Lionbackers.com

To be fair, during the NFL draft I read tweets of draft picks before they were announced from the stage.

Some very impressive picks by Wally & co. IMO


Vaillancourt is IMO one of the top CFL O-line prospects in some time; Guy has potential too - size & Div I resume = those 2 could man the interior Lions O-line for a long time maybe; Thompson is a big safety with Div I resume (pretty decent mix at safety now with him joining Fraser & Edem = should be no problem at that spot); Blaszko is a big talented receiver with speed, and Johnson has blazing speed at receiver and was a former CIS rookie of the year with a big season at McGill.

Lots of very talented / good potential picks !!!

Kind of nice to hear so many positives coming out of a Lions draft. Good news is always welcome news.

OV - 54:40 wrote:Some very impressive picks by Wally & co. IMO


Vaillancourt is IMO one of the top CFL O-line prospects in some time; Guy has potential too - size & Div I resume = those 2 could man the interior Lions O-line for a long time maybe; Thompson is a big safety with Div I resume (pretty decent mix at safety now with him joining Fraser & Edem = should be no problem at that spot); Blaszko is a big talented receiver with speed, and Johnson has blazing speed at receiver and was a former CIS rookie of the year with a big season at McGill.

Lots of very talented / good potential picks !!!

Good to hear your review and rating. You follow the Natilonals closely.

I was looking at the Team roster and noticed that Charles Vaillancourt is listed there , as well as some of our other draft picks . So I don't recall any announcements of these guys signing contracts . Did I miss something or is there a mistake on the roster?

No announcement of their signings.

The Lions today confirmed the signings of seven of their eight draft picks on the eve of rookie camp. Defensive back Anthony Thompson from Southern Illinois, taken in the second round (12th overall), is the only unsigned pick.

cfl.ca article

Thompson is not holding out as being reported, just finishing up the contract
news1130

NEWS 1130 SportsVerified account ‏@NEWS1130Sports 1h1 hour ago
Been told #BCLions draft pick S Anthony Thompson will be at camp, just wrapping up contract, all is good.

It looks like Thompson might make it to camp after all.

NEWS 1130 Sports ‏@NEWS1130Sports
Been told #BCLions draft pick S Anthony Thompson will be at camp, just wrapping up contract, all is good.

Mike Beamish ‏@sixbeamers
DB Anthony Thompson included on #BCLions rookie TC roster. #CFL team yet to announce signing of 2016 2nd round draft pick (12th overall).

B.C.FAN wrote:It looks like Thompson might make it to camp after all.

NEWS 1130 Sports ‏@NEWS1130Sports
Been told #BCLions draft pick S Anthony Thompson will be at camp, just wrapping up contract, all is good.

Mike Beamish ‏@sixbeamers
DB Anthony Thompson included on #BCLions rookie TC roster. #CFL team yet to announce signing of 2016 2nd round draft pick (12th overall).

Wow.

I thought there was a chance Vaillancourt might get a sniff from the NFL. He is ours now.

Thompson has signed, so Wally is 8 for 8.

Lowell Ullrich ‏@FifthQtr

Make it 8for8: Wally Buono confirms deal in place w/ #bclions 2nd pick and JHardaway client, Anthony Thompson. All 8 picks head to Kamloops

With Hardaway representing Thompson, it isn't a stretch to think Thompson was holding out. Apparently some managers will avoid drafting Hardaway clients in order to not have the associated drama.

For years, the Lions have struggled to find capable National DBs or Safeties.

Suddenly things are looking up.

We acquired two formerly very high draft picks.

Eric Fraser was picked 8th overall back in 2010. Big and physical. IMO he played well for us last year.

In February we signed free agent Mike Edem. Third overall pick in the 2013 draft. Excellent size and athleticism. Can play Safety or even some LB, tweener.

2013-2014: Mike was originally selected by the Montreal Alouettes with the third overall pick in the 2013 CFL Draft. He appeared in 35 games during his first two seasons with the Als notching 54 tackles, five sacks and four interceptions. The lofty numbers earned him an East Division All-Star nod in 2013 as well as Montreal’s nominee as Outstanding Canadian and Outstanding Rookie.

And this year we drafted Anthony Thompson. Good size, as with Fraser and Edem. Very athletic. Highly regarded in this year's draft.

Good work by our personnel department, Wally, Neil and the guys.

CardiacKid wrote:Justin Dunk, he of the "Mock Draft"', rated the Lions as the winners of this year's draft. He rates all the teams over at 3downNation.com.

http://wp.me/p65Ld4-4bZ

I thought it rather interesting he rated the Eskimos as having the worst draft, having only 6 picks and using 2 of them on guys they don't realistically expect to have within their ranks anytime soon.

The Eskimos draft just went from supposedly the worst of this year's group of picks to even worse. Doug Corby announced his retirement at the age of 22. He never played a game of pro ball and just experienced 2 days of full training camp (along with the rookie camp).

So of the Esk's 6 picks, 2 are currently in the NFL and 1 just retired, leaving only 3 for the remainder of this camp. Their National depth took a hit with this and Zander Robinson's retirement as well.

It will be interesting how the Esks deal with their assorted challenges this year as defending champs. They just might a team the Leos could leap frog in the standings.

CardiacKid wrote: They just might a team the Leos could leap frog in the standings.

This statement sounds like you may have pegged BC to be in last place or way down in the standings. Is this not presumptive ? If so, why would you have this opinion ?
The way I see it both the Esks and Riders have more reason at this point to be considered behind BC . The only western team I see having good reason to rate ahead , with out a game being played ,is Calgary , but even they are starting out with a first year HC, although a likely candidate to be a good one . The EE have been gutted , so I automatically rate BC ahead of them and the Riders , Chris Jones or not , basically fired half their team , so who knows how they'll do. Can't rate them ahead just based on Chris Jones alone.
So far WB has had a very good off season and based on that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt . A good off season , a good draft as well as a very promising young QB in the starter spot , so I'm seeing things a lot more optimistically than some , apparently .