O’Leary: Pre-draft trade gives Ticats nothing but options

A jump between the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks may not seem like that much, but Wednesday’s deal between the Montreal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats covered a lot of ground.

Als GM Kavis Reed had said on Monday that he’d be open to trading the top pick in the CFL Draft if the move bettered his team in the short and long-term. Ticats GM Eric Tillman — who was Reed’s boss when the two were in Edmonton in 2011 and 2012 — accommodated Reed while getting what he was after, as well.

RELATED:
» Ticats acquire first overall pick in major trade with Alouettes
» Ticats acquire 6th overall pick from Eskimos
» BC acquires first round pick in swap with Bombers

With the first pick, will the Tiger-Cats select Mark Chapman? (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)

The Als’ immediate help comes in the form of offensive guard Ryan Bomben (a CFL East Division All-Star the last three seasons) and wide receiver Jamal Robinson. While Bomben is an established, national entity in the league, Robinson, 25, was on the Ticats’ practice roster to close out last season, after stints on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice roster the last two years.

For the future, the Als have the second overall pick as well as Hamilton’s 31st overall pick (fourth-round), its 44th overall (sixth-round) and a second-round pick in 2019.

The Als also picked up the rights to an undisclosed negotiation list player. After the deal was done, Ticats head coach June Jones clarified on TSN 1150 in Hamilton that QB Johnny Manziel was not the neg-list player traded.

Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette later reported that the neg-list player is New York Giants QB Alex Tanney.

The neg list player #Als receive from Hamilton is QB Alex Tanney. He's 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. Just released by Tennessee, he signed with the New York Giants.

— Herb Zurkowsky (@HerbZurkowsky1) May 2, 2018

Hamilton acquired the first overall pick from Montreal along with the 31st overall (fourth-round) pick, the 44th overall pick (sixth-round) and a second-round pick in 2019.

After a deal with Edmonton earlier in the day, the Ticats now have nine picks, including two in the first round, going first and sixth overall.

“I’ve never been around a front office that puts the whole plan together with everybody involved, and that’s what’s happened the last 10 days,” Jones told TSN 1150.

“Drew [Allemang]’s done an unbelievable job, [Eric Tillman] and Burkie and then with the input from Orlondo [Steinauer] and myself, it’s been a real positive thing. It’s all in conjunction.”

With a plethora of picks come options and the Ticats go into this draft in the driver’s seat. They could stay in line with the chatter that’s surrounded the draft up to this point and take UCONN O-lineman Trey Rutherford with the first pick.

They could also look away from a draft that’s heavy on O-linemen (pun not intended) and go with the other rumoured first-overall candidate, in Central Michigan receiver Mark Chapman. The Ticats were rumoured to be deeply interested in Danny Vandervoort a year ago, but watched as BC took the McMaster receiver a spot ahead of them with the third overall pick. In a way, they have the opportunity on Thursday to get what they were after a year ago.

“We don’t want to tip our hand, but I’ve voiced what I’d like to do (with the pick),” Jones said.

“I’m not calling the final shot but my input has a lot of influence on that. I think the best-case scenario is we have a lot of young offensive linemen that had very good mini-camps and the luxury of being able to have that is because of the job that our scouting department has done.

Will Trey Rutherford be taken by the Ticats first in Thursday’s draft? (University of Connecticut)

“I think we have some of the best Canadian players on our team, we probably have more than every team in the CFL. Just to give you an example, there was a young kid I didn’t even know what was in our camp last year, [Jacob] Scarfone, that was in mini-camp and I was blown away by how he practised and played. They’ve done a good job with their homework in this draft and I’m excited to watch Drew do it tomorrow because we have a whole bunch of picks.”

Talking about his offensive line and how to replace Bomben, Jones sounded very confident with what he’s seen in-house, both in the second half of last season and in last week’s mini-camp.

“We turned it [offensive line play] around the last 10 games. We were No. 1 in all those categories. The fewest sacks, pressures, all that kind of stuff,” Jones said.

“Obviously, Ryan was a part of that. I’m a protection guy, protect-the-quarterback-first kind of guy. We’re going to go through camp and give everybody a chance but we feel like we have four really solid guys.

“We’re going to pick up somebody in this draft also to fill in an O-line position, so I think we’re in good shape.”

The final day before the draft has come together nicely, with a flurry of activity — BC and Winnipeg got the ball rolling with a pick swap on Monday afternoon — that should get fans excited about what GMs are thinking when it comes to the future of their rosters.

“I think the decisions that we’re making with the management as football coaches are really solid decisions to help us to win the Grey Cup,” Jones said. “That’s the only goal we have in mind, is to get to that final game and win it.”