Going into Thursday’s CFL draft, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have the 7th overall pick. While the team addressed a lack of depth at Canadian receiver last season by taking Justin McInnis and Brayden Lenius with their first two picks, there are no real gaping holes to fill this season meaning the team could go a variety of ways when it comes time to make their selection.
O’Day could very well lean to taking the top offensive lineman on the board at seven with one possibility being University of Saskatchewan Huskies offensive lineman and Melfort native Mattland Riley who can play centre or guard. As most Rider fans will know, the team has had some good offensive linemen come from the Huskies program like Gene Makowsky and Ben Heenan.
The Riders will have seven picks overall. Besides their first round pick, they have two picks in the 4th round with picks in each of the final four rounds of the eight-round draft.
Besides Riley, the province’s two university football programs could find some players being chosen to continue their football careers. It is thought that the U of S could see defensive lineman Nick Dheilly and running back Colton Klassen get chosen with the U of R Rams seeing offensive linemen Andrew Becker and Theren Churchill possibly being selected as well as defensive lineman Eric Wicijowski.
The draft begins at 6 PM with the first two rounds on TSN.