O’Day ready to run the Roughriders’ draft

As a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ front office since 2011, Jeremy O’Day has participated in many CFL drafts.

Still, there will be something special about Thursday’s proceedings for O’Day. It’ll be his first draft as the Roughriders’ general manager.

“I guess you don’t have to argue with anyone,” O’Day said Wednesday when asked being in charge. “It’s obviously different with me being able to make the final decision.”

O’Day moved into the Roughriders’ front office in February 2011 after retiring as a player. He has held numerous positions since then – football operations co-ordinator, assistant general manager, interim GM and assistant vice-president of football operations and administration – but he never ran a draft for the Roughriders.

Following Chris Jones’ resignation as head coach and general manager in January, O’Day took over as the vice-president of football operations and GM.

He has seen Jones and former GM Brendan Taman run Saskatchewan’s draft in previous off-seasons, but now O’Day is in the big chair.

“When you’re given the opportunity to do it, you’re going to do it the way you see doing it,” he said. “But you wouldn’t be doing anyone any justice if you didn’t learn from your past experiences.

“I’ve been able to see a couple of different approaches to the draft … (including) one (that) would take a more safer pick who you know will be in training camp and one that was maybe a little more aggressive where maybe you’re taking a guy who you think is a better player but you may never see him.”

The Roughriders enter the draft with picks in the first round (sixth overall), second round (15th overall), fourth round (35th overall), fifth round (44th overall), sixth round (53rd overall) and eighth round (71st overall).

They traded their third-round selection to the Montreal Alouettes in August 2017 in a package deal for quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. Saskatchewan shipped its seventh-round selection to the Toronto Argonauts last season for receiver Brian Jones.

O’Day said Wednesday that he likes the Roughriders’ Canadian depth entering the draft.

The offensive line features national starters in Dan Clark, Dariusz Bladek and Brendon LaBatte and veteran backups in Philip Blake and Braden Schram. Saskatchewan’s first-round pick last season, Dakoda Shepley, also is in the fold.

The offence also has Canadian depth with players like tailback Kienan LaFrance and receivers Patrick Lavoie, Mitch Picton and Cory Watson.

Defensively, players like linemen Zack Evans and Makana Henry, linebackers Sam Hurl and Cameron Judge and defensive backs Elie Bouka and Mike Edem are Canucks. So are special-teams stalwarts Alexandre Chevrier, Alexandre Gagne, Denzel Radford and Jordan Reaves.

“We’re in a position where we can take the best player (at No. 6) who we feel is the best fit for our team regardless of the position,” O’Day said.

That could be at receiver, which is one of the deepest pools in the draft.

“Not only is it good at the top end, but I think there are also some guys who will be further down who are pretty good receivers,” O’Day said. “Because the draft is so strong at that position, that doesn’t necessarily make it a need for us to draft early with the depth at the position.”

Saskatchewan could take a chance on a player who has signed with an NFL team or who has been invited to an NFL mini-camp.

Last season, Shepley had signed before the CFL draft with the NFL’s New York Jets, with whom he went to training camp. He eventually was released and had a brief tryout with Saskatchewan before returning home to Windsor, Ont.

As O’Day said, selecting a player who already has an NFL deal in place is “a little bit of a guessing game,” but the Roughriders have played that game before.

All of the CFL’s teams go into the draft unsure of what may be coming down the line. The league and the players’ association are trying to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement, but it’s unknown when (or if) a new deal will be signed.

The teams also don’t know what’s going to be in the CBA. There have been discussions about changing the ratio to encourage teams to use Canadian quarterbacks – and there just so happens to be a good one in the draft.

UBC Thunderbirds QB Michael O’Connor is highly touted, so he may be an attractive pick to a team – especially if the new CBA adds a clause about Canadian quarterbacks.

“He has got a lot of the attributes that pro quarterbacks have,” O’Day said. “He’s a guy who is a very good player and he’s a guy who’s probably going to be considered by every team. It’s just a matter of whether someone’s going to pull the trigger.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Jamie Nye