Edmonton Eskimos select DL Mathieu Betts in 1st round of 2019 CFL Draft

Before the 2019 CFL Draft started, Edmonton Eskimos general manager and vice-president of football operations Brock Sunderland joked with the media.

“Do you want to know who we are taking at third overall?” he asked.

After some playbook joking, it was determined it all depends on which players go first and second overall.

The Toronto Argonauts had the first overall pick and selected Calgary native and Oklahoma State offensive lineman Shane Richards on Thursday evening.

READ MORE: CFL Draft 2019: Toronto Argonauts take offensive lineman first overall

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were next and picked Waterloo offensive lineman Jesse Gibbon.

The Eskimos, at third overall, selected Laval defensive lineman Mathieu Betts.

READ MORE: Edmonton Eskimos with 8 picks in Thursday’s CFL Draft

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Sunderland said Betts was the player he and the rest of the Eskimos’ football operations staff had their eye on.

“Pass rusher, pure football player,” Sunderland said. “The analogy we use is he’s a Canadian John Chick in his prime.

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“He was the highest player on our board and we understand there’s some risk with the NFL but he wasn’t drafted, so that changes things.

“There’s no guarantee he’ll be here but [there’s] a little bit less of a chance that he sticks down there because he wasn’t drafted.”

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Listen below: Eskimos GM and V-P of football operations Brock Sunderland discusses the selection of Laval DL Mathieu Betts.

Betts recorded 21 tackles and nine quarterback sacks with Laval last season. The player recently signed a three-year contract in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.

The Eskimos will play the waiting game with Betts and already have Canadian Kwaku Boateng playing one starting defensive end spot.

Eskimos head coach Jason Maas said he feels his team has the Canadian depth at defensive end to give the team time to wait for Betts.

Listen below: Eskimos head coach Jason Maas says he likes what Laval DL Mathieu Betts brings to the table.

In the second round, the Eskimos selected UNLV offensive lineman Kyle Saxelid, who hails from Elk Grove, Calif. He counts as national player because his mother was born in New Brunswick.

The rest of the Eskimos draft looked like this:

3^rd round NO PICK

4^th round (32^nd overall) – Grand Valley State fullback Peter Cender (6’5, 222 pounds)

5^th round (40^th overall) – Manitoba Bisons receiver Shai Ross (6’0, 180 pounds)

5^th round (41^st overall) – University of Saskatchewan defensive lineman Evan Machibroda (6’3, 280 pounds)

6^th round (50^th overall) – Wilfred Laurier defensive back Scott Hutter (6’0, 195 pounds)

7th round (59^th overall) – University of Calgary receiver Hunter Karl (6’1, 185 pounds)

8th round (68^th overall) – McMaster University defensive back Eric Blake (6’1, 210 pounds)

Sunderland said overall he felt his team’s draft was successful.

“Everybody is happy with their picks right now, but it has to unfold,” Sunderland said. “Obviously I project them to be active, probably on special teams immediately at minimum.

“Some of these guys will be on the practice roster, some will be going back to school.”