OUT OF THE TUNNEL: GRADING LINEBACKERS, AND EXAMINING THE 2021 DRAFT

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

We love an assignment. Our fearless leader (the one whose name appears in your browser) asked us to break down who is the better former CFL linebacker in the NFL between Sam Eguavoen and Derrick Moncrief. Well, as we usually do, we’re going to have some fun and we will Out of the Tunnel the hell out of this assignment.

But let’s expand it a bit. Currently in the NFL there are four former CFL linebackers that have jobs: Eguavoen in Miami, Moncrief with the L.A. Rams, Deon Lacey in Buffalo and the best of the bunch, Alex Singleton, with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Before we go on, as usual, a little history lesson first:

Unlike receivers, defensive backs and even quarterbacks, CFL linebackers haven’t had too much success going south of the border. This is for a myriad of reasons but the biggest one is the two styles of games used to be drastically different.

The CFL was the fun and gun, video game offence and the defences had to adjust with more defensive backs and smaller linebackers (except for the middle, they will always be a bit bigger as they function predominantly as a run-stopper). The NFL on the other hand was still a grind it out, run-first and let the passing game come off the success of that and their linebackers reflected it (at 6’1”, 275 lbs, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Levon Kirkland always comes to mind).

But at the turn of the century that began to change with the likes of Super Bowl champion and former B.C. Lion and Baltimore Stallion O.J. Brigance and former Saskatchewan Roughrider Terrence “Slick” Melton making the transition to the NFL successfully.

We would love to claim Cam Wake in this category as he was a CFL defensive end but ended up being a Pro Bowler as well as a 9-technique outside linebacker, but we won’t. Cam Wake is worth a whole column just on his own as he may be the best player to ever make the switch from the CFL to the NFL (so we will save that one for a rainy day).

Now as NFL offences as a whole (other than the Tennessee Titans) are all pass first offences using the run as a change of pace play to keep defences ‘honest’ this has changed the look of defensive backfields.

Corners are no longer the speedster smurfs, with the emergence and success of another former CFL’er Brandon Browner, there is now a giant defensive back on every defence. As for linebackers, there is now space for the type of player that can both stop the run and be able to cover running backs. This is great for successful CFL linebackers to make their way south.

Singleton has been outstanding on a terrible Eagles defence. He has 20 solo tackles and a week four interception for a score. This is his second season and first time starting in the NFL after spending last season as a special teamer.

Eguavoen has had a rough start to the season but has been in the Dolphins lineup the past few weeks, and all three were wins. 2019 was a great NFL first season for the former Roughrider with 42 total tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Derrick Moncrief has been on the Rams practice roster for the majority of the season but made his NFL debut in week eight against Eguavoen and the Dolphins.

Deon Lacey is in his fourth NFL season with the majority of that coming on special teams.

As for who is the best, Eguavoen had a great 2019 but is having a so-so 2020 so we will go with Singleton, with both his past prowess in the CFL and current success as the best former linebacker in the NFL.

The change in the NCAA game has been a boon for linebacking in the CFL. Eguavoen played at Texas Tech and Moncrief at Oklahoma State both being in the pass-happy Big 12. This also helped with their success in the CFL and adjusting to the new NFL game that has adopted many of the schemes college teams have been implementing for years.

This is also a reason why CFL defences have been gaining ground on CFL offences, the type of defensive player, especially at linebacker, coming from the biggest supplier of players is more suited to the CFL game. The tough thing is that NFL teams will want more of these types of players as offences continue their evolution.

This will bode well for a Canadian that has been a star in the Big 12, Amen Ogbongbemiga. The Oklahoma State Cowboy is one of the top tacklers in the conference and is also athletic enough to cover tight ends or running backs coming out of the backfield. He could have a shot at making a NFL team as a late round pick or free agent, but he will be a high CFL draft pick and should be able to adjust nicely back to the Canadian game he grew up playing.

CFL TWEAKS 2021 DRAFT FORMAT

The only real CFL news from this past week is the tweaks to the draft in light of there not being a 2020 season to determine draft order.

To sum it up, the draft will be your basic fantasy sports draft. A draw will determine the first round draft order and from there it will be a snake draft with whoever picks last in round one will pick first in round two.

The CFL also shrunk the draft to just six rounds because next year’s training camps will be have rookies from 2020 and 2021.

We love this! There will be two events that fans can watch with the first being the draw and the second one being the draft itself.

There could be a potential of a little fun as well as the Hamilton Tiger-cats have the Montreal Alouettes first round pick from the Johnny Manziel trade in 2018 (which seems like an eternity ago). So if the draw falls with Montreal getting the eighth spot and Hamilton spot nine, the Ticats could have three straight picks. 

When it comes down to it, the CFL had to do something and this is going to be fun.

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Canadian to Watch In The NCAA

Aleric Jackson (Sr.)
Left Tackle – Iowa
6’6” 315
Detroit, Michigan
High school -Renaissance  

Born in Windsor, Aleric Jackson spent most of his life, including his high school years, in Detroit. Jackson is the Iowa Hawkeyes starting left tackle, a position he has held since the middle of his freshman year in 2017.

2018 was a banner year for Jackson as he was named 2nd team all-conference in the Big 10 and followed it up the next season by being named 3rd team all conference. 

As for his chances in the NFL Jackson has been rated anywhere from the fourth to sixth round with some saying he would be better as an inside offensive lineman in the NFL than at tackle. So as for seeing him in the CFL in 2021, that might be a bit of a stretch.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)