The 2023 CFL national draft was a selection of national players by Canadian Football League teams that took place on May 2, 2023, at 8:00 pm ET. 72 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA and NAIA.
The draft was broadcast live on TSN for the first two rounds with subsequent rounds being streamed online. The TSN production was hosted by Farhan Lalji and featured the CFL on TSN panel, including Duane Forde, Marshall Ferguson, Jim Barker, and Dave Naylor.
Combines For the first time the CFL held an invitational players combine at the University of Waterloo's Feridun Hamdullahpur Field House on March 3, 2023. The main combine took place March 22-26, 2023, at the Commonwealth Stadium Field House in Edmonton, AB.
Top prospects Source: CFL Scouting Bureau rankings.
Finalranking Januaryranking Septemberranking Player Position University Hometown 1 5 – Matthew Bergeron Offensive Lineman Syracuse Victoriaville, QC 2 1 1 Chase Brown Running back Illinois London, ON 3 2 3 Sydney Brown Defensive back Illinois London, ON 4 3 9 Tavius Robinson Defensive lineman Mississippi Guelph, ON 5 4 7 Sidy Sow Offensive lineman Eastern Michigan Bromont, QC 6 6 4 Jared Wayne Wide receiver Pittsburgh Peterborough, ON 7 7 2 Dontae Bull Offensive lineman Fresno State Victoria, BC 8 9 10 Jonathan Sutherland Linebacker Penn State Ottawa, ON 9 8 6 Lwal Uguak Defensive lineman Texas Christian Edmonton, AB 10 12 11 Francis Bemiy Defensive lineman Southern Utah Montreal, QC 11 15 – Micheal Brodrique Linebacker Montreal Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, QC 12 – – Cole Tucker Wide receiver Northern Illinois DeKalb, IL 13 10 20 Lake Korte-Moore Defensive lineman British Columbia Ottawa, ON 14 14 13 Clark Barnes Wide receiver Guelph Brampton, ON 15 11 16 Siriman Bagayogo Defensive back Guelph Bois-des-Filion, QC 16 13 – Anthony Bennett Defensive lineman Regina Weston, FL 17 20 – Phillip Grohovac Offensive lineman Western Victoria, BC 18 18 18 Jacob Taylor Linebacker Alberta Beaumont, AB 19 16 – James Peter Linebacker Ottawa Ottawa, ON 20 – – Dayton Black Offensive lineman Saskatchewan Brandon, MB – 17 19 Reece Martin Defensive lineman Mount Allison Moncton, NB – 19 – Quintin Seguin Defensive lineman Charleston Southern Windsor, ON – – 5 Nick Mardner Wide receiver Cincinnati Mississauga, ON – – 8 Theo Benedet Offensive lineman British Columbia North Vancouver, BC – – 12 Gabe Wallace Offensive lineman Buffalo Salmon Arm, BC – – 14 Daniel Johnson Offensive lineman Purdue London, ON – – 15 Giovanni Manu Offensive lineman British Columbia Pitt Meadows, BC – – 17 Justin Sambu Defensive lineman Maine Calgary, AB
Draft order Round one Pick # CFL team Player Position University 1 Ottawa Redblacks Dontae Bull OL Fresno State 2 Edmonton Elks Michael Brodrique LB Montreal 3 Saskatchewan Roughriders Lake Korte-Moore DL British Columbia 4 Calgary Stampeders (via Hamilton) Cole Tucker WR Northern Illinois 5 Montreal Alouettes Jonathan Sutherland LB Penn State 6 Hamilton Tiger-Cats (via Calgary) Dayton Black OL Saskatchewan 7 Montreal Alouettes (via BC) Lwal Uguak DL Texas Christian 8 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Anthony Bennett DL Regina 9 BC Lions (via Toronto) Francis Bemiy DL Southern Utah
Round two Pick # CFL team Player Position University 10 Ottawa Redblacks Lucas Cormier DB Mount Allison – Edmonton Elks Selection forfeited 11 Saskatchewan Roughriders Jaxon Ford DB Regina 12 Ottawa Redblacks (via Edmonton via Hamilton) James Peter LB Ottawa 13 Montreal Alouettes David Dallaire FB Laval – Calgary Stampeders Selection forfeited 14 BC Lions Siriman Bagayogo DB Guelph 15 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Jake Kelly DB Bishop's 16 Toronto Argonauts Jared Wayne WR Pittsburgh Ottawa Redblacks Daniel Oladejo WR Ottawa Edmonton Elks Jacob Taylor LB Alberta
Round three Pick # CFL team Player Position University 19 Ottawa Redblacks Aidan John DL St. Mary's 20 Edmonton Elks Phillip Grohovac OL Western Ontario 21 Saskatchewan Roughriders Matt Dean LB York 22 Calgary Stampeders (via Hamilton) Kwadwo Boahen DL Alberta 23 Edmonton Elks (via Montreal) Luke Burton-Krahn DB British Columbia 24 Calgary Stampeders Clark Barnes WR Guelph 25 Ottawa Redblacks (via BC) Josh White LB Regina 26 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Jeremy Murphy WR Concordia (QC) 27 Toronto Argonauts Adam Guillemette LS Holy Cross
Round four Pick # CFL team Player Position University 28 Edmonton Elks (via Ottawa) Noah Curtis DL Keiser 29 Hamilton Tiger-Cats (via Edmonton ) Patrick Burke Jr. DB Wilfrid Laurier 30 Saskatchewan Roughriders Thomas Bertrand-Hudon RB Delaware State 31 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Reece Martin DL Mount Allison 32 Montreal Alouettes Theo Grant OL Queen's 33 Calgary Stampeders Alexandre Marcoux OL McGill 34 BC Lions Markcus Jean-Loescher DL St. Mary's 35 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Tanner Schmekel DL Regina 36 Toronto Argonauts Spencer Nichols RB Western Ontario
Round five Pick # CFL team Player Position University 37 Ottawa Redblacks Daniel Perry WR Saskatchewan 38 Edmonton Elks Bertrand Beaulieu RB Montreal 39 Montreal Alouettes (via Saskatchewan) Jacob Mason FB McMaster 40 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Robert Panabaker DB Western Ontario 41 Montreal Alouettes Shedler Fervius WR St. Mary's 42 Calgary Stampeders Ryan Leder DL McMaster 43 BC Lions Charlie Ringland DB Saskatchewan 44 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Collin Kornelson DL Manitoba 45 Toronto Argonauts Edouard Paradis OL Houston Christian
Round six Pick # CFL team Player Position University 46 Ottawa Redblacks Quintin Seguin DL Charleston Southern 47 Toronto Argonauts (via Edmonton) Richard Burton WR Queen's 48 Saskatchewan Roughriders Sidy Sow OL Eastern Michigan 49 Calgary Stampeders (via Hamilton) Sebastian Howard TE St. Mary's 50 Edmonton Elks (via Montreal) Spencer Masterson OL Guelph 51 Calgary Stampeders Campbell Fair K Ottawa 52 BC Lions Jassin States-McClean DB St. Mary's 53 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Breton MacDougall DB Windsor 54 Toronto Argonauts Ife Onyemenam LB Wilfrid Laurier
Round seven Pick # CFL team Player Position University 55 Ottawa Redblacks Alexander Fedchun DL St. Francis Xavier 56 Edmonton Elks Bruno Legace DE Montreal 57 Saskatchewan Roughriders Evan Floren OL Queen's 58 Ottawa Redblacks (via Edmonton via Hamilton) Amlicar Polk RB Ottawa 59 Montreal Alouettes Chase Brown RB Illinois 60 Saskatchewan Roughriders (via Calgary) Nick Thomas LB Manitoba 61 BC Lions Jack Hinsperger LB Waterloo 62 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Jonathan Rosery RB Alberta 63 Toronto Argonauts Brendan Murphy DB Western Ontario
Round eight Pick # CFL team Player Position University 64 Hamilton Tiger-Cats (via Edmonton via Ottawa) Josh Hyer DL Calgary 65 Edmonton Elks Derek Best RB Western Ontario 66 Saskatchewan Roughriders Tavius Robinson DL Mississippi 67 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Caleb Morin WR Saskatchewan 68 Montreal Alouettes Maxym Lavallee DB Laval 69 Calgary Stampeders Lucas Robertson FB British Columbia 70 BC Lions Troy Kowal OL Minot State 71 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Max Charbonneau LB Ottawa 72 Toronto Argonauts Anthony Vandal OL Sherbrooke
Trades In the explanations below, (D) denotes trades that took place during the draft, while (PD) indicates trades completed pre-draft. Round one Hamilton ←→ Calgary (PD). Hamilton traded this selection, a third-round pick in this draft, a sixth-round pick in this draft, and a second-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft to Calgary in exchange for Bo Levi Mitchell, a first-round pick in this draft, and a third-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft. BC → Montreal (PD). BC traded this selection to Montreal in exchange for Vernon Adams. Toronto → BC (PD). Toronto traded this selection to BC in exchange for Jordan Williams.
Round two Hamilton → Edmonton (PD). Hamilton traded this selection and Jesse Gibbon to Edmonton in exchange for David Beard and a conditional fourth-round pick in this year's draft. Edmonton → Ottawa (PD). Edmonton traded the 12th overall selection to Ottawa in exchange for the rights to Woodly Appolon.
Round three Montreal → Edmonton (PD). Montreal traded this selection and Avery Ellis to Edmonton in exchange for Nafees Lyon and Thomas Costigan. BC → Ottawa (PD). BC traded this selection and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2024 CFL draft to Ottawa in exchange for Terry Williams. Hamilton → Calgary (PD). Hamilton traded this selection, a first-round pick in this draft, a sixth-round pick in this draft, and a second-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft to Calgary in exchange for Bo Levi Mitchell, a first-round pick in this draft, and a third-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft.
Round four Ottawa → Edmonton (PD). Ottawa traded this selection to Edmonton in exchange for Nick Arbuckle. Edmonton → Hamilton (PD). Edmonton traded a conditional fourth-round selection and David Beard to Hamilton in exchange for Jesse Gibbon and a second-round pick in this year's draft. The condition was confirmed to be fulfilled upon the release of the draft order by the league.
Round five Saskatchewan → Montreal (PD). Saskatchewan traded this selection to Montreal in exchange for Mario Alford. This selection was originally a sixth-round pick, but was upgraded after Alford played in at least nine games for the Roughriders.
Round six Edmonton → Toronto (PD). Edmonton traded this selection to Toronto in exchange for Jalen Collins and Martez Ivey. Montreal → Edmonton (PD). Montreal traded this selection to Edmonton in exchange for Walter Fletcher. Hamilton → Calgary (PD). Hamilton traded this selection, a first-round pick in this draft, a third-round pick in this draft, and a second-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft to Calgary in exchange for Bo Levi Mitchell, a first-round pick in this draft, and a third-round pick in the 2024 CFL draft.
Round seven Calgary → Saskatchewan (PD). Calgary traded this selection and a third-round selection in the 2023 CFL global draft to Saskatchewan in exchange for James Smith. This selection can be upgraded to a fifth-round selection depending on the number of games played by Smith for the Stampeders. Hamilton → Edmonton (PD). Hamilton traded this selection to Edmonton in exchange for Colin Kelly. Edmonton → Ottawa (PD). Edmonton traded this selection to Ottawa in exchange for Llevi Noel and an eighth-round pick in this year's draft.
Round eight Ottawa → Edmonton (PD). Ottawa traded this selection and Llevi Noel to Edmonton in exchange for a seventh-round pick in this year's draft. Edmonton → Hamilton (PD). Edmonton traded this selection to Hamilton in exchange for Jon Ryan.
Conditional trades Montreal → Calgary (PD). Montreal traded a conditional second-round selection to Calgary in exchange for the playing rights to Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. The condition would've been fulfilled if Duvernay-Tardif signed with the Alouettes before the draft, but he did not.
Forfeitures Edmonton forfeited their second round pick after selecting J-Min Pelley in the 2022 Supplemental Draft. Calgary forfeited their second round pick after selecting T. J. Rayam in the 2022 Supplemental Draft.
See also 2023 CFL global draft
References Trade references
General references