Riders take Louisiana Tech receiver Samuel Emilus seventh overall in CFL draft

Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day believes he accomplished his goal at the CFL draft — get some depth and bring some new competition to camp.

“We’re happy with it. After every draft, we are happy with the guys we picked because we picked them,” O’Day said.

The Riders took eight players during Tuesday’s draft — wide receiver Samuel Emilus (first round, seventh overall), offensive lineman Zack Fry (second round, 16th overall), offensive lineman Diego Alatorre Montoya (third round, 27th overall), linebacker Tommy Bringi (fourth round, 36th overall), defensive back Tristan Fleury (fifth round, 45th overall), defensive back Jayden Dalke (sixth round, 54th overall), defensive back Zach Herzog (seventh round, 63rd overall), and wide receiver Riley Boersma (eighth round, 72nd overall).

And O’Day expects all of them to find ways to contribute to the team in 2022.

“We take everyone for a reason. We don’t ever pick a guy and say he’s not going to make our team or he’s just going to be good for training camp,” O’Day said. “We don’t feel that’s the right way to do it.”

For their first pick of the draft, the Riders took Emilus, a Louisiana Tech receiver.

“We had him as our top guy on the board outside of a couple of guys that are going to the NFL. We looked at our situation where we lost Brayden (Lenius) and with Terrell Jana getting ready to retire,” O’Day said.

“We like his toughness, we like his ability to go up for the football, (he) runs well, (he) has good size, he’s tough, he’s physical — a lot of attributes that we like here in Saskatchewan.”

Emilus, who is from Montreal, joins Kian Schaffer-Baker, Jake Harty, Justin McInnis, Wesley Lewis and Mitch Picton as the national options for the Riders at the position.

The Riders lost Lenius (who signed with the Atlanta Falcons) and Jana (who retired) during this past offseason.

Emilus played three seasons for the University of Massachusetts Minutemen and one with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

During his university career, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound receiver played in 28 games over four seasons. He recorded 74 catches for 870 yards and 10 touchdowns.

For their last pick in the draft, the Riders took Boersma, a local product from the University of Regina. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound receiver caught 18 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns in 2021.

“It was a bonus that he’s local but we like the kid. He’s one of the fastest kids in the draft (and was) productive for two seasons there at Regina,” assistant general manager Kyle Carson said. “Good tape, good character and we really liked his route-running ability.

“We did have Riley higher than where he went so we were pleased to get him where we did.”

And there is an opportunity for Emilus and Boersma to come in and battle for a possible starting spot.

“There’s an open position there that was left when Lenius left and there will be a competition there for that and the best guy will win that. We play with two Canadian receivers and last year, we dressed four of them when you factored in Jake Harty who played a lot of special teams for us,” O’Day said.

Emilus is expected to attend minicamp with the Arizona Cardinals.

Saskatchewan also added even more national players to their offensive line group.

Fry was a member of the Western Mustangs team that won the Vanier Cup in 2021.

“He’s got great feet. For someone at 6-6, 305 pounds he has really incredible feet. We felt he has the best feet of any of the offensive linemen in the draft,” O’Day said about Fry.

They also drafted the 6-foot-4, 312-pound Montoya, who played university football at UBC but is originally from Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Mexico. Carson said there’s a new rule where if a player from another country plays four seasons at a Canadian university, they are eligible for the Canadian draft and not the global one.

“He’s a Canada West all-star, a three-time Academic all-Canadian and he interviewed really, really well. He loves football and he cares a lot. We’re excited to get him and we think he has a bright future,” Carson said.

O’Day said the positions along the offensive line are always a competition at camp.

“Can one of these guys make it in to be a sixth man or can they challenge one of the guys we have? We’re going to have to wait and see come training camp,” O’Day said.

The Riders added a number of defensive players in the draft as well.

Bringi played at Wilfrid Laurier and the 6-foot-0, 220 pound linebacker led Laurier’s defence with 31 tackles and three interceptions in 2021. He also added three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

At McGill playing defensive back, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound Fleury had 42 total tackles and one interception in 2021.

Dalke (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) played for the Alberta Golden Bears and contributed 37 tackles in 2021.

Herzog (5-foot-9, 192 pounds) had 47 tackles, one sack and an interception in 2021 for the Hillsdale Chargers.

“(These guys) brought some special-teams value so they will challenge to be on our special teams and be role players and depth players for us,” O’Day said.

Sask. talent heading elsewhere after CFL draft

University of Saskatchewan defensive lineman Nathan Cherry was the highest-drafted player from Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon product was selected third overall by the B.C. Lions.

Huskies offensive lineman Noah Zerr, who hails from Langenburg, went to the Lions in the second round, 12th overall.

B.C. took Regina-born U of R linebacker Ryder Varga in the third round (29th overall), then nabbed U of S defensive lineman Riley Pickett of Saskatoon in the fifth round (41st overall).

The Calgary Stampeders selected Regina’s Joel Braden, an offensive lineman with his hometown Rams, in the fifth round with the 43rd overall pick. The Montreal Alouettes chose Yorkton-born Alberta offensive lineman Peter Kozushka in the sixth round (51st overall).

Defensive back Eric Sutton, who was born in Regina while his dad Eric played for the Roughriders, went to the Toronto Argonauts with the 53rd overall selection.