The 2019 CFL–LFA draft took place on January 14, 2019. Twenty-seven players were chosen from an invited pool of 51 Mexican players: 34 from the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) (a professional American football league) and 17 seniors from Mexican university teams.

Background In October 2018, Canadian Football League commissioner Randy Ambrosie outlined a plan to grow the CFL's presence, which he dubbed CFL 2.0, including growth internationally. In November 2018, the LFA signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with the CFL to share resources and to allow for at least one CFL game to be played in Mexico, as wells as lay the ground work for special Mexican-specific editions of the CFL Combine and CFL draft.

On January 11, 2019, 51 players from the LFA and Mexican college ranks were announced as participants in a combine to beheld on January 13 and a 27-player draft to be held on January 14, 2019. Each CFL team sent scouts and were reported to likely receive four picks. Consensus after the combine was that 6-18 players were of (or could be made into) CFL camp caliber, but that a majority of players had no professional potential. This led to criticism of commissioner Ambrosie for spending time and resources on this additional draft, when a collective bargaining agreement with the CFLPA still had not been reached. Originally, there were plans for a 4-round 36-player draft but, after the combine and interviews, was scaled back to a 3-round, 27-player draft. BC Lions General Manager Ed Hervey was reported to have, "settled for athletic and the ability to speak English" in player evaluations. It was not reported if drafted players would count towards a team's National or International slots.

On January 12, 2019, the LFA held their own domestic 66-player draft in advance of the CFL's draft.

Selection order Unlike the normal CFL draft, which sets selection order based on a team's record the previous season (similar to the NFL draft), the CFL–LFA draft instead used a weighted lottery system where teams receive more balls in a selection bin depending on their record, with more balls increasing the chance at a higher draft priority (similar to the NBA draft). The draft order was set the night before the draft: The Edmonton Eskimos received the first pick, despite Edmonton's general manager and head coach both skipping the combine and draft process, sending a subordinate instead. Edmonton GM Brock Sunderland in particular was largely dismissive of the entire process.

Pick # CFL Team Lottery weight(% chance for 1st pick) 1 Edmonton Eskimos 6/45 (13.3%) 2 Ottawa Redblacks 2/45 (4.4%) 3 Montreal Alouettes 8/45 (17.8%) 4 Toronto Argonauts 9/45 (20%) 5 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 7/45 (15.6%) 6 Saskatchewan Roughriders 3/45 (6.7%) 7 BC Lions 5/45 (11.1%) 8 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 4/45 (8.9%) 9 Calgary Stampeders 1/45 (2.2%)

Selections

Round one Pick # CFL Team Player Position College/LFA team 1 Edmonton Eskimos Diego Viamontes WR Mayas CDMX 2 Ottawa Redblacks José Carlos Maltos K Fundidores de Monterrey 3 Montreal Alouettes Enrique Yenny K ITESM Toluca 4 Toronto Argonauts Uriel Martínez DE UANL 5 Hamilton Tiger-Cats José Humberto Noriega Montiel WR Artilleros de Puebla 6 Saskatchewan Roughriders René Brassea OL Fundidores de Monterrey 7 BC Lions Octavio González DL Fundidores de Monterrey 8 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sergio Schiaffino DB Dinos de Saltillo 9 Calgary Stampeders Andrés Salgado WR Condors CDMX

Round two Pick # CFL Team Player Position College/LFA team 10 Edmonton Eskimos Daniel Carrete LB Dinos de Saltillo 11 Ottawa Redblacks Guillermo Villalobos WR Mexicas de la Ciudad de México 12 Montreal Alouettes Diego Rojas Kuhlmann OL ITESM Toluca 13 Toronto Argonauts David Casarrubias DE UANM 14 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Omar Cojolum RB Mayas CDMX 15 Saskatchewan Roughriders Carlos Sebastián Olvera Rivas WR UDLAP 16 BC Lions Fernando Richarte WR Dinos de Saltillo 17 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Manuel Eduardo Hernández Reyes S UDLAP 18 Calgary Stampeders Oscar Hugo Silva Reta K Dinos de Saltillo

Round three Pick # CFL Team Player Position College/LFA team 19 Edmonton Eskimos Jose Alfonsin Romero DB Artilleros de Puebla 20 Ottawa Redblacks Maximiliano Soto Esquer DE ITESM Monterrey 21 Montreal Alouettes Juan Manuel Márquez Tamayo CB UDLAP 22 Toronto Argonauts Christian Alejandro Hernández Delgado LB Fundidores de Monterrey 23 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Luis Humberto López Tinoco RB Condors CDMX 24 Saskatchewan Roughriders Francisco Javier García Ramírez CB Fundidores de Monterrey 25 BC Lions Gerardo Álvarez WR Dinos de Saltillo 26 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Gabriel Amavizca K BUAP 27 Calgary Stampeders Guillermo Caldéron Leal DT UDLAP

See also 2019 CFL draft 2019 CFL European draft

References