CFL NOTEBOOK: A TRADE, HONOUR ROLL & ELKS IN PUNJABI

HAMILTON – The Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced Tuesday the football club has acquired a sixth-round pick in the 2024 Canadian Football League Draft from the Calgary Stampeders in exchange for American defensive lineman Ja’Gared Davis.

Davis, 32, suited up in 35 games over three seasons with the Tiger-Cats (2019, ’21, ’23), registering 100 tackles and 19 quarterback sacks. The 6’1, 238-pound native of Crockett, Texas has played 94 games over seven seasons in the CFL with the Stampeders (2016-18), Toronto Argonauts (2022) and Tiger-Cats.

TORONTO – Zach Collaros of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was graded as the top quarterback Tuesday in the CFL’s weekly honour roll.

Collaros earned a grade of 84.6 after completing 20-of-24 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns in Winnipeg’s 28-14 win over the Edmonton Elks. Players in nine specific position are highlighted as per data points registered and compiled by Pro Football Focus, a sports analytics company.

Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira was graded as the top running back (72.9) while the Bombers offensive line earned a top grade of 79.8. Saskatchewan’s Colin Kelly was the highest-graded individual offensive lineman at 75.0.

Ottawa’s Nate Behar (79.4) was the top-graded receiver.

Calgary’s Mike Rose (79.3) earned the top grade among defensive linemen while Ben Hladik of the B.C. Lions (80.6) was the top-graded linebacker. Hamilton’s Richard Leonard (86.1) got the top nod among defensive backs.

Hamilton’s Bailey Flint (79.0) was the top-graded punter/kicker while Saskatchewan’s Jayden Dalke (91.8) earned the highest special-teams grade.

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Elks home game against the B.C. Lions on Saturday will be the first professional football game broadcast in Punjabi.

The Elks announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Edmonton multilingual radio station My Radio 580 AM to broadcast the CFL game across Alberta on radio and throughout Canada through the station’s online player.

Canada is home to a Punjabi population of roughly one million people, according to the 2021 Canadian census. Alberta has the third-largest Punjabi population among Canadian provinces at 126,385 people according to the census.

British Columbia has the second-largest community at 315,000 people.

The Elks were also part of the first Indigenous language broadcast in CFL history last year when they partnered with Windspeaker Media to air a game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Cree.

Sports broadcasters Harpreet Pandher and Taqdeer Thindal, who work on Hockey Night in Canada’s Punjabi crew, will call the game.

(Canadian Press)