CFL.ca
CFL.ca Staff
WINNIPEG — Set to select second overall in Monday’s seven-round Draft, Blue Bombers GM Joe Mack is back in familiar territory.
For the third-straight year, the Bombers hold a top-three pick in the Draft and will be looking to cash in on their advantageous position.
Not since 2011 when they held the first overall pick and chose Henoc Muamba have the Bombers been slotted in such a high spot. Last year, they traded up to the third spot with the Tiger-Cats and selected Washington State product Tyson Pencer.
But unlike last season when Ben Heenan was the runaway number one selection, meaning everyone below was tasked with picking with him as if he wasn’t even in the draft, the 2013 crop doesn’t yet have itself a true contender to be taken first.
That being said, Mack will have to wait and see what the Ticats do with their pick before coming to a conclusion.
“I thought that they were maybe going to take (McMaster OL Matt Sewell), but I’m hearing rumblings that maybe they’ll back out of it,” said Mack when asked who he thought the Ticats would select with the first overall pick.
“If I’m them – and I have no idea – I still would consider taking Sewell because he’s from that area, he’s a tackle, he’d be a ratio changer and I think right now it will be a challenge for him to make the (Tennessee Titants) long term,” he added, alluding to the fact that Sewell signed on with the Titans as a free agent over the weekend.
However, despite the fact that Mack is urging the Ticats to take the hulking offensive lineman with the top pick, it doesn’t mean he’ll take him with the second should Kent Austin and his staff opt to take someone else.
“The first thing you do is you try to evaluate the best player. And once you do that, you find certain players at the same level and you look at your roster and say who has the greatest potential to help us right now,” he said.
“We’ve taken a number of offensive linemen over the last few years, there’s kind of a logjam there. (Sewell) is a good player; I just don’t know exactly how a rookie coming in gets on the roster right away,” he added.
Having already mentioned that he would not be willing to trade down in this year’s draft, Mack did admit that he has been looking to trade up, but won’t be disappointed if a deal doesn’t come to fruition.
“There’s potential (for the Bombers to move up to number one). We have two or three players that we really like so we’re going to get one of them,” he said.
In the grand scheme of things, Mack hopes that this draft produces a player of Muamba’s caliber; someone that will be a force on their roster for years to come.
“Ideally you’d like to get a Canadian player that would be with you for 10 years,” he said.
“The other thing that we as a staff have always been conscious of is you want to have alternatives in regards to your ratio. You want things that usually give you a chance to change the ratio.”
– With files from BlueBombers.com
