2017 CFL Draft - What Players Will Our Leos Choose

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Qman
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Hambone wrote:
TheLionKing wrote:Looks like the Lions addressed their needs. Question now is : will any of draftees have an immediate impact ?
Depends on your definition of impact. Vandervoort, Luke and Zver will all have to make the 46 lest they want to risk getting them plucked off the PR as happened with Mrabure and Guy last year. That in itself probably puts Adekolu or Blazko, Forde and Dhillon on the bubble. I don't expect any to push starters for a while but believe Luke stands the best chance to contribute right away by getting into the DL rotation for some reps either to give one of the inside guys a breather or to give Washington more options to mix things up in his rotations. I'm thinking he could be rotated in to plug the middle and Menard taken out without having to juggle other D spots for ratio. Prior to drafting Luke BC's NAT DL content was all in the 247-262 lb range, mostly suited for DE.
i think it was LU that pointed out we have lost a half dozen cdns over the off season (gore, oneil, fraser, westerman, bo, eventually edem, etc). so their are open spots available in the 21 active roster spots.
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DanoT
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Did the Lions draft anyone who could take over Lokumbo's spot on Special Teams?
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Hambone
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DanoT wrote:Did the Lions draft anyone who could take over Lokumbo's spot on Special Teams?
Well they did draft 2 LBs; Frederic Chagnon (3rd 24th overall) and Jordan Herdman (7th round 60th overall). I don't know anything about ST skills but it's safe to assume if they want to make the club they better have some ability or be fast learners. Don't forget some of the INT additions. Tony Burnett had 19 ST tackles last year for Winnipeg and from what I've been reading about Micah Awe he should be very good in that role.
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I was thinking that with 9 picks, it must have been the most fruitful draft ever (quantity-wise) for the Lions. But a check of their website shows the team had 9 picks in 2010 as well. Of those picks, Shawn Gore was easily the biggest contributor but Danny Watkins was easily the biggest name. Akeem Foster and Cauchy Muamba were amongst those picks as well.

I haven't had a close look at the entire draft list but did any punters or place-kickers get selected?
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CardiacKid wrote:
I haven't had a close look at the entire draft list but did any punters or place-kickers get selected?

Winnipeg selected Felix Menard-Briere a kicker from Montreal in the 4th round.
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Jeremy Zver. Left tackle.



Very athletic. Very, very strong. Very aggressive. Very mobile.

6'4'' 300 lbs.

He looks like a very good pick to me.
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CardiacKid wrote:I was thinking that with 9 picks, it must have been the most fruitful draft ever (quantity-wise) for the Lions. But a check of their website shows the team had 9 picks in 2010 as well. Of those picks, Shawn Gore was easily the biggest contributor but Danny Watkins was easily the biggest name. Akeem Foster and Cauchy Muamba were amongst those picks as well.

I haven't had a close look at the entire draft list but did any punters or place-kickers get selected?
Keep in mind in 2016 it was 9 picks in an 8 round draft, total of 71 drafted. That was 24 more than in 2010 when there were only 6 rounds and 47 players drafted. Their 9th and final pick in 2010 was Chappy's little boy Matthew part way into the final round at #42. This year they also took a player at #42 overall, Edwin Godin......... and drafted 3 more after him.
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WestCoastJoe wrote:Jeremy Zver. Left tackle.



Very athletic. Very, very strong. Very aggressive. Very mobile.

6'4'' 300 lbs.

He looks like a very good pick to me.
Overall, I'm pleased with the 2017 edition of the Leos draft.

I'm thrilled that we got Junior Luke, Zvar, Hamlin and Herdman.

Wally and his braintrust definitely wanted Vandervoot and Luke. Hamilton tried to trade up with our Leos for Vandervoot and Wally would not trade his second first round pick when Luke was still available. Buono and Company also had Hamlin rated as their top defensive back.

While pleased I would have done it differently, I really didn't believe we needed a National receiver as our first round pick. Yes, Iannuzzi is getting older and has never impressed me as a field side wide out but we also had Adekolu, who in his first start last season in the West Semi-Final led our Leos in receptions. We also have Brett Bllaszco, who has good size, is very fast, and athletic. Shaq Johnson is a speedster and shifty in the open field. We are starting four Internationals this year at receiver and will use a lot of four receiver sets in 2017.

Vandervoot will not go on the practice roster this season and with Iannuzzi slated as the starter to begin with, that will mean that Adekolu, Blaszco, and Johnson are on the bubble. I wouldn't be surprised to see us cut Adekolu and Johnson this training camp but who knows which two of our National receivers will be released. Iannuzzi has been a fave son for Buono, Adekolu has never been given a real opportunity in spite of great training camps and exhibition seasons, and last year, Johnson got the nod to dress as the backup over Blaszco, when Iannuzzi wa injured for a game and a half.

Vandervoot is an excellent route runner who can create separation but he does not have high end speed. Many scouts felt that Nathan Bahar, who is strong, fast, and very athletic has more upside as a pro than Vandervoot.

I would have taken Randy Colling with our first round choice, along with Luke. Colling and Luke would have given us the ability to start one National tackle and have Luke rotate in.

Many thought we would take Colling with our first choice and when Coling was available at #6 Hufnagel was shocked and arranged a trade for him. Colling could be the steal of this draft for Calgary.

I liked the choice of Zver in the second round. With all of the highest rated offensive lineman gone, with the exception of Zver, the choice was a no brainer if we wanted to add to our National offensive line depth. Zver is also a left tackle, is strong, and very athletic. He also has not played a lot of football and has excellent upside. We could have chosen Mulumba this spot but chose not to.

However, I was less thrilled with our choice in the third round. Woodson was available and he could have played both field corner or safety for us. He was less risky than Dondre Wright and with his change-of-direction skills to break on routes and under-cut throws hthe West's Defensive Player of the Year in his junior season for good reasons. We also could have taken a shot by drafting Eli Enkou with this pick although Woodson would have been the best choice to having a talented field corner behind Kenyan Parker and with the potential to also be a starting safety in the future. We also could have chosen Tunde Adelike in the third round and he was drafted one spot later by Calgary.

But Gagnon is a big, fast linebacker who should add National depth to our linebacking unit and contribute to special teams.

But with our fourth round pick our Leos did draft a defensive back and he was our Leos favorite choice on the Board for defensive backs for our Leos over Wright, Woodson, and Adelike. Hamlin was Central Scouting's third rated defensive back for this draft. Hamlin is not a man cover guy but he has the ability to be a zone corner. He is a hard hitter, takes good angles, and good closing speed. special-teams player in the CFL. His lack of twitch hurts his potential as a free safety.

I really liked our lower round draft choices. We passed on Kwaku Boeting in the fifth round and that was a good decision. Boeting, while ranked highly coming into the 2017 draft is an undersized defensive end that we were wise to pass on. Edward Godin has a motor and plays like he is on fire. Dakota Brush is big, athletic receiver and I like big recievers. Brush is 6'3" and 245 pounds. If we ever learned how to utilize a big receiver like this in some tight end sets, he could be a valuable addition. It was a surprise that Herdman was avaiblable in the 7th round and even though he did not have a good combine, he has abilities.

Finally, Mitchell Hillis was a surprise to be still availale for the 8th round. He didn't test that well at the Combine but he was still expected to be drafted higher than the 8th round. Whether they end up playing for our Leos this season or not, I liked our late round draft choices.

Overall, a good 2017 draft with Junior Luke the most exciting addition. Lots to look forward to for 2017 training camp.

Alex Bazzie is now a free agent. Interesting to see if Buono will still be interested. Wally is up against the cap so that also factors in.
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I was a little surprised that we took Vanderhoot at #3 overall too, Blitz. However, I have to think that Geroy, who would extensively scouted and attended the combine, saw something in him that gave him the edge over Behar. It obviously wasn't speed. I will be interested to follow this receiver draft class as we could have plucked a UBC guy later (Alex Morrison) who ended up being taken 29th overall by Montreal (he's at the Giants' mini camp). He had a fantastic 2015 campaign (645 receiving yards), but his 2016 season was cut short by a gruesome arm injury.

Could it be possible that Blaszko and Johnson didn't impress at the 3 day OTAs, and that's why we felt the need to grab a stud receiver early (we're only going to play with one National this year anyway, so I can't believe they were panicking by losing Shawn Gore, especially with proven players like Iannuzzi and Adekolu)?

As for Bazzie, while he was cut by the Colts, he just signed with the Panthers. I would be surprised if he stuck down there, but LU was on the TSN 1040 yesterday and didn't think Wally would try to re-sign him, adding that he didn't think he put the same weight on losing Bazzie as he did Bighill and Lokombo.


DH :cool:
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DanoT
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I was also surprised by the Vandervoot selection. My immediate response was that Vandervoot is one of the most starter ready in the draft and it is a sign that Wally is pulling out all the stops to build a "win it all now" team; something that would mesh with a HC/GM in his final year before retirement...just sayin'.

Also Iannuzzi fits nicely into Wally's preference to have a veteran backup receiver, with a younger, stronger guy playing most of the downs.
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Vandervoort has football in his blood. Chris O'Leary wrote a nice feature for cfl.ca on his draft-day excitement and a family life that revolves around football.

Some excerpts:
Fifteen years of my life, I feel like the hard work actually pays off now,” Vandervoort said. “You get to see the hours in the gym and practicing and you get to go somewhere and continue playing football. It’s awesome.”
For parents that have seen every game of football at every level that their son has played, the hope was for an East Division team. Toronto or Hamilton would be the easiest, of course, Liane said, but they could drive to Montreal or Ottawa.

Over the 15 years that Danny has been playing football, the family has mastered the road trip. They drove to Lethbridge, Alta., when Danny played for Team Ontario as a high-schooler. They drove non-stop for 27 hours in March to be there with him when he was at the draft combine in Regina.

“Football’s in our blood,” Liane said. Alysha, after wishing she could have played tackle football as a kid, remembers a family trip to Canton, Ohio, to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“We went to the Hall of Fame and in that stadium there was a high school game,” Danny said. “We sat and watched it.”

“Anywhere we go we try to find stadiums,” Dan Sr. added.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: DRAFT SIGNALS EMOTIONAL EVENING FOR THE VANDERVOORTS
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Re: Vandervoort Buono has talked about how he is always open. He compared him to Geroy and a couple other top end receivers who weren't known for blazing speed. They are by no means the fastest guys but have that innate sense to get open. That usually points towards a smart player who runs crisp routes and reads coverages well.

As for the measurables DVV was slightly slower in the 40 than NB at 4.734 compared to 4.613. DVV was slightly quicker in the 3 cone 7.20 to 7.29 yet slower on the shuttle 4.35 to 4.25.. Behar blew him away in the bench 22 to 13. They were even on the vertical at 31.5 each. Behar edged DVV out on the broad jump by 1 inch. On height and weight they weigh in virtually the same but Vandervoort is nearly 2" taller.
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DanoT
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Hambone wrote:Re: Vandervoort Buono has talked about how he is always open. He compared him to Geroy and a couple other top end receivers who weren't known for blazing speed. They are by no means the fastest guys but have that innate sense to get open. That usually points towards a smart player who runs crisp routes and reads coverages well.

As for the measurables DVV was slightly slower in the 40 than NB at 4.734 compared to 4.613. DVV was slightly quicker in the 3 cone 7.20 to 7.29 yet slower on the shuttle 4.35 to 4.25.. Behar blew him away in the bench 22 to 13. They were even on the vertical at 31.5 each. Behar edged DVV out on the broad jump by 1 inch. On height and weight they weigh in virtually the same but Vandervoort is nearly 2" taller.
Very interesting measureables comparison. The only dramatic difference is in the bench press which has less importance for WR than other positions. Vandervoot's extra height is nice and that also might mean longer arms which usually means guys with long arms are at a disadvantage mechanically but not necessarily strength wise, when compared to shorter armed rapid bench pressing.

So yah, I like this pick.
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I will be very interested to see how Herdman pans out, among the more intriguing picks IMO. He is labelled as not testing well but his game day performances are the reverse. Plus playing alongside his twin brother in the linebacking corps at SFU makes for an interesting story. Maybe he will become what many of us had hoped for Bo Lokombo?!?!
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Hambone wrote:
DanoT wrote:Did the Lions draft anyone who could take over Lokumbo's spot on Special Teams?
Well they did draft 2 LBs; Frederic Chagnon (3rd 24th overall) and Jordan Herdman (7th round 60th overall). I don't know anything about ST skills but it's safe to assume if they want to make the club they better have some ability or be fast learners. Don't forget some of the INT additions. Tony Burnett had 19 ST tackles last year for Winnipeg and from what I've been reading about Micah Awe he should be very good in that role.
they also signed the kid from delta - ainsworth (IIRC) -- listed as a DL but really a ST specialist
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