2012 CFL Draft live chat: Ben Heenan’s number one, but who will follow?

One of the

myriad uncertainties surrounding this year's CFL draft

was cleared up Thursday morning, with Saskatchewan Roughriders' president Jim Hopson telling fans at the University of Saskatchewan Huskies' twelfth-annual fundraising "Dog's Breakfast" (featuring Jeff Garcia!) that Saskatchewan would in fact be taking Huskies' offensive lineman Ben Heenan first overall. Heenan makes a lot of sense for the team, as he's one of the very few top prospects who hasn't yet been courted by the NFL, but some speculated that the Riders would try to trade the pick given the players they already have on the offensive line. We know now that's not happening, but there should still be plenty of intrigue in Thursday's draft, and we'll have a live chat for the first two rounds.

What's so interesting about what remains to be known? Well, every prospect except Heenan and Laval linebacker Frédéric Plesius ranked first through sixth in the final CFL Scouting Bureau rankings has some ties to the NFL (and Plesius carries his own boom-or-bust tag in many eyes), including popular second pick Shamawd Chambers. Will teams gamble on top talent that may not show up for years, if ever, or will they go with safer picks more likely to be in camp with them this season? All will be revealed this afternoon, so come join myself, Sandy Annunziata and Ian Denomme for a live chat covering the first two rounds starting at 3 p.m. Eastern!