The British Columbia Lions selected linebacker Jordan Williams of Toronto, Ontario first overall in the 2020 Canadian Football League Draft on Thursday. He played four seasons for Eastern Carolina University from 2014 to 2017 and had 252 tackles in 45 National Collegiate Athletic Association games.
The Lions had great interest in Williams, as they traded their original first-round pick (third overall) to the Calgary Stampeders for Calgary’s first-round pick (first overall). The Stampeders also acquired the Lions second-round draft pick (12th overall), and the Lions got the Stampeders second-round draft pick (15th overall).
For the third straight season the position of offensive line was the most drafted position in the first round of the CFL Draft. The Edmonton Eskimos selected Tomas Jack-Kurdyla of Montreal, Quebec fourth overall from the University of Buffalo. Other offensive linemen selected in the first round were Coulter Woodmansey of Toronto by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (fifth overall) from the University of Guelph, Mattland Riley of Melfort, Saskatchewan by the Saskatchewan Roughriders (sixth overall) from the University of Saskatchewan and Theren Churchill of Stettler, Alberta by the Toronto Argonauts (ninth overall) from the University of Regina.
Woodmansey was the first player taken from USports (Canadian University Football) in the 2020 CFL draft. The other player selected from a Canadian university in the first-round was defensive back Adam Auclair of Quebec City, Quebec, who was drafted sixth overall by the Ottawa Redblacks. The other three players drafted in the first round were wide receiver Dejon Brissett of Mississauga, Ontario (second overall) by the Argonauts from the University of Virginia, defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (third overall) by the Stampeders from the University of Southeastern Louisiana and defensive lineman Mason Bennett of Winnipeg, Manitoba (eighth overall) by the Tiger-Cats from the University of North Dakota.
