Michigan State Spartans
EDMONTON — Ed Hervey knows there’s a chance his first two picks from Tuesday’s 2016 CFL Draft may never play a down in the league.
The Esks went with a pair of futures at the bottom of rounds one and two, taking Iowa receiver Tavaun Smith in the first round and Michigan State defensive back Arjen Colquhoun in the second — the second and fourth ranked players respectively in the CFL Scouting Bureau rankings.
Both of them are on NFL rosters and there’s no telling when, or if, they’ll arrive north of the border. Whatever happens, Hervey’s comfortable with the picks.
“I’m not going to guess as to when they’ll be available,” said Hervey, now in his fourth season as a CFL general manager after taking over the helm of the Esks in 2013. “But we also know there’s another draft next year, there’s free agency and there are also other opportunities to make moves and fill holes along the way.”
Smith and Colquhoun weren’t the first gambles taken in the draft by CFL teams but they may have been the biggest. Top-ranked prospect David Onyemata went at the bottom of the fourth round to Saskatchewan after being drafted in the fourth round by the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. Mehdi Abdesmad dropped to the third round where he was picked up by the REDBLACKS.
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For the Eskimos to use their top two picks on players they may never see is bold no matter how you slice it — but at the same time it’s a credit to the position the Esks have put themselves in with their depth of Canadian talent.
It’s something Hervey concedes he wouldn’t have been able to do a year ago, before the team added national offensive linemen Christopher Greaves, Danny Groulx, David Beard and Matt O’Donnell over the course of a year.
“If you go back last year,” Hervey recalled, “Simeon Rottier was injured, Matt O’Donnell wasn’t here and we were in a position where we kind of had to take offensive linemen.
“We were just discussing in the back how for us this season, we’re not pressed to grab an offensive lineman who may or may not be there, and it gave us the flexibility to select the players we were most comfortable with.”
The Eskimos drafted Groulx and Beard early in the draft last year before adding Greaves via trade. O’Donnell joined the team mid-season after departing from the National Football League. Hervey was so comfortable with his O-line depth going into this draft that the Esks were the only team not to take a single offensive lineman.
“We went in knowing we didn’t require one . . . we had other needs and we were able to address those while making sure we were able to get the best players on our board with the hopes of seeing him in the future.”
After taking Smith and Colquhoun in the first and second, the Esks were without a pick for rounds three and four. Hervey went with Western defensive back Josh Woodman in the fifth and then got a potential steal in Queen’s receiver Doug Corby, who fell to sixth despite being the 20th-ranked player in the CFL Scouting Bureau.
The Esks closed out their draft with a pair of linebackers in the seventh and eighth, going with Doug Parrish, whose father won a Grey Cup with the Eskimos in the early ’90s, and Manitoba linebacker D.J. Lalama with the 70th and final pick of the draft.
Outside of the top two picks, the Eskimos have some players that may be able to come in and contribute soon.
“We felt like we addressed some needs in some areas, providing some depth at the wide receiver position and getting a couple of linebackers to fill in on a special teams roles and give us some depth on that side,” said Hervey. “And give some young guys some opportunities – those guys are some active players we feel can come in and compete and give us a chance to continue success within our draft.”
And as far as those first two picks, what if they take a while to get here? What if they don’t make it at all?
“I honestly believe that even if they don’t show up in a year or two, you can fill those roles through free agency ‘til they get here,” said Hervey.
“If they’re good enough to stay in the NFL, that’s how talented they are and they’ve earned that.”
It’s a calculated risk, and while everyone asks that question — what if they never see the CFL — Hervey has his team in a position to ask, ‘what if they do?’
“I felt it was a good risk for us,” said Hervey. “We all talked about it and these are the types of athletes that don’t come around too often and being in the position we’re in we felt we might as well take a shot at it.
“If they ever should return, we’re going to get some pretty good players.”
– With files from Esks.com
