2021 CFL draft

The 2021 CFL national draft was a selection of national players by Canadian Football League teams that took place at May 4, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS.^[1] 54 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA.^[2] Unlike previous drafts, where the selection order was determined by the previous year's standings, this year's draft order was determined by a random draw.^[3]^[4]

SportCanadian football

DateMay 4, 2021

Time7:00 pm EDT

LocationToronto

Quick facts General information, Sport ...

2021 CFL draft
General information
Sport	Canadian football
Date	May 4, 2021
Time	7:00 pm EDT
Location	Toronto
Network	TSN/RDS
Overview
54 total selections in 6 rounds
League	CFL
First selection	Jake Burt, TE, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Most selections (7)	Hamilton Tiger-Cats Toronto Argonauts
Fewest selections (5)	Montreal Alouettes BC Lions
U Sports selections	31
NCAA selections	23
← 2020 2022 →

Close

The draft was broadcast live on TSN for the first two rounds. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some commentators broadcast from remote locations as opposed to in-studio. The TSN production was hosted by Rod Smith and featured the CFL on TSN panel which included Farhan Lalji, Duane Forde, and Davis Sanchez. Randy Ambrosie, the CFL commissioner, was in the TSN studios in Toronto to announce the picks for the first two rounds.

Format changes

Due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the 2021 CFL draft underwent several changes. Since there was no previous season and standings, the draft order was a random draw with all nine teams having the same odds of being drawn.^[3]^[5] Every even-numbered round is in the reverse order of the odd-numbered rounds to balance the randomness of the draft order.^[3] The number of rounds in the draft decreased from eight to six due to the large number of rookies that will be present in camps (those from the 2020 CFL draft class).^[3]^[5] To accommodate that change, and due to U Sports and some NCAA programs not playing in 2020, eligible 2021 draftees were able to defer their draft years to 2022.^[3]^[5]^[6] Following the November 30, 2020 deadline, 132 U Sports players opted out of the 2021 Draft, which substantially reduced the available players this year.^[6]^[7] This led to speculation that NCAA redshirt juniors could be included in the draft to add more talent available this year which would also balance out the massive influx of players in 2022.^[6] This was confirmed when the league released the winter player rankings on January 20, 2021.^[7]

Further to those changes, there will be no territorial selections in 2021, after featuring them in the previous two drafts.^[3]^[8]

Unrelated to COVID-19 changes, beginning with this year's draft, any American or Global player that played football for a minimum of three years at a U Sports institution and graduated with a degree at that institution would qualify as a national player and be eligible for this year's draft.^[9]

Top prospects

Source: CFL Scouting Bureau rankings.^[10]

More information Spring ranking, Winter ranking ...

Spring ranking^[10]	Winter ranking^[7]	Fall ranking^[11]	Player	Position	University	Hometown
1	2	4	Josh Palmer	Receiver	Tennessee	Brampton, ON
2	1	1	Alaric Jackson	Offensive lineman	Iowa	Windsor, ON
3	5	–	Jevon Holland	Defensive back	Oregon	Coquitlam, BC
4	4	2	Amen Ogbongbemiga	Linebacker	Oklahoma State	Calgary, AB
5	3	–	Chuba Hubbard	Running back	Oklahoma State	Sherwood Park, AB
6	11	–	Benjamin St-Juste	Defensive back	Minnesota	Montreal, QC
7	10	11	Pier-Olivier Lestage	Offensive lineman	Montreal	Saint-Eustache, QC
8	8	6	Sage Doxtater	Offensive lineman	New Mexico State	Welland, ON
9	15	–	Mohamed Diallo	Defensive lineman	Central Michigan	Toronto, ON
10	17	13	Deane Leonard	Defensive back	Mississippi	Calgary, AB
11	13	8	Patrice Rene	Defensive back	North Carolina	Ottawa, ON
12	7	5	Liam Dobson	Offensive lineman	Maine	Ottawa, ON
13	9	7	Daniel Joseph	Defensive lineman	North Carolina State	Toronto, ON
14	12	10	Alonzo Addae	Defensive back	West Virginia	Pickering, ON
15	6	3	Terrell Jana	Receiver	Virginia	Vancouver, BC
16	–	17	Bruno Labelle	Tight end	Cincinnati	Montreal, QC
17	19	14	Nelson Lokombo	Defensive back	Saskatchewan	Abbotsford, BC
18	16	12	Logan Bandy	Offensive lineman	Calgary	Calgary, AB
19	20	–	Bryce Bell	Offensive lineman	Wilfrid Laurier	Waterloo, ON
20	14	9	Deshawn Stevens	Linebacker	Maine	Toronto, ON
–	18	15	Luiji Vilain	Defensive lineman	Michigan	Ottawa, ON
–	–	16	Ben Hladik	Linebacker	British Columbia	Vernon, BC
–	–	18	Tyris Lebeau	Linebacker	Massachusetts	Montreal, QC
–	–	19	Grant McDonald	Linebacker	Calgary	Tsawwassen, BC
–	–	20	Nick Cross	Linebacker	British Columbia	Regina, SK

Close