Bombers in control of draft destiny

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This article was published 08/04/2011 (5353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Joe MACK has become a very popular man over the last few weeks. And the Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM figures to field even more telephone calls over the next month as the CFL Canadian Draft nears.

That’s what happens, after all, when a squad holds the first and fourth overall picks in the annual talent selection.

“I’ve had three teams put really substantiative offers on the table for that first pick,” said Mack. “And I don’t anticipate anybody backing off right now.”

Mack said this week the club is getting very close to determining who it would pick first overall if they hang onto that choice. The most common names being bandied about as possible first-overall selections are Rice offensive lineman Scott Mitchell, Calgary receivers Anthony Parker and Nate Coehoorn and St. Francis-Xavier linebacker Henoc Muamba. A CFL source said he believes the Bombers are also very high on Tulsa O-lineman Tyler Holmes, but he has a year left of college availability and the club wants Canadian help soon.

The Bombers would like to beef up their total draft choices even further — recent trades have bumped their selections from three to six — but they don’t pick at all in the second round after trading that choice to Calgary in 2009 for Lenny Walls. Whispers have the Stamps ready to move up higher in the draft — they pick sixth and ninth.

But Mack stressed there is also a danger in jockeying around too much and missing out on the best of the available talent.

“I don’t know if I’d want to take a chance at stepping out of those top three and not getting one of those players because I think each of them has a chance to be a contributor for a long period of time,” Mack said. “There’s less risk with those players and I’d be very hesitant to trade out of that spot but three teams have been very, very aggressive to try and get that pick.

“It’s been more intense in the last little while and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got even more so between now and the draft. But it would have to be an extraordinary offer for us to make the trade. We would have to get two high picks and an established Canadian for me to even consider moving out of that high pick.

“We feel pretty good about three guys with that first pick,” Mack added. “And we feel that we’ll get a good player at four, too. We’d rather be at the bottom of the first round because that would mean we had won everything. But we’re here and we’ll make the best of this situation.”

The CFL Canadian Draft goes Sunday, May 8 and the Bombers have agreed to allow TSN, the league’s TV rights holder, inside their ‘War Room’ during the proceedings.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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