The Toronto Argonauts granted full access to its draft “war room” to Argonauts.ca’s Mike Hogan. The only stipulations were that he not mention the names of any player that was discussed by, but not drafted by the Argos, nor the names of any players that may have arisen in trade discussions.
The site was the same, but the scene was different.
Members of the Toronto Argonauts player personnel department gathered in Jim Barker’s office for the CFL Canadian Draft. That is not unusual, the room has been used as the team’s war room in previous seasons, but the people in the room brought something different than previous regimes: jewelry, a total of 22 Grey Cup rings.
Assembled in the room were general manager Michael Clemons (8 rings), player personnel director Jim Barker (5), senior advisor John Hufnagel (5), head coach Mike Miller (2), and video and scouting assistant Marcus Grandison (2). Championship bling had been won by the personnel department before, but never in such quantity.
Other people who spent the duration of the evening in the room, located in the personnel offices in the Coca-Cola Coliseum, were scouts Afram Jolak and Nate Bickford, each of whom was attending his first CFL draft, with this typist from Argonauts.ca also in the office.
Despite what would be a late night, members of the group arrived at or around 9:00 in the morning. While some of the day was spent looking to add American players to the fold, the draft was front and centre.
When Argonauts.ca sat down with Barker at 1:30 to discuss the events of the day, the veteran talent evaluator explained that a team had made a serious offer involving the Argos first pick in the second round, 11th overall. It involved an exchange of multiple draft picks.
Barker explained that the Argos were guaranteed to get one of two offensive linemen they had their eyes on, but the draft’s overall success was getting one, if not two players they had targeted in the second round at 11 and 16; Guelph running back Isaiah Smith, and Windsor defensive back Ethan John, both of whom could give the team added Canadian ratio flexibility.
The Argos also had multiple inquiries from teams to see if the second-overall pick was available, including at least one on Tuesday. The requests were denied, as Miller said later in the afternoon, “We’ve been diligent in keeping number two.”
The head coach and Hufnagel arrived at CCC (Coca-Cola Coliseum) – located across a parking lot from BMO Field – at 1:30, stopping to pick up Clemons to walk the 30 or so steps from his office to Barker’s.
After they assumed their stations, the conversation turned to the trade offers and other trade possibilities, discussing the risks and rewards of each deal. There was also talk about other teams and their potential first-round targets based upon some of the rumours floating around their channels. It was mentioned that at least two teams had talked to John for sure, with the suggestion that another had also reached out.
It led to some nervous discussion about the possibility of one of those teams selecting the Windsor defensive back before the Argos pair of second-round picks.
At 2:45, Miller asked if the office could be cleared aside from him, Clemons, Barker, and Hufnagel. They would meet for over an hour with the door to the office closed.
The group reconvened at 6:00 with an obvious difference in the body language of some of the people in the room. Barker and Hufnagel had been through many of these events and were cool on the outside, though Barker admitted to feeling some internal butterflies at that point.
Miller and Jolak were showing their nerves a little more. The rookie personnel evaluator was simply feeling the stress of going through this for the first time, while Miller was just restless, uneasy about how the second round could play out.
At 6:20 Barker’s phone rang again. It was the general manager of the team that had discussed the multiple pick deal earlier in the day. The two teams had agreed to make the trade based on the availability of one player.
Ultimately, the potential trade didn’t happen.
Another gentleman would join the room for the start of the draft, a TSN cameraman who was there to provide cutaway shots for the network’s draft coverage. He’d stay for the first round and most of the second.
Those in the room had settled in their spots for the night. Barker at his desk, Clemons next to him, with Hufnagel completing a rather successful trio sitting along the office’s north wall. “Huf” was joined at a table by Grandison and Bickford, with a speakerphone in the middle of the table.
Miller, Jolak, and this typist were sitting along the south wall of the office.
At five minutes before seven o’clock, a voice appeared over the speakerphone. Ryan Janzen, the league’s longtime associate vice-president of football operations informed the teams of the rules; that in the first two rounds a team would call into the league office, sending an accompanying email to verify the choice. Janzen would make picks known to teams via the speakerphone at exactly the same time CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston was announcing them on television. In later rounds the picks would be made by conference call.
The Argos used the entire personnel department and coaching staffs to prepare for the draft, but Barker and Miller would be the point men, with Barker fielding any trade offers.
For the assembled Argo brass, a giant whiteboard would be the centre of attention throughout the draft. It featured rectangular magnets, each one featuring an available player.
The players were ranked position by position at the top of the board. A middle section featured a list of the Argos eleven picks, beneath those numbers were magnets featuring the names of players the Argos were considering with those selections. The bottom third of the board was a list of the overall draft order round by round. As a player was chosen, his name would be moved to the appropriate slot.
The TSN broadcast began with a discussion about the CFL playoff and calendar changes for 2027, a topic that created surprisingly little conversation during the day as most of the talk was about the task at hand.
It wasn’t until 7:13 that it was announced Ottawa had selected offensive lineman Giordano Vaccaro first overall. Immediately after the Vaccaro pick, one the Argos assumed would be made by the Redblacks, Miller and Barker looked at each other with Miller saying “Henning” to confirm what had been discussed by the group. Bickford filled out a draft card with the player’s ID number, position, and school, then handed it to Jolak, who phoned and emailed Janzen.
Henning was Niklas Henning, a Milton native who played at Queen’s and was the consensus pick as the most athletic offensive lineman in the draft. He was moving from the Tricolour to the Double Blue.
“He’s just mean,” Barker told Argonauts.ca. “He plays the game mean; he does it the way Coach Miller wants it. He’s green, he’s got a lot of learning to do at this level, but he’s a guy who is very driven. He’s up over 300 pounds now (he weighed 298 at the CFL Combine) and ran 4.9 (seconds over 40 yards). He’s very athletic, nobody questions that, he’s only played offensive line for two years so he’s very behind in that sense, but he’s so athletic that you take a guy like that and build.”
He played tackle for the Gaels but it’s yet to be determined if he’ll play outside or move inside to guard with Toronto.
Jolak called the newest Argo to give him the good news, with Clemons and Miller taking the phone immediately afterward. Henning was emotional, saying “Thank you” more than once.
In a boardroom next to Barker’s office, the entire coaching staff had gathered to watch the draft, celebrating the culmination of their hard draft preparation with several pizzas and snacks. The Henning pick was sent to the league well before it was announced on TV, so Miller walked next door to inform his staff.
The cheers were loud and long, with the biggest smile belonging to offensive line coach Dominic Picard, someone who played o-line in the same angry fashion that the newest member of his group does.
With the Henning pick made, it meant those in Barker’s office were entering what would be the most nerve-wracking period of the proceedings, the time between picks 2 and 11.
Unlike many years, other team’s picks were generally applauded by those in the room. Some of the selections confirmed what the Argos thought would happen after they conducted multiple mock drafts. Other selections surprised them, but they all understood why those picks were made and the words “That’s a good fit for them” were heard more often than not.
At one point the potential trade was discussed, but it eventually fell through.
With the goal of selecting both Smith and John, there was intense discussion about which of the two made more sense to select first; would they choose Smith, leaving John exposed for five picks, or would they select the Windsor DB, leaving the Gryphon RB vulnerable?
11th overall and staying close to home 🏡
From @GryphonFB to the Double Blue, welcome Isaiah Smith 🌊 pic.twitter.com/sF85FM4tRq
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) April 29, 2026
It was decided that they’d pick Smith first for multiple reasons, including looking at the teams picking 12-15 and their roster composition. With the four teams holding those picks not necessarily in need of safety help, the dice would be rolled.
When Winnipeg selected Dante Daniels with the 10th pick, Jolak may have set a record by how fast he called the Isaiah Smith pick into Janzen. Miller walked over to announce the pick to the coaches, again before the pick was made on TV, and again it was greeted by an enormous cheer. Running backs coach Ka’Deem Carey came into Barker’s office with a huge smile on his face, thrilled that the Argos were able to land one of their primary targets.
It led to one of the best moments of the evening. Jolak called to break the news to Smith, his former teammate at Guelph. Miller’s smile rivaled that of Carey, as the first-year head coach added not only a talented player, but the possibility of added ratio flexibility with a Canadian running back who could instantly provide depth, while being able to contribute on special teams.
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Again, Miller was most on edge as the picks seemed to move as slowly as the clock in Bart Simpson’s classroom. The worst for him was the time leading up to BC’s pick at 15 overall, the one immediately preceding Toronto’s. The Lions didn’t need a Canadian safety, but would they select John anyway? Would they trade the pick?
“This has been gut-wrenching, this has been awful,” Miller said to no one in particular, anxiously awaiting the Lions pick.
His nervous stomach was given an immediate antacid when BC selected Jett Elad and the Argos were able to add John to the Argos. DBs coach Jovon Johnson was able to get in on that call and seemed even more excited than the player was.
The most intense portion of the evening was over and somehow the Boatmen had both of its second-round targets. Miller explained why the Argos put so much stock in Smith and John.
“Something I’ve learned, as far as building our roster, the importance of having ratio flexibility,” the coach said to Argonauts.ca. “And these are two young men that we have the highest opinions of; of how they play, and they’re even better people. They’re going to bring that passion, that intensity; they are physical players, and they play very hard.”
The addition of John, paired with the free agent signing of Enock Makonzo, indicates the Argos may experiment with making safety a Canadian position. It means they could start eight Nationals (two receivers, three offensive linemen, a defensive end, a WILL linebacker, and a safety), or start seven Canadians, staring an American in one of those eight spots.
It would also give them the flexibility of subbing an American for a Canadian without much worry.
As the clock approached 9:00, a team phoned Barker with an offer that would allow Toronto to move up in the draft, looking to acquire the Argos picks at 22 and 23 in exchange for an earlier pick and a later pick. After a brief discussion within the office, Barker politely declined, content to wait for the back-to-back selections.
The Argos narrowed their potential picks for 22 and 23 to four players. With the bulk of their attention on Smith and John, they realized that Darius McKenzie had somehow fallen and was still available. They considered him a first-round talent but realized some teams may have been scared off because of an ankle injury suffered last year.
Barker received an email from McKenzie earlier in the day.
“The gist of it was that the issue was all taken care of,” said Barker. “He’s been passed 100-percent. He’s ready to start practicing now. He’s graduating, so he’ll miss rookie camp, but he’ll be here with the veterans on (May) 9th. We’re excited by him and ready to get to work.”
Marcus Grandison was to make the two picks via conference call, but on a night when everything seemed to be going perfectly for the Argos, the conference call speaker wasn’t cooperating. He could perfectly hear Janzen at the CFL office, but Janzen didn’t reply multiple times to Grandison’s question “Can you hear me Ryan?”
Jolak had to go back to the system that worked problem free in the first two rounds. Calling and emailing in the picks, in this case McKenzie and Louis-Phillipe Gauthier.
After those selections Barker was contacted about another trade featuring an exchange of multiple picks. Again, he politely declined.
The rest of the draft was comparatively uneventful. Some of the players the Argos discussed were selected before they had the chance to take them, others were surprisingly there when the team thought they’d have been chosen earlier.
Miller looked at the board as the draft neared its conclusion, looked at Barker, pointed at McKenzie’s magnet and asked, “Can you believe this one?”
At the end of the night the group was all smiles. It wasn’t a perfect draft, but a hugely successful one. Time will tell if the players live up to expectations or perhaps exceed them.
The first chance to see the Class of ’26 will be at the University of Guelph, where training camp opens for rookies and quarterbacks on May 6.