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After years of speculation about the NFL possibly bringing in an international city for an expansion franchise, the league finally announced that Toronto would indeed be awarded a new NFL franchise. Starting with the 2018 season the Toronto Huskies will join the AFC East. It was a busy offseason in Toronto as not only did they have their expansion draft, but they also had the No. 1 overall pick in their hands.
First on their plate was hiring a new head coach to lead this new franchise. Ownership brass led by Edward Rogers III, owner of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and MLB's Toronto Blue Jays, decided that first time head coach Demetrius Turner was the right man for the job. What Turner lacked in experience, he made up for in enthusiasm and creativity. As former offensive line coach and offensive coordinator who had bounced around college football and the pros he was eager to make a name for himself with this young franchise.
Next was the expansion draft with the following rules
1. Each team must list 5 players made available to draft (No punter/kickers, any players under the age of 25, or players on expiring contracts)
2. Must select either 30 players and/or 38% of that season's salary cap.
3. Once a player is selected from a team, that team can choose to protect one of its 5 players. Once a team has two players selected it can choose to protect its remaining draft eligible players.
Here's how the expansion draft ended up for Toronto:
Player
Pos
Ovr
Age
Former Team
Cap Hit
Contract Years Remaining
Cliff Avril
LE
87
31
$8.39
1
CB
78
28
$3.17
1
LOLB
82
26
$4.26
5
HB
80
26
$4.03
3
WR
79
29
$4.57
2
QB
75
31
$3.79
1
CB
85
26
$10.5
4
DT
78
27
$4.98
4
MLB
84
28
$3.89
4
CB
74
25
$4.82
1
RG
77
29
$1.05
2
QB
77
25
$510K
1
HB
77
26
$1.52
1
DT
77
25
$2.02
2
TE
79
25
$890K
1
C
78
29
$4.32
3
LE
79
26
$4.32
4
In total the Huskies selected 17 players for its new franchise. Toronto was also busy in the free agency period, signing many players to team friendly deals to try and strengthen the depth of its roster. Here are some of major signings for the team:
TE Luke Willson, 3 years, $9.24 mil
K Adam Vinatieri, 1 year, $2.35 mil
WR Torrey Smith, 2 years, $13 mil
WR Danny Amendola, 2 years, $5.46 mil
The next step was the NFL Draft. With the No. 1 overall pick Toronto decided to grab its signal caller of the future in Bradley Giles out of Wisconsin. While some scouts mentioned his size as an issue (only 6-1), Giles has a cannon for an arm (92 throw power) and has the speed (86) and mobility (89 agility) to make defenses pay attention to him outside the pocket. Not to mention his experience playing in cold weather as a 4-year starter for the Badgers. With no consensus player available in the 2nd round, Huskies decided to trade back and pick up some additional picks for the future. In the 3rd round Toronto selected speedy halfback DeMikael Ball out of Michigan State who just might be the steal of the draft. So far in training camp he has shown to be more than capable of handling the starting HB duties. The Huskies found another gem in the 5th round as they picked up one of the better interior linemen in Raymond Rodgers out of Missouri. The 6-4 and 322 pound road grater is going to prove essential in the run game.
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