2019 CFL–LFA Draft
General information
Sport	Canadian football
Date(s)	January 14, 2019[1]
Time	10:00 am CST
Location	Mexico City
Overview
27 total selections in 3 rounds
First selection	Diego Viamontes, WR, Edmonton Eskimos

The 2019 CFL–LFA Draft took place on January 14, 2019.^[2][1] 27 players were chosen from an invited pool of 51 Mexican players: 34 from the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) (a professional American football league) and 17 seniors from Mexican university teams.^[3]

Background

In October 2018, Canadian Football League commissioner Randy Ambrosie outlined a plan to grow the CFL's presence, which he dubbed CFL 2.0, including growth internationally.^[4] In November 2018, the LFA signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with the CFL to share resources and to allow for at least one CFL game to be played in Mexico,^[5] as wells as lay the ground work for special Mexican-specific editions of the CFL Combine and CFL Draft.

On January 11, 2019, 51 players from the LFA and Mexican college ranks were announced as participants in a combine to beheld on January 13 and a 27-player draft to be held on January 14, 2019.^[1] Each CFL team sent scouts and were reported to likely receive four picks.^[1] Consensus after the combine was that 6-18 players were of (or could be made into) CFL camp caliber, but that a majority of players had no professional potential.^[6] This led to criticism of commissioner Ambrosie for spending time and resources on this additional draft, when a collective bargaining agreement with the CFLPA still had not been reached.^[7] Originally, there were plans for a 4-round 36-player draft but, after the combine and interviews, was scaled back to a 3-round, 27-player draft.^[8] BC Lions General Manager Ed Hervey was reported to have, "settled for athletic and the ability to speak English" in player evaluations.^[9] It was not reported if drafted players would count towards a team's National or International slots.^[10]

On January 12, 2019, the LFA held their own domestic 66-player draft in advance of the CFL's draft.^[11]

Selection order

Unlike the normal CFL Draft, which sets selection order based on a team's record the previous season (similar to the NFL Draft), the CFL–LFA draft instead used a weighted lottery system where teams receive more balls in a selection bin depending on their record, with more balls increasing the chance at a higher draft priority (similar to the NBA draft).^[1] The draft order was set the night before the draft:^[12] The Edmonton Eskimos received the first pick, despite Edmonton's general manager and head coach both skipping the combine and draft process, sending a subordinate instead. Edmonton GM Brock Sunderland in particular was largely dismissive of the entire process.^[13]

Selections

See also

• 2019 CFL Draft
• 2019 European CFL Draft

References