Riders Happy with 2014 Draft Haul

The Saskatchewan Roughriders might have missed out on a couple of their targets in the first round, but they're happy with the eight players they were able to add during Tuesday's CFL Canadian Draft.

The green and white ended up trading out of the eighth pick in the first round and adding in the second and third rounds through a pair of trades.

“We sort of had the Hamilton deal in place going into the draft if certain guys weren't there and then the Winnipeg thing kind of came up as the draft went on,” said Riders general manager Brendan Taman. “We felt by moving down, we were still going to get the quality that we were going to get at the picks we traded.”

The Riders had their sights set on an offensive and defensive player that ended up going earlier in the first round and led to them shipping the eighth overall pick to Hamilton for two second round picks.

Defensive end Dylan Ainsworth ended up being the Riders' first pick, going 11th overall in the second round.

“Ainsworth was really a guy that we wanted if we could figure out a way to get him without sacrificing a lot,” said Taman. “We were hoping that he'd be there at 11, so we were pretty fortunate.”

Ainsworth is coming off his junior year at Western University where he was a second team All-Canadian. Taman feels he has the best chance of making the team this year out of any of their draft picks.

“He's 21 years old, he was one of the youngest players in the draft, he's very athletic, he runs very well and he's very physical,” said Taman. “Bobby Dyce had rated him as the best special teams prospect in the draft, which says a lot, and he can pass rush, so he has that going for him. He's got a really good future ahead of him and it might be as soon as this year, so we were really happy to get him.”

In the end, the Riders selected two wide receivers, two offensive linemen, a kicker, a defensive back, linebacker and defensive lineman.

“It's no secret that we've played two Canadian receivers in the past and we wanted to upgrade our overall numbers and our depth there,” said Taman. “You always hear us say about offensive linemen that you never have enough, so we just wanted to upgrade our depth.”

One of the offensive linemen added for depth is Weyburn native Kyle Paterson, who went to the Riders in the fifth round. Taman said Paterson caught their eye during the Edmonton regional combine.

“He really did well there and really performed quite nicely, so that raised a lot of people's eyebrows,” said Taman. “We just think he's a young kid that will develop, he's coming from a good program and if you're an offensive lineman from Weyburn that's pretty good to start with.”

Draft day was one of the busiest days in recent memory with the Riders pulling off two trades, the first overall pick getting moved just before the draft, Toronto moving up as well, and veteran quarterback Kevin Glenn changing teams.

“I've never seen that before, but everybody said it wasn't as deep of a draft, so everyone was trying to get up to get those two-three guys that everybody wanted,” said Taman. “I've never seen that before, that many picks traded that early and that often was quite abnormal.”

There had been rumours during the offseason that the Riders were considering Glenn as a backup option for Darian Durant, but Taman said they never got seriously into the trade talks on draft day.

“We talked to Ottawa last week and we had a brief chat about it,” said Taman. “We've obviously got our guy and Kevin wants to play, so this wasn't the ideal spot for him.”

The focus is now on getting their eight draft picks signed and to Saskatoon for the team's rookie camp at the end of the month. Taman added that he doesn't expect the looming player strike to effect those negotiations.