Wide receiver was the Saskatchewan Roughriders' biggest need heading into the 2019 CFL Draft on Thursday and they took care of that with their first two selections.

The Riders used their first round pick to take Arkansas State receiver Justin McInnis with the sixth overall pick and then they went back to the position with the 15th overall pick to take New Mexico wideout Brayden Lenius.

"He's a guy that we looked at our draft board was one of the highest guys we had up there, if not at the top, a guy that we were hoping to fall to us at six and we're fortunate that we got him," said Riders general manager Jeremy O'Day.

McInnis was considered the top receiver in this year's draft after playing three seasons for the Red Wolves. The 23-year-old had 115 catches, 1,577 yards and 10 touchdowns.

This past season, McInnis finished second on Arkansas State with 56 receptions for 694 yards and six scores.

"He's six-six and 210 and runs a 4.5 40[-yard dash] and he blocks, he's got great hands, he's played at a high level and was productive at that level," said O'Day.

Lenius finished his college career with the New Mexico Lobos after spending three seasons with the Washington Huskies. The six-foot-five, 230-pound tight end had 581 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

"Brayden has done a lot of different things, what we liked is his flexibility to play multiple positions, he's been an outside receiver at Washington, he's got great size, when he transferred to New Mexico he added some weight and played some tight end so he can block in the box, so we see him at multiple positions," said O'Day.

Both McInnis and Lenius have opportunities in the NFL. McInnis has been invited to rookie camps with the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts, while Lenius has received an invite from the San Francisco 49ers.

"That's the reality of it, we were willing to take the risk and wait if we had to, but we're happy we got those guys," said O'Day.

The Toronto Argonauts used the first overall pick on six-foot-eight Oklahoma State offensive lineman Shane Richards. The first five picks were offensive and defensive linemen before the Riders broke the trend by taking McInnis.

The Riders made six selections in total during the draft.

"We feel like we have good Canadian talent, we really do, but you always want to build on that, ideally I'd like to have more draft picks, but it was a draft where we feel comfortable with the amount of good Canadian players that we have," said O'Day.

After the receivers, Saskatchewan turned to their defence with York linebacker Jacob Janke in the fourth round, 35th overall. The six-foot-two, 200-pounder started all eight games at defensive back in 2018 for York, leading the Lions with 5.9 tackles per game and 47.5 total tackles. 

"At York, he played linebacker and played in the box, he has the ability and the speed to play at safety, he would be an undersized linebacker in our league, but he's a heck of a player and will contribute on special teams," O'Day said on Janke.

In the fifth round, the Riders selected defensive lineman Charbel Dabire out of Wagner College. The six-foot-one, 300-pound lineman had 73 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in 33 career games.

"He played against some very good competition, he's a bigger, heavier defensive tackle, an effort type guy, doesn't take a lot of plays off, moves actually pretty well for his size and we're looking forward to seeing him compete," said O'Day.

With the 53rd overall pick, Saskatchewan added to their offensive line depth with Granby, Que.'s Vincent Roy. The six-foot-five, 285-pounder has played four seasons at Sherbrooke University.

"We wanted to add some depth," said O'Day. "Roy is a guy that piqued our interest, we watched him in the East-West and watched him throughout the year, and he was actually a guy that started out at offensive line, moved to defensive line and came back to offensive line for his last year."

The Riders added another Judge to their roster with their final pick of the draft, selecting 2017 first round pick Cameron Judge's brother Chris. The 28-year-old last played for Cal Poly from 2011-12 and was a team MVP on special teams, earning an All-Big Sky honourable mention on special teams.

"He just got his Canadian status recently," said O'Day. "He's a heck of a teamer, we're hoping he's in pretty good shape, we've communicated with him and his brother and we're excited to see if he’s back to where he was."

O'Day Pleased with his First Draft

Jeremy O'Day is a veteran of CFL Draft Rooms, but this was his first time running things as the Roughriders' general manager.

"It was a little stressful, you're more just waiting and hoping and just trying to follow the draft picks and predict them but some of it is out of your control, it gets a little more complicated towards the end of the draft," said O’Day.

"You’re just staying true to your board, we said it in there a number of times, 'Let’s stick with our board, that’s why we made it, that’s what we believe in,' so we did."

O’Day feels that they were able to add some good value to their roster throughout the draft.

"We feel like we got guys that we really like that can come and contribute and we got better today as the Roughriders," said O’Day.

The Riders are set to open training camp on May 19 in Saskatoon.