Dave Dickenson will have plenty of options in the CFL draft Tuesday night.
The Calgary head coach and general manager holds four of the first 20 picks, including two in the first round (Nos. 1, 8). The Stampeders currently have a league-high 10 selections after posting a 5-12-1 record last season to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Dickenson was unavailable for comment Monday. But longtime CFL coach/GM Jim Barker has a definite idea who Calgary should take first overall: Receiver Keelan White of Montana, Dickenson’s alma mater.
“To me, he’s by far the best player in the draft,” said Barker. “I think Keelan White makes so much sense.
“He’s a little like (veteran Stampeders receiver Reggie Begelton) in that he knows how to get open, he’s tough, he’ll catch everything over the middle. They could use a guy like that who’s Canadian.”
The six-foot-two, 184-pound White, of North Vancouver, B.C., had 57 catches for 628 yards and four touchdowns last season. A college walk-on in 2019, White finished with 161 receptions for 1,862 yards and 14 touchdowns at Montana.
And White would fill a need for Calgary with the off-season retirement of Cole Tucker. Also, third-year receiver Clark Barnes missed nine games due to injury as a rookie but appeared in 16 contests last season.
Hamilton, Ottawa, Saskatchewan, Montreal, Winnipeg and Toronto will follow Calgary before the Stampeders conclude the opening round at No. 8. The B.C. Lions and Edmonton Elks are scheduled to make their first picks in the second rounds.
A total of 72 players will be taken over eight rounds.
Dickenson will also open the CFL global draft Tuesday morning. Each team will make two selections.
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Barker is a five-time Grey Cup champion over his CFL tenure as an assistant coach, head coach and GM and was the league’s coach of the year in 2010 with Toronto. He’s now a football panellist with TSN.
Dickenson could use all four picks or trade one or some to land a veteran CFL player. And that could include the first overall selection if the price is right.
At least Dickenson has some clarity following last week’s NFL draft.
Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor, of Medicine Hat, Alta., and Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke, of Oakville, Ont., were both selected (fourth round, Tennessee, seventh round, San Francisco, respectively).
LSU defensive lineman Paris Shand, of Toronto, and Montana defensive lineman Hayden Harris both signed free-agent deals with the Buffalo Bills afterwards.
Ayomanor, Rourke and Shand held down the top three spots in the CFL scouting bureau’s final top-20 draft prospects list released Monday while Harris, who grew up in Mill Creek, Wash., but qualifies as Canadian through his mother, was No. 9. All are now expected to be futures picks Tuesday given their respective NFL prospects.
Barker said there’s plenty of depth along the defensive line in the draft.
“I think there’s more defensive linemen this year that have a chance to make teams than there has been in a long time,” he said. “Two of them – Shand and Harris – both signed free-agent contracts so you lose two but there’s a lot other defensive linemen, interior and edge guys, that can play.”
Included among the defensive line prospects is Darien Newell of Queen’s. The six-foot-three, 309-pound Brampton, Ont., native could follow in the footsteps of former Golden Gael Derek Wiggan to Calgary.
Wiggan retired after spending last season with the Montreal Alouettes but played his first eight CFL campaigns with the Stampeders.
Wyoming linebacker Connor Shay has also been mentioned as a first-round top prospect. He has accepted rookie-camp offers from the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets but hasn’t signed an NFL deal.
Shay is an American who qualifies for the CFL draft because of a Canadian father. The six-foot-two, 227-pound linebacker had 76 tackles (45 solo, 7.5 for a loss), 1.5 sacks and an interception in 12 starts last season.
Shay has been compared to Alex Singleton, another American who played in the CFL (2016-18) as a Canadian with Calgary and was a two-time league all-star and its ’17 top defensive player. Singleton is currently with the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
Another highly regarded linebacker is Windsor’s Devin Veresuk, who’ll attend the Indianapolis Colts rookie camp. The six-foot-three, 230-pound Windsor, Ont., native recorded 160 tackles (14 for loss), nine sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles for the Lancers.
Barker could also see Western safety Jackson Findlay going in the first round. The six-foot-three, 203-pound North Vancouver native, was a ’23 first-team All-Canadian and ’24 Presidents’ Trophy finalist.
Findlay comes by his football prowess honestly as his great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle and father all played in the CFL. Findlay was one of U Sports’ top-eight academic All-Canadians last year and plans to become a pediatric oncologist when he’s done playing.
“He’s a big safety who, to me, fits for Winnipeg because (American) Brandon Alexander retired,” Barker said. “There aren’t too many Canadian safeties that you can say when William Stanback (veteran Ottawa running back) comes rolling through the B gap, he’s going to come up and have no gain because Findlay will hit him.”
Laurier’s Taylor Elgersma, the ’24 Hec Crighton Trophy winner who attended the Senior Bowl in January, headlines the draft’s quarterback group. Also included are Laval’s Arnaud Desjardins, Montreal’s Jonathan Senecal, McMaster’s Keagan Hall and Manitoba’s Jackson Tachinski, who also worked out this off-season as a receiver.
