Riders Trade out of First Round, Select Eight

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were busy on Tuesday night during the 2014 CFL Canadian Draft.

The green and white ended up pulling off a pair of trades, which allowed them to stockpile some picks and select eight players in total, despite trading away their first round pick.

The draft started with the Ottawa Redblacks sending the first overall pick, and the rights to centre Marwan Hage, to the Calgary Stampeders in exchange for offensive lineman Jon Gott. That set the tone for the rest of the night.

Not long after, the Riders traded out of the first round, sending the eighth overall pick back to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for two second round picks – 11th and 17th overall.

The Riders eventually used the 11th pick to take defensive end Dylan Ainsworth – six-foot-three 225-pounds – from Western University. The Delta, BC native goes to the Riders after three seasons with the Mustangs. He was a second team CIS All-Canadian last season after posting 16 tackles, four sacks and seven tackles for loss.

“He was one of the guys we had rated the highest on our special teams board,” said Riders assistant general manager Jeremy O'Day after making the pick. “What we like most about Dylan is his toughness. He's a tough kid and he's got the work ethic we like in Saskatchewan.”

After taking Ainsworth, the Riders pulled off another trade, sending the 17th overall pick that they got from Hamilton to Winnipeg for the Blue Bombers' two third round picks – 20th and 26th overall.

Next up for Saskatchewan was the 18th overall pick, which they used on University of Toronto wide receiver Alex Pierzchalski, who drew comparisons to Chris Getzlaf from O'Day.

“Personality wise, he reminds us a lot of Chris. I think he's a tad bit taller than Chris and maybe a bit slower,” O'Day stated. “He's got some similarities to Chris, although he's got a long way to go before he gets to that level of play.”

Pierzchalski finished his career at Toronto with 149 career receptions for 1,617 yards and 13 touchdowns in 32 games.

The Riders got some insurance in the kicking game with their next pick, taking top-rated kicker John Mark from the University of Calgary Dinos with the 20th overall selection in the third round. Mark went 15-of-17 on field goals and added 62 punts for 2,600 yards (41.9 yard average) in eight games last season.

With their second pick in the third round, the Riders went back to the offence and selected wide receiver Kristopher Bastien from Concordia University. Bastien had 37 catches for 592 yards and six touchdowns in eight games last season.

The Riders were done then until the fifth round when they had two picks, taking defensive back Matt Webster from Queen's University at 39th overall and then staying close to home with the 45th overall pick and taking University of Regina offensive lineman Kyle Paterson. The Weyburn product played in 20 games over four seasons with the Rams.

In the sixth round, the Riders went with Concordia linebacker Travis Bent 54th overall and their last pick, 63rd overall, was used on St. Francis Xavier offensive lineman Terry Hart.