Cats to Trade First-Round Pick

According to always reliable Dave Naylor, the Ti-Cats have a tentative deal in place to trade the third-overall pick in the draft to Winnipeg for their eight and thirteenth overall picks. This would mark the second year in a row that Hamilton has dealt their first pick (last year, the traded it to Edmonton).

Trading the pick doesn't surprise me at all, and doing so is a smart move. There is no obvious need that could be filled with the third pick, so trading down and getting additional picks is a no-brainer. The trade is still contingent on a player being there that Winnipeg wants, so it could still fall through. But if the deal happens, it is a great move by team.

Changes to the CFL Draft

It's Draft Day, Draft Day, getting down on Draft Day. Everybody looking for to the first pick.

Sorry about that.

Anyway, today is the 2012 CFL Draft. The draft has grown in stature over the last couple of years, and the league has made great strides to make the draft a must-see event for fans. But there are a few things that the league should consider doing to make the draft an even bigger event.

The first thing is to move the date back to the weekend. The last couple of years saw a Sunday afternoon start time, yet the league moved the draft to 3:00PM on Thursday. Most fans will still be at work at that time, making them unable to watch the draft. By putting the festivities on television, the league and its television partner TSN, want to maximize viewership. Drafts are no longer niche products; they are mainstream events that interest even some casual fans. By holding the draft on a Saturday or Sunday, more people can enjoy it.

My next idea is to take the draft out of the TSN studio. The NFL holds their draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York; the NHL and NBA host theirs in arenas, rotating them between teams; the CFL could do something similar. Take the draft on the road and alternate between the eight, soon to be nine, CFL cities. There are numerous places in each city that could host the event, and it would be a great way to engage fans while add another revenue stream.

One of the aspects of the CFL Draft that has always bugged me is the eligibility rules. The CFL allows for players that still have university eligibility to be drafted, and that needs to change. The CFL should adopt similar rules to the NFL where a player can only be drafted if he no longer has any college eligibility left or if he voluntarily leaves early to enter the draft. In light of recent examples that have seen teams waste high draft picks, the CFL would be wise to alter their eligibility requirements sooner rather than later.

Those are three changes that I would like to the see the CFL make to the draft. I am sure there are plenty others and I'm curious if anyone has any ideas of their own.

What Hamilton Might Do Tomorrow

While we all come down from the high of the Sam Giguère signing, we turn out attention to tomorrow's big event: the 2012 CFL Draft.

Over at Examiner, I looked at what the Ti-Cats might do with their first-round pick, so I won't go into that here. But what about their other draft picks? What could the Cats do to help bolster what is shaping up to be a very stacked roster?

A lot will depend on what they do in round one, but I expect the draft to heavily feature both Offensive and Defensive Lineman. Those are the areas of most concern for the Cats. Even if the team takes an offensive or defensive lineman in round one, it doesn't preclude them from taking more in later rounds. Bolstering the lines if of the utmost importance, so I could see Hamilton using half of their draft picks on players along the lines.

With Sam Giguère now signed, I would think that takes Receiver completely off Hamilton's draft board. But with so few holes to actually fill, the Cats could take a flyer on someone in the late rounds and hope they pan out. The team is not thin at Receiver, but it never hurts to add players to that position.

Lastly, we have Kyle Quinlan. The topic of Canadian Quarterbacks has been hotly debated this off-season, and Quinlan is the main reason. A lot of Quinlan's hype came after he put up that masterful performance in the Vanier Cup against Laval, and he has kept that momentum going throughout the draft process. He may be a marginal prospect, but he is one that holds a lot of intrigue. Quinlan participated at Ti-Cats Training Camp last season and he plays at McMaster, so it is natural that he would be linked with the Tabbies. I could see him going to Hamilton in the fifth round.

The Ti-Cats are in a very fortunate position entering the draft this season. They don't have a ton of holes to fill; they selected mostly futures last season, many of which will be coming to camp this year, so they can afford to take chances. We'll see what they do starting tomorrow at 3:00PM.

Finally! Giguère a Ti-Cat

It took nearly four years, but the long journey of Sam Giguère to the CFL is finally over. The Ti-Cats announced this morning that the former Sherbrooke product has signed a deal with the team.

It is nice to finally have an ending to this long saga. I posted a while back that I was suffering from Giguère fatigue, and that I didn't care how this ended as long as it ended.

Today, it ended.

Now the questions arise as to what does this mean for the Cats. Hamilton now has a lot of options to consider, and getting Giguère's name on a contract creates one of those good problems that teams like to have. It will be interesting to see what the team does now that they have have finally secured Giguère's services.

At long last we can finally say: Welcome to Tigertown, Sam.

A Look at the New Uniforms

After months and months of speculation, we finally know what the uniforms will look like.

For the most part, I like them. I really like that the team has given a tip o' the cap to the history of the franchise with some of the changes they've made. I like the return of stripes on the sleeves, and the gold numbering and lettering on the home jersey. I like that they did the contrasting sleeves on the away jersey (that is a holdover from the last jerseys).

The only complaint I have is that I would have liked to see white sleeves on the home jersey, if just to change it up a bit. The jerseys are very black. That said, they look quite good in person. I think the team and Reebok did an excellent job.

I have seen the other uniforms, and I think the Cats and Argos are the best. Winnipeg's look good, if a bit busy, and Montreal's look the exact same (there might be some slight changes, but I don't see them).

Tomorrow, the West Division teams will unveil theirs, but as of now, I think Hamilton slightly edges out Toronto for best looking new uniforms.