Chargers ace CFL draft … The Ottawa Redblacks selected OG Gio Vaccaro who played his senior year at Purdue with the first pick overall at the 2026 CFL draft of Canadian-born players last evening. In fact, due to some of the oddities of the CFL draft, Vaccaro, who was not a starter at Purdue, was only the 11th rated prospect prior to the draft. In fact, neither of this year’s top two CFL prospects – Miami DE Ahkeem Mesidor and Boston College C/G Logan Taylor – were selected at all last evening as both had been selected by the LA Chargers in last weekend’s NFL draft and as such likely won’t be available to Canadian teams for some time. Indeed, the Chargers may be the real ‘winners’ of the CFL draft as they have also signed Louisville DE Wes Bailey, the 4th ranked player on the CFL list who also wasn’t drafted, as an undrafted rookie free agent. Meanwhile, Toronto selected Queens’ OT Niklas Henning, the CFL’s top-rated from a Canadian uiversity, with the second pick overall; however, in the end 8 of the 9 first-round CFL picks played at American colleges.
