In the coming days I will look at each new addition to the Eskimos roster individually, but for now, here are some first thoughts on the newest members of the Edmonton Eskimos football club.
Round 1, Pick 6. Brian Bulcke, DL, Stanford
By trading up for Buckle, the Eskimos must have been certain that someone else would have grabbed him before their first pick at number nine. They must also have not felt comfortable with taking Eddie Steele. Buckle was a medical redshirt this past year and will be heading back to Stanford in the fall for his final year of school. To date there hasn’t been much interest from the NFL, so he could potentially be joining the Green & Gold for the 2011 season. Addressing the defensive line early is an astute move to fill a position that needed improvement after last season. This is a great pick by the Green & Gold.
Round 2, Pick 12. Saleem Borhoot, DB, St.Mary’s
I understand picking a defensive back, and it was a great move to jump ahead of Calgary, but why did they select Borhoot instead of Allen? One answer could be that safety Scott Gordon might be retiring, but to date, if he has told the Eskimos that, no one outside of the organization knew about it prior to the draft. If Gordon is coming back this year, then you have to wonder why they didn’t take Allen, who was picked right after Borhoot by the Calgary Stampeders. And if they were really high on Borhoot, couldn’t they have picked Allen at number 12 and then picked up Borhoot with a later pick. Borhoot, to my knowledge wasn’t really on anyone elses radar to go this high. Meanwhile Allen was a potential first rounder who fell to the second round due to the immence depth of this year’s draft class. This pick just has me totally confused.
Round 5, Pick 35. Scott Ferguson, OL, St.Cloud State
Adding depth along the offensive line is never a bad thing in the CFL, especially after the Eskimos had a great stretch last year where all of their offensive stayed healthy. That’s not going to be norm going forward. The law of averages pretty much guarantees that the offensive line will have at least one injury in 2010 and having good depth is important. Getting Ferguson with a fifth round pick is good value for the range.
Round 6, Pick 43. Corbin Sharun, QB, St.Francis Xavier
Although he played the position at St. Francis Xavier, Sharun was selected for his skills as a defensive back. At 5’11”, 214lbs., Corbin is a hard worker with a high football IQ. He isn’t blessed with the most outstanding skill, but works hard at being in the correct position to compensate. Not a bad selection for this late in the draft.
Immediate Thoughts.
Outside of skipping over Allen for Borhoot, I have to commend the Eskimos for making some pretty decent picks. They addressed the areas of weakness where they needed to get deeper and picked up a great future talent in Bulcke. It’s a little surprising that they were willing to trade away as many picks as they did, but the Eskimos management must have felt they needed to make the moves to get the players they wanted.
Eskimos Nation 