Ticats punt on first round of draft, trade 1st/3rd picks to Montreal for Bomben

The pool of players for Tuesday's CFL Draft (8 p.m. Eastern, TSN2/RDS2) may be one of the best ever, but that hasn't stopped the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from cashing in draft picks in favour of veteran help. TSN's Farhan Lalji broke the news Tuesday afternoon that the Tiger-Cats had sent first- and third-round picks (8th and 24th overall) to Montreal in exchange for Canadian guard Ryan Bomben. That means their only remaining picks in the first three rounds are 17th and 20th overall. Bomben has been one of Montreal's better offensive linemen over the last few years, so acquiring him could be a nice boost for Hamilton, but it may cost the Ticats a chance to get other great players. This move also illustrates the value of drafting well: Montreal general manager Jim Popp took Bomben 31st overall in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, and he's not only gotten four good CFL seasons out of him, but has now turned him into two higher picks.

While this is a pretty steep price for the Tiger-Cats, it further illustrates how they're in win-now mode. CFL draft picks often don't contribute much in their first season, so for a Hamilton team that's eager to win a Grey Cup after back-to-back losses in the big game, going after a veteran who can help them immediately makes some sense. As Justin Dunk reports, Hamilton general manager and head coach Kent Austin sees Bomben's versatility as a big asset:

So, this move might work out just fine for Hamilton, at least in the short term. Its benefits for Montreal really illustrate the value of long-term planning, though. Herb Zurkowsky reports that they likely made this move to clear a starting space for January signing Philip Blake. Blake was a tremendous prospect while at Baylor, and under the rules of the time, he became eligible for the CFL draft after his 2010 junior season, which saw him ranked first, first and fourth in the CFL prospect rankings ahead of the 2011 draft. There was already known NFL interest in him, so he fell all the way to the third round, and Popp grabbed him 23rd overall. Blake was drafted in the fourth round by the NFL's Denver Broncos the following year, though, and he spent 2012, 2013 and the 2013-14 offseason in that league. He decided to give the CFL a chance this January though, making that Montreal pick pay off. Thus, Popp has managed to turn a 31st-overall pick into an eighth-overall pick and a 24th-overall pick, and he's already got an in-house replacement for the departed player from a 23rd-overall pick, so he now has two more picks to work with without creating any glaring needs in the process. That's smart long-term thinking (plus a gamble that Blake wouldn't stick in the NFL, which paid off), and it helps illustrate how the Alouettes stay consistently good year after year.