The 2026 CFL Draft: What It Is, How It Works & Why You Should CaRE

By Chris Lawton

Once the NFL Draft wraps up in Pittsburgh, it will be time to turn our attention north of the border. The 2026 CFL Draft takes place on Tuesday April 28th, with the Global Draft following the next morning on Wednesday April 29th. If you’re new to the CFL or just want a refresher on how it all works before draft night, read on. There’s more to it than you might think.

The Basic Setup

Like the NFL Draft, the CFL Draft order is based on the reverse order of the previous season’s standings. The team with the worst record from 2025 picks first, the Grey Cup champion picks last, and everything in between is subject to the usual pre-draft trade activity that has already been going on for months. This year it is the Ottawa REDBLACKS who hold the first overall pick in what is being talked up as a strong class, although whether they’ll use it is a live question. Head coach and GM Ryan Dinwiddie has publicly said Ottawa are open to listening to offers, so don’t be surprised if there’s some movement at the top before the night is out.

The draft runs for eight rounds, with 74 players scheduled to be selected this year. Most will come from Canada’s own university system, known as U Sports, or from NCAA schools in the United States. Two teams, the Edmonton Elks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, have been awarded bonus second-round picks this year as a reward for having the highest percentage of Canadian players on the field during the 2025 season.

Why Does The CFL Have It's Own Draft?

This is the key question for anyone coming at this fresh from the NFL. The CFL operates under ratio rules which require each team to dress a minimum number of Canadian players, known as Nationals, in every game. This creates a genuine strategic value around Canadian talent that simply doesn’t exist in the NFL. The draft is how that talent gets distributed fairly across the league’s nine teams.

American players, who make up roughly half of any CFL roster, don’t go through the main draft at all. They enter the league via a negotiation list system, where teams can stake a claim on players and hold their CFL rights. The main draft, therefore, is entirely focused on Canadian talent, and every pick carries that ratio consideration alongside the usual football evaluation.

The Futures Pick Factor, or Why the First Round Isn't Everything

One of the things that makes the CFL Draft genuinely different is what we might call the futures pick. Many of the top Canadian prospects will first try their luck in the NFL. Either hoping to be drafted or at minimum get a shot as an undrafted free agent. CFL teams must factor this into every pick they make. Do you spend a high selection on a player you might not see in training camp for a year or two, gambling on them coming north eventually? Or do you take the safer, more immediate option further down the board?

NFL fans will know this tension well. The idea that value in a draft is rarely confined to the top of the board is one of football’s great recurring lessons. Maxx Crosby was the 106th pick of the 2019 NFL Draft; a fourth-rounder out of Eastern Michigan that almost nobody had as a priority target. The Raiders used their first-round pick that year on Clelin Ferrell, who managed 10 sacks in four seasons before moving on. Crosby, meanwhile, racked up nearly 70 sacks, made five straight Pro Bowls, and eventually signed a contract making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL at the time. Then there’s Puka Nacua, the 177th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft; the 20th receiver selected, who then broke the NFL rookie record for receiving yards and receptions in his first season with the Rams. One hundred and seventy-six picks made before a player who immediately became one of the most productive receivers in the league.

The CFL tells exactly the same story. Over two thirds of number one overall picks in CFL history never made a CFL All-Star team, let alone the Hall of Fame. Meanwhile the Blue Bombers found Brady Oliveira at 14th overall in the 2019 Draft. A relatively modest outlay for a player who went on to win the Most Outstanding Canadian award twice and the Most Outstanding Player award outright, while racking up three straight 1,000-yard rushing campaigns. Then there’s Konrad Smith, taken by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the fourth round in 2022, who already has 147 catches for 1,881 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s the kind of quiet, sustained production that makes fourth-round picks look very smart indeed. In both leagues, the headline act at the top of the draft board is often not where the real value gets made.

The Elgersma Case Study

Perhaps a perfect illustration of the futures pick playing out in real time is happening right now with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Last year, Winnipeg used the 18th overall pick. Their second-round selection, on Taylor Elgersma, a quarterback out of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario. Elgersma was the 2024 Hec Crighton Trophy winner, U Sports’ equivalent of the Heisman. This, after throwing for 4,252 yards, 35 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also became the first quarterback from a Canadian university ever to receive a Senior Bowl invitation. The Bombers knew full well that NFL interest would follow.

Sure enough, Elgersma went undrafted in the NFL Draft but signed with the Green Bay Packers as a free agent, completed 16 of 23 passes in three preseason games, and then spent the early part of this year with the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL before work visa complications prevented him from playing. He also had looks from the Giants, 49ers, Bears and Dolphins along the way. Nearly a full calendar year after being drafted by Winnipeg, he finally signed with the Blue Bombers just this week. Arriving as a potential heir to 37-year-old starter Zach Collaros and saying simply that “it was time to come home.” Winnipeg held their nerve, held his rights, and now have a highly rated young Canadian quarterback on a rookie contract. That is the futures pick working exactly as intended.

This is also why the risk-reward calculation at the top of the draft is so compelling. Calgary     last year selected WR Damien Alford first overall knowing he had a Kansas City Chiefs minicamp invitation waiting. They were essentially betting he wouldn’t stick in the NFL and would head north. It paid off too, with Alford having a productive rookie season with the Stamps.

And Then There's The Global Draft

The morning after the main draft, the Global Draft gets underway at 1pm ET on April 29th. This is a two-round, 18-pick selection of players from outside North America entirely, and it’s the part of the process UK fans should pay closest attention to.

Every CFL team is required to dress at least one Global player on game day, so these aren’t novelty picks. They’re genuine roster necessities. The Global Draft has historically leaned heavily on Australian punters. Last year Calgary took Aussie punter Fraser Masin first overall and then, as if to underline the point, took another Australian punter, Mark Vassett out of Colorado with the very next pick they held. But it’s not all about punters from down under.

Last year Winnipeg traded up to grab Birmingham-born Kemari Munier-Bailey, a former Great Britain junior basketball international who built an impressive college football career across Idaho, Fresno State and Weber State, earning All-America honours in his final season, at number two overall. This year, mock drafts are projecting a class notably deep in trench talent, with Wilfried Pene of France, a defensive lineman with NFL experience who played at Virginia Tech, among the top prospects being discussed for the first overall pick. Ottawa holds that selection in the Global Draft too, so it will be a busy couple of days for their war room.

How To Follow Along

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The first two rounds of the main CFL Draft on April 28th are broadcast live on TSN and TSN+, with rounds three to eight moving exclusively to TSN+. For UK fans it will need to be tracked online and 3 Down Nation do a great job of tracking and assessing the picks as they come in. The Global Draft on April 29th runs from 1pm ET on CFL.ca’s official draft tracker. For UK fans the main draft is a late one. 7pm ET is midnight UK time; but the Global Draft at 1pm ET is a much more manageable 6pm. Set aside some time, follow along on CFL.ca, and enjoy one of the more interesting nights in the North American football calendar. The draft is always more fun than you expect it to be.

CHRIS LAWTON

CFL ANALYST

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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