What will the Ottawa Redblacks do with the first pick in the 2026 CFL draft?

Shawn Burke, the Ottawa Redblacks' vice-president of football operations, says the team needs to use the No. 1 overall draft pick to take a player who could help out immediately this coming season. Photo by ASHLEY FRASER /POSTMEDIA

Article content

There is “zero” chance the Ottawa Redblacks will use the first-overall choice in next week’s Canadian Football League draft to actually take the “best player” of those eligible, even though he’s a locally grown product and considerably better than the rest.

Article content

Nor will they take him with any of their seven picks.

Article content

Article content

In fact, it would be unwise for any CFL team to waste a selection on explosive Miami Hurricanes rush end Akheem Mesidor, who was born and played his developmental years of football in Ottawa and is now poised to be taken in the first round of the National Football League draft before spending many very profitable years plying his trade down south.

Article content

Article content

The highly respected Mel Kiper Jr., who has worked as an NFL draft analyst for ESPN since 1984, projects the 6-3, 259-pounder to be taken 31st by the New England Patriots and writes that “Mesidor could quickly become a feared disrupter in the AFC East.”

Article content

Article content

NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks has Mesidor going 25th overall to the Chicago Bears, where he would line up alongside fellow Ottawa product Neville Gallimore, while the website “Tankathon” has Mesidor listed as high as the 20th pick, which is currently owned by the Dallas Cowboys.

Article content

To kick off the CFL draft next Tuesday, the Redblacks will not only be avoiding Mesidor, but also two other Canadians who have realistic shots of being selected by NFL teams: Louisville Cardinals defensive tackle Rene Konga, who was born in Cameroon and immigrated to Ottawa when he was 13, and Boston College Eagles offensive tackle Logan Taylor, who’s from Bridgewater, N.S.

Article content

Both Konga and Taylor are expected to be mid-round NFL selections.

Article content

“Picking No. 1, you always want to have a guy that you know is coming into camp from Day 1,” Shawn Burke, the Redblacks’ vice-president of football operations, said Wednesday. “If we stick to picking at one, we’ll probably have talked to the player and probably gotten all the particulars done that he’s pretty much signed when we select him.”

Article content

Article content

And, yes, the Redblacks could still trade the top pick.

Article content

Article content

“We’re still thinking about all avenues right now,” Burke said. “I think we and all the other teams, you sort of have to wait. You’re dictated by the NFL. I think right now there could be somewhere between 8-10  guys that get either drafted, undrafted free-agent deals and mini-camp deals. You just see how the dust settles, and then that’s sort of where you get more active with your thoughts of who you’re either going to select or if you’re willing to trade.

Article content

“I think by the end of this weekend, we’ll have a better idea of where we’re headed.”

Article content

What Ottawa-born rush end with NFL experience did the Redblacks acquire the rights to this week?

Article content

That would be Luiji Vilain, who was working out with Mesidor when the Redblacks sent a third-round pick (23rd overall) this year and a conditional third-round pick in 2027 to the Toronto Argos for Vilain and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Article content

Vilain, 28, was released by the Cowboys in July, but before that played five games over two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

Article content

“Any time you have the opportunity to add a player of this calibre, it’s something you jump at,” Redblacks head coach/GM Ryan Dinwiddie said when the trade was announced.