WHERE’S THE BEEF? In Tuesday night’s Canadian Football League draft

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The Canadian Football League draft serves up far more steak than sizzle.

The first round is particularly beefy, dominated so often by U Sports and NCAA offensive linemen stepping into a professional career that offers longevity, a decent salary and almost as much anonymity as a good witness protection program.

Fifteen of the last 26 first-round picks from the drafts of 2018 through 2020 have been O linemen. Five more were defensive linemen. And therein lies an obvious difference between the CFL draft and its glitzier National Football League counterpart.

“The biggest difference is we spend too much time talking about linemen,” said TSN reporter Farhan Lalji. “And when I say too much, from a league perspective there is a reason why, but from a fan perspective we spend too much time talking about linemen. And we also don’t have all the sexy ESPN game footage. Those are the two biggest (differences) as I see it from a production standpoint.”

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The 2021 CFL draft, which kicks off Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, sounds like the same old same old on the surface. Marshall Ferguson of cfl.ca predicts teams will take three offensive linemen, two defensive linemen, two linebackers, a wide receiver and a defensive back through the first nine selections. The folks at 3downnation.com held a live mock draft recently and came up with a similar look; two offensive linemen, two defensive linemen, two defensive backs, a wide receiver, a linebacker and Jake Burt, a tight end who projects as a fullback or receiver.

But Lalji believes the top end of the 2021 class changes this draft into even more of a futures crap shoot and less of a linemen parade. Fifteen of the CFL scouting bureau’s top 16 players were either drafted or signed by NFL teams or are NCAA players heading back to school, and as such won’t be in a CFL camp this year. Teams will be projecting the potential of these players one year or in some cases two years down the road, as some top prospects red-shirted. That could provoke teams into taking a chance on some of the bigger names earlier than normal in this draft, though Lalji doesn’t expect CFL teams to pick the first three Canadians off the board in the NFL draft; safety Jevon Holland, cornerback Benjamin St-Juste or receiver Josh Palmer.

“You might hear Chuba Hubbard in the first two rounds. You’ll probably hear Bruno Labelle in the first two rounds,” said Lalji. “Alaric Jackson, who didn’t get drafted but signed a (NFL) futures deal, he will very likely get drafted in those first two rounds. Pier-Olivier Lestage as well.

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“In the first two rounds we air, it won’t be as linemen heavy. It’s a very good defensive back draft, there are some really good linebackers. This Jake Burt kid is going to be called on real early.”

While the NFL draft is all about instant gratification — seeing the biggest college names picked in the first round — CFL teams can choose to play the long game with players who are garnering NFL interest. And there were no games longer than the six years Edmonton waited for defensive lineman Stefan Charles to show up. Edmonton took him 10^th overall in 2013, he went straight to the NFL and eventually played 49 games with Buffalo and Detroit, before joining Edmonton in late 2019. He has since signed as a free agent with Ottawa.

“We knew there was NFL interest obviously at the time,” said Ed Hervey, who was Edmonton’s GM in 2013. “Did I think he was going to get four or five years? You always have to think with a guy who has NFL potential there’s a possibility of three years, and after three years he’s either going to stick and stay, or there’s a chance he may bounce around the NFL and return to give you some service in the latter part of his career.”

What CFL teams look for at all times, whether for the next camp or sometime down the road, is substance, and they generally find it. The CFL last played a season in 2019. Of that year’s 74 draftees, 43 played at least one game in 2019 and seven of them played in all 18 games.

The 2020 draft class wasn’t afforded that chance, of course. Because there was a draft but no season, the league reduced the number of rounds this year from eight to six. TSN will have live coverage of the first two rounds, then move it online.

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Last year’s draft broadcast — which Lalji hosted from his home in Vancouver — was a surprising ratings winner, with an average audience of 73,000, up 116 per cent from 2019. This time around, Rod Smith hosts and Duane Forde offers analysis from TSN’s Toronto studio, with Lalji in Vancouver and Davis Sanchez checking in from his Toronto home.

A COUPLE OF MOCK DRAFTS

Marshall Ferguson, cfl.ca

Hamilton: Daniel Joseph, DE, North Carolina State
Saskatchewan: Logan Bandy, OL, Calgary
Winnipeg: Nelson Lokombo, DB, Saskatchewan
B.C.: Ben Hladik, LB, UBC
Edmonton: Mohamed Diallo, DT, Central Michigan
Ottawa: Terrell Jana, WR, Virginia
Toronto: Deshawn Stevens, LB, Maine
Calgary:Pier-Olivier Lestage, OL, Montreal
Hamilton: Sage Doxtater, OL, New Mexico State

3downnation.com

Hamilton: Terrell Jana, WR, Virginia
Saskatchewan: Nelson Lokombo, DB, Saskatchewan
Winnipeg: Alonzo Addae, DB, West Virginia
B.C. : Ben Hladik, LB, UBC
Edmonton: Jake Burt, FB/TE, Boston College
Ottawa: Logan Bandy, OL, Calgary
Toronto: Mohamed Diallo, DT, Central Michigan
Calgary: Peter Nicastro, OL, Calgary
Hamilton: Daniel Joseph, DE, North Carolina State

dbarnes@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes