There wasn’t any college football in Canada last season, which means the scouts are basically relying on shows dating back to 2019.
So teams must try to find out which players have trained better to compensate for the lack of competition.
Maciocia says it’s by far one of the most difficult drafts I’ve ever been associated with. We have to plan how the youth who haven’t played for a year will respond to a professional camp.
The opportunity had a chance for some young Canadian footballers who played in the United States last fall.
Most university rounds have added a year of eligibility for student-athletes, which means that most drafted players will be able to return to play next fall.
So CFL teams must decide if they can take the risk by crafting a player who could grab the NFL’s attention in their final college season.
In short, we should rate the player hoping that he is good enough for the CFL, but not much, because we might lose him in order to win the American circuit.
When I look at the players who have played in the NCAA, there are some great players that will be available in 2022.
Maciocia continued.
The question, then, is whether we are willing to invest in it without seeing it until next year. The other question is, are we sure they won’t be drafted by the NFL next year? […] We have to call our contacts in the NFL teams to find out if they see these players as men who would make a living in this league.
When you look at our list of top prospects for draft, you will find only one among the top 10 universities of a Canadian university.
Pier-Olivier Lestage is ranked 7th among CFL’s horizons, but has already made it to the Seattle Seahawks from the NFL.
There is no first-round option
Hamilton Tiger-Cats will have two options in the first round, including the first one, as they also have the Alouettes pick acquired in the Johnny Manziel trade in 2018.
So the Montreal team will only speak at the start of the second round, giving Maciocia time to see which direction the other teams choose.
Will the eight Canadian players who have received calls from the NFL, such as Benjamin Saint-Just, Bruno Labelle and Pierre Olivier Listage, have already been drafted or will they still be available?
The draft has been exceptionally set for six rounds this year. After being denied the choice of the first round, the Sparrows team will be able to claim 5 new Hopes, which will be added to the 10 recently selected players.
It is a mystery. We have (players) last year who didn’t participate in a single training. There we will add a secondary group. These are players from two completely different years who will be part of the same camp. We know it will be nearly impossible to keep everyone in Montreal with a 53-man squad,
Maciocia concluded.
Traditionally, the draft runs in reverse order to the previous year’s ranking, with the team finishing the last pick first.
This year, we are drawing the lottery and will reverse the selection order in each round. Thus the team that has the first choice in the first round will have the last choice in the second round and so on until the sixth round.
