REDBLACKS OPEN TO TRADING #1 PICK

Ottawa Redblacks general manager Shawn Burke could be swayed into giving up the first pick of the 2023 CFL draft.

Burke said from the CFL’s regional combine in Kitchener, Ont., that he’s keeping an open mind heading into the May 2 draft.

“You’re always looking at doing whatever helps your team,” he said. “We’re not going to be tied into anything but the reality is when you pick No. 1, you can control who you get.

“It would definitely have to be something we feel improves our football club in some regard.”

Burke wouldn’t say if he’s entertained offers for the No. 1 pick, but added with roughly two months before the draft it’s still very early in the process.

“What I’ve learned is until you get through the national combine, then teams get more piqued in interest,” he said. “That’s because it verified what they thought they saw on film.

“That month of April is where more conversations happen.”

The CFL’s national combine is slated for March 22-26 in Edmonton.

Twelve participants in Kitchener qualified for the national combine, including Ottawa’s Tolu Ahmed, a six-foot-two, 193-pound defensive who only started playing football during his second year at University of Toronto.

Also qualifying for Edmonton were receivers Gabriel Appiah-Kubi (York), Caleb Morin (Saskatchewan) and Zakariya Karim (St. Francis Xavier), defensive back Jacob Biggs (Calgary), linebacker Maxim Charbonneau (Ottawa), offensive linemen Theo Grant (Queen’s) and Alexandre Marcoux (McGill), tight end Sebastian Howard (Saint Mary’s) and defensive linemen Markcus Jean-Loescher (Saint Mary’s), Aidan John (Saint Mary’s) and Collin Kornelson (Manitoba).

(Canadian Press)