Kevin Mital / 2024 Draft Thread

[ArgoRavi]

Great draft for the Argonauts. Mital was a steal at #5, big bodied and versatile possession-style slotback, a more-than-adequate replacement for Gittens who should be ready to start Game One, allowing us to easily start 2 Cdn WR, if not 3!

Love the D-Line depth drafted tonight, cant wait to see all three guys compete, is it finally possible one DL slot will be Canadian?

The one head-scratcher for me was passing up LB Straker — who Jim Barker suggested the Argos might have considered with the #5 pick ?!?! — in favor of DB Tyshon Blackburn at #27, big and athletic but raw. The other DB picked Cummings small but pure natural cover skills. Love the combo of the two types of DB, and now the depth on the back end.

Not as impressed with any of the OL picks but they’re all projects at this point anyway.

Everyone passed on Straker until much later in the draft when the Riders took him.

[Rich]

Everyone passed on Straker until much later in the draft when the Riders took him.

Argos took Blackburn at #27, Riders took Straker at #32, we’ll see how that turns out. Funnily enough, we didn’t select a single LB.

[OV Argo]

Argos took Blackburn at #27, Riders took Straker at #32, we’ll see how that turns out. Funnily enough, we didn’t select a single LB.

As I said - the Argos needed more NI LBs like a hole in the head.

Their draft showed good variety to cover lots of positions and potential areas of need. They got about the best receiver, the best DE, and a top rated DT in this draft; they took Blackburn I'm guessing as a safety prospect/project. Cummings is considered a good cover corner who played at Simon Fraser before UBC - he might get converted to safety as well or be an all-around depth DB - explosive jump test #s at CFL Combine The O-line picks are more like long-shots IMO, but still were starters in good college ball programs (Shin has been named all-Canadian at C) and Dankwah has an NFL shot look , (but O-line "depth" is always a CFL GOB area of concern, so to be expected?).

The main disappointment for me was they whiffed at chances to draft two of the top RBs (Peterson & Herzog) in the mid rounds but took a long-shot O-Line project in Bosse instead, when they already have lots of Canadian O-line depth, plus were able to add as good or better O-line prospects later in the same draft anyways.

Overall, the Argos did a great job there IMO; and easily won this draft over the other teams. Ticats came in 2nd likely IMO. And Ego-Jonestown shows why he is a total goof, yet again.

[paulwoods13]

(but O-line "depth" is always a CFL GOB area of concern, so to be expected?).

O-line depth (no quotation marks) is an area of concern at every level of pro football, not just the CFL. Those are hard positions to play, and they take a physical toll on the players. Having reliable guys waiting in the wings matters at all positions, but I would argue o-line is at or near the top of the list of importance. Argos are fortunate to have two experienced NATs who can serve as primary backups (Mackellar and Giffen), but if a starter goes down with an injury, they'll be dressing a rookie or seldom-used prospect. So they better find someone who can play among Vandal, Noll, Paradis and this year's draft class.

[OV Argo]

O-line depth (no quotation marks) is an area of concern at every level of pro football, not just the CFL. Those are hard positions to play, and they take a physical toll on the players. Having reliable guys waiting in the wings matters at all positions, but I would argue o-line is at or near the top of the list of importance. Argos are fortunate to have two experienced NATs who can serve as primary backups (Mackellar and Giffen), but if a starter goes down with an injury, they'll be dressing a rookie or seldom-used prospect. So they better find someone who can play among Vandal, Noll, Paradis and this year's draft class.

Sure; but ignoring other positions of obvious need, just to load-up on more good ole NI "depth" at a certain position group, is more of a CFL GOB thing. There is little chance that say Vandal & Noll, plus 2 new O-line from this draft are going to be kept on the roster with MacKellar & Giffen already in place as "depth". And if you need more down the road, you just use the next year's draft to address it (IMO there are pretty well always at least 5 or more very good O-line prospects for each CFL draft). And meanwhile - this Argo team has all of one Canadian RBs in Adeboboye, but they ignored the chance to draft one of 2 top notch RB prospects - in mid rounds - to instead take another O-lineman, and when they still added 2 more pretty good O-line prospects later in the draft. This might make GOB good sense to you; just not to me.

Ego_Jones just used his first 2 draft picks, plus a 3rd this draft on interior LB types, and when he had used a top pick on a similar type last year's draft; plus has other interior Canadian LBs on the roster. Over-kill that makes zero sense and when he does not have much for Canadian receivers and of course zero use for Canadian RBs. So typical & myopic stupidity.

[Argo57]

Sure; but ignoring other positions of obvious need, just to load-up on more good ole NI "depth" at a certain position group, is more of a CFL GOB thing. There is little chance that say Vandal & Noll, plus 2 new O-line from this draft are going to be kept on the roster with MacKellar & Giffen already in place as "depth". And if you need more down the road, you just use the next year's draft to address it (IMO there are pretty well always at least 5 or more very good O-line prospects for each CFL draft). And meanwhile - this Argo team has all of one Canadian RBs in Adeboboye, but they ignored the chance to draft one of 2 top notch RB prospects - in mid rounds - to instead take another O-lineman, and when they still added 2 more pretty good O-line prospects later in the draft. This might make GOB good sense to you; just not to me.

Ego_Jones just used his first 2 draft picks, plus a 3rd this draft on interior LB types, and when he had used a top pick on a similar type last year's draft; plus has other interior Canadian LBs on the roster. Over-kill that makes zero sense and when he does not have much for Canadian receivers and of course zero use for Canadian RBs. So typical & myopic stupidity.

I agree wholeheartedly in regards to Chris Jones and his draft strategy, bizarre to say the least.

[OV Argo]

I agree wholeheartedly in regards to Chris Jones and his draft strategy, bizarre to say the least.

I count 8 Canadian inside linebacker types that Jones has drafted or acquired in the past couple of seasons (including 1 in each of the first 3 rounds of the draft yesterday; and last year's 1st rounder was Brodrique).

Now maybe if Jones was deploying 2 NI starters at MLB & OLB, and wanted depth protection behind them and maybe another couple as ST aces dressed as well ? - maybe he could do that ? We shall see.

And in another Jones / Canadian LB note - I see Jonestown just released former 1st rounder E. Makonzo - who played S-OLB (rare for Canadians in the CFL lately) with starts as a rookie 1st round draft pick for Jones. I would love to see the Argos snap up this guy - even though they have a bunch of NI LBs now - to see if he could compete with or back-up Adeleke if they were to try him at S-OLB. Why Jones cuts this former 1st rounder who IMO was quite impressive as a rookie there is a head-scratcher ... ? No wait, scratch that ... maybe the guy insulted or questioned the all-knowing great leader & football genius there.