CFL Draft: Still a Long Way To Go

While the CFL Canadian draft has made progress in status over the past decade, it still has a long way to go to catch up to its rivals.

Once merely a conference call, it now merits a television broadcast like its NFL and NHL cousins.

It's cared about now by more people, but it is at the starting gate while its two rivals are in the home stretch, and to a large extent, it has nobody to blame but itself.

The reason is because the CFL still doesn't believe enough in Canadians and that's evident when the results of the 2010 draft are examined.

In the six round draft, only two quarterbacks and two running backs were chosen.  To make matters worse, the best two CIS quarterbacks, weren't even picked.

Danny Brannagan had already signed with the Toronto Argonauts and Erik Glavic was asked to attend a camp hosted by the Hamilton Tiger Cats.  Presumably, they will give him a proper try out.

Winnipeg, which had serious quarterbacking problems last year like Toronto and Hamilton, refused to consider a Canadian quarterback.  Nor did Saskatchewan, who has an opening for the back-up position.

The evidence speaks for itself.  The CFL doesn't believe that Canadians can play the two most glamorous positions in football. 

They get some recognition at wide receiver, and a little at defensive line, but in general, Canadians man the most anonymous positions like linebacker, defensive back, offensive line, and special teams.

Now let's look at their two rivals.  In the NFL, even if it is a poor year, there is always a buzz when the first quarterback or running back is taken, and they are usually pictured as the future of the franchise.

This year, whether he merited it or not, Tim Tebow was one of the main stories of the NFL draft.  There was constant speculation about where he would land.  There is nothing like that in the CFL draft.

Nor is there any prejudice against Canadians in the NHL draft.  There is no position in which Canadians are considered barred from.  But in the CFL, there is an unwritten rule.

This lack of faith in Canadians hurts the status of the CFL draft and the CFL itself.

It takes away interest in the draft because people know that some top CIS players will never be chosen.  There is far more interest in the NHL draft in Canada than the CFL draft because every Canadian in the CHL can hope to become an NHL star.

And if there really is a deficiency in talent and skill at these two positions, between Canadians and Americans, the CFL has done little to close the gap.

Since the days of Russ Jackson in the 1960s, the CFL has had 40 years to help the CIS with its football program to develop top Canadian talent.  The number of starting Canadian quarterbacks during that period can be counted on two hands.

The CFL has ambitions to become a coast to coast Canadian league with possible expansion into several new Canadian cities.

But they won't attract new fans by discouraging the locals. 

The CFL keeps telling Canadians in their ads that the CFL is "our" league.  But they need to open the employment doors fully to Canadians to make that a reality.