Christian Bender/CFL.ca
BC Lions co-general manager and head coach Rick Campbell knows very well the cost of replacing talent.
The Lions had to move quickly in 2022 as starting quarterback Nathan Rourke went down with a foot injury halfway through the season, so they sent a 2023 first-round pick to the Montreal Alouettes to acquire veteran quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.
That means that BC had to deal with the possibility of not selecting a player in the opening round of this year’s CFL Draft. That was the case until the team swung a trade in February with the Toronto Argonauts, sending 2021’s Most Outstanding Rookie linebacker Jordan Williams for the ninth overall selection.
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Former Montreal Alouettes quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was traded to the BC Lions midseason and threw for 1,504 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception in eight games (Christian Bender/CFL.ca)
“We weren’t going to settle for anything less than a first-round pick” said Campbell to BCLions.com about trading Williams.
“When you get good players, you have to give up something for it, whether that’s Adams or Terry Williams (who was acquired by BC for a third-round pick), but it definitely worked from our point of view to be able to get those guys even though it cost us those draft picks.”
The Orange and Black ended up using the pick they acquired from the Argos on defensive lineman Francis Bemiy from Southern Utah, whom CFL.ca’s Marshall Ferguson had going fifth overall to the Montreal Alouettes in his final mock draft.
The Lions doubled down on defence by selecting five other players on that side of the ball – including defensive back Siriman Bagayogo from Guelph in the second round – before rounding up the draft with offensive lineman Troy Kowal from Minot State in the final round.
“The plan wasn’t necessarily to go heavy on defence, it’s kind of the way things shook out, the way players were ranked on our board,” said Campbell.
“We feel very fortunate to start out with Bemiy as our first-round pick, that he fell that far. I know he was a highly thought of guy, he’s a guy that we think can come in right away and compete, he can play special teams right away which is a big thing too, so we are excited about that.”
Bemiy had 38.5 tackles for loss and 13 sacks in five years with the Thunderbirds while playing multiple positions on the defensive line. That should give defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips a lot of creative room to deploy his newest weapon.
Co-general manager and director of football operations Neil McEvoy echoed Campbell’s feelings when talking about sitting there with the ninth pick in the draft and seeing the defensive lineman from Montreal available.
“He was obviously a guy we had really high on our board and we were happy that he was able to drop to where we were picking,” said McEvoy to BCLions.ca.
“At the combine, his film and everything else showed that he was going to be able to compete for a starting spot and help us on special teams, possibly take some good defensive reps in 2023, which is what you want. We saw all those traits and a guy that when he was available it was easy to make that pick.”
It makes sense for a team that led the league in offensive yards per game in 2022 to focus on defence in the draft as they rely on a veteran group to carry the load offensively.
Adams is joined by veteran receivers Dominique Rhymes, Lucky Whitehead and Keon Hatcher, alongside fourth-year National wide receiver Jevon Cottoy to form one of the most explosive offences in the league.
“I like that we have a core group of players that have been around for a few years now and I like our quarterbacking situation with (Adams) and the veteran depth,” said Campbell.
“The thing I like about the veteran guys is that I think they understand the work that needs to go in to be able to win. It’s not just about wanting to win, it’s about putting in the everyday work and doing all the stuff to put yourself in a position to win. I think our veteran guys have such a good understanding of that.”
The Lions have lost a few important veteran pieces this off-season with the departure of running back James Butler to Hamilton, the retirement of four-time CFL All-Star Bryan Burnham after eight years in BC, as well as Rourke’s departure to the NFL.
The head coach is aware that replacing pieces like that is a tall task, but he’s confident this group has what it takes to carry the torch.
“Bryan Burnham is a special guy, he’s literally a once in a generation type of player, from just the way he is as a person, the way he competes and the way he conducts himself,” Campbell said. “We did get a taste of life without him last year because he was hurt. We had a whole group of receivers that stepped up, a guy like Hatcher that stepped in for him and we kept going and that’s how life is and how football is.
“People are going to come and go and guys like Rhymes, Hatcher, Lucky, Cottoy, there is a whole group around them that can support that loss so it will be a big loss but we are hoping that the experience of the guys we have can replace those things.”
Earlier on Tuesday the Lions also selected wide receiver Jevoni Robinson from Jamaica and defensive lineman Junior Aho from France in the 2023 CFL Global Draft.
