. Neither Hervey nor Ralph has lost sight of the need to add another ratio busting National at defensive end to learn and grow behind Marcus Howard.
In the second and third round, players with some risk or legit NFL shots get picked. After a run on offensive linemen and receivers, picking at 17 means the expectation is that one of DT David Onyemata, DT Mehdi Abdesmad, DT Mitchell Winters or DE Trent Corney will be available for the Eskies.
If the Eskimos have the opportunity to select Virginia defensive end Trent Corney in the second round, even with the NFL attention, the Esks should select him. The 6’ 3” 255 lbs Brockville, Ontario native is athletically gifted and has immense strength squatting 630 pounds and benching 440. The biggest knock in 2012 on Corney was his football IQ that held him back from starting until his senior year. Yet in 2015 there were signs he had grown showing well with 36 tackles, 9 for a loss, 2 sacks and a forced fumble while starting 11 of UVA’s 12 games. He will need time to learn at the pro level, to polish his game some more, but Corney has star written all over him.
In 2014, Donny Oramasionwu suffer a season ending ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee and in 2015 he was pushed to back-up at age 29 by Eddie Steele. At 30, Gregory Alexandre, the other back-up DT, has a few years of football left, but he has never been a starter for the Eskimos and will only see spot duty from here on in.
The Eskimos must plan for the future and if he is available a future need can be filled with Miami Ohio DT Mitchell Winters. Winters is 6’ 5” 285 lbs and played in 12 games, making 9 starts for Miami (OH), producing 24 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss.
The Esks should get a clear shot at Corney if they trade for 13th and with the 17th pick they should be able to select Winters. This not only gives the Esks the best players at each pick, but also fills the depth chart for the longer term.
Diamonds in the Rough
Without picks in the third or fourth round, the Eskimos will need to wait around, but in the fifth round there are a few under the radar gems in Laval’s Shayne Gauthier and Western’s Malcolm Brown.
Gauthier is a 5’ 11” 218 lbs LB with 4.6 / 40 speed and 23 reps on the bench press at the combine. He is certainly fast enough, strong enough and with his 5.4 tackles per game last season for Laval, he could play teams right away. The Eskimos could have a steal at #37.
At 190 lbs and 6’ 0” tall, Brown would be a solid pick at #44. While at Western, Brown has 4 picks in 2015. With a 4.6/40 speed and 33” vertical in the combine, he would make a serviceable backup at safety while playing on teams.
Western’s John Biewald did not participate in the bench press, and did not show well in the combine. However, as a DE who is 6’ 4” 225 lbs that had 6.5 sacks and 9 tackles for a loss in 8 games in 2015, he warrants a pick at #53.
Connor Ralph of the University of Albert Golden Bears is a local kid who was a one man tackling machine averaging over 7 tackles per game. The Alberta linebacker with the strong work ethic would be a quality special teams player at pick #61.
Darren Says …
#8 – SFU’s OT/C Michael Couture
Nate Coehoorn Traded to Argos for #13 – Virginia DE Trent Corney
#17 – Miami Ohio DT Mitchell Winters
#37 – Laval’s LB Shayne Gauthier
#44 – Western’s DB Malcolm Brown
#53 – Western’s DE John Biewald
#61 – U of A LB Connor Ralph
