Heading into the 2022 CFL draft, many draft experts were expecting the Saskatchewan Roughriders to select an offensive lineman with their first round pick, but instead the Roughriders surprised many by picking a wide receiver.
With their first selection of the draft, the Saskatchewan Roughriders selected WR Samuel Emilus from Louisiana Tech. with the 7th overall pick.
Emilus spent three seasons with the University of Massachusetts (2018-2020) and collected 59 receptions for 653 yards and seven touchdowns over 21 games.
Before the 2021 season, Emilus transferred to Louisiana Tech where he ended up with 16 catches for 245 yards and three touchdowns in seven games.
TSN’s Farhan Lalji reported on Monday that Emilus has accepted a rookie mini camp invite with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.
The wide receiver was a target for the Riders early in the draft according to General Manager, Jeremy O’Day “We had him as our top guy on the board outside of a couple of guys that are going to the NFL, so we looked at our situation we lost Brayden (Lenius) and also with Terrell Jana getting ready to retire, we wanted to keep our ratio in tact that we have it, we feel we have some good guys in house already but we thought he could add to that group, we’re excited to get that pick.
O’Day noted they have held several discussions with Emilus leading up to the draft. “We had one of our staff down at his pro day and talked to him and interviewed him in person, we interviewed him on the phone, we talked to their coaches, we liked his toughness, we like his ability to go up for the football, runs well, has good size, he’s tough, he’s physical, a lot of attributes we like here in Saskatchewan.”
With their second round selection, the Riders picked OL Zack Fry from Western University with the 16th overall selection.
There was a lot that O’Day liked about the Mustang product. “He’s got great feet, for someone that’s 6’6 305 lbs he’s got incredible feet, we felt he had the best feet of any of the offensive lineman of the draft.” The Riders General Manager noted one area that Fry has to improve is his strength.
With their third selection of the draft, the green and white selected OL Diego Alatorre Montoya from UBC with the 27th pick of the draft.
In the fourth round of the draft, the Riders took LB Tommy Bringi from Wilfred Laurier with the 36th overall selection.
The Riders picked up DB Tristan Fleury from McGill with their fifth selection with the 45th pick.
With their sixth selection, the Riders took DB Jayden Dalke from Alberta with the 54th selection.
The run of DBs continued for the green and white in the 7th round as they picked Zach Herzog with the 63rd pick.
To wrap up the draft, the Riders had the 73rd pick in the 8th round and they stayed close to home with their final pick as they took WR Riley Boersma from the University of Regina Rams.
The Montreal Alouettes kicked off the CFL draft by selecting Tyrell Richards from Syracuse University with the 1st overall pick. The Alouettes acquired the pick from the Edmonton Elks earlier in the day on Tuesday.
DL Nathan Cherry was the first University of Saskatchewan Huskie selected in the draft as he was picked third overall by the BC Lions.
Two of the first nine selections in the first round were the Philpot brothers from the University of Calgary. Jalen Philpot was selected by the Calgary Stampeders with the 4th selection while Tyson was selected with the 9th overall pick.
The Lions continued with a Saskatchewan theme with their draft, as in the second round, the BC Lions added another U of S Huskie with the selection of OL Noah Zerr. The Lions went to the Queen City with their third selection as they took LB Ryder Varga from the University of Regina Rams. The Lions added their third Huskie of the draft when they picked DL Riley Pickett.
The second Ram to go off the board was OL Joel Braden who was selected by the Stampeders with the 43rd pick in the 5th round.
The son of the former Rider Eric Sutton, also named Eric Sutton, was selected by the Toronto Argos in the 6th round with the 53rd pick of the draft.
With the draft now completed, the Riders will turn their attention to training camp in Saskatoon. Rookie camp kicks off on May 11, with the main camp beginning on May 15.
