Ford twins illustrate the conundrum of modern CFL scouting

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University of Waterloo Warriors' Tre and Tyrell Ford illustrate the conundrum of modern Canadian Football League scouting and team building. 

The twin brothers, Tre, a quarterback, and Tyrell, a defensive back, are tremendous athletes whose physical measurements match up with some of the very best prospects anywhere coming out of college football this spring.

A little more than a week after impressing NFL and CFL scouts as special guests at the University of Buffalo’s pro day, the pair are expected to put their assets on display alongside dozens of other top prospects for this year’s draft at this weekend’s CFL Combine, which runs Friday through Sunday in Toronto.

The fact that they come from a school not known for producing pro talent, and that they play positions not typically played by Canadians at the professional level, hasn’t diminished interest on either side of the border.

The dilemma for CFL teams is trying to decide when a player with NFL interest is worth the risk. That debate has always been part of the process, and there are many examples of teams drafting a player who winds up making it in the NFL, leaving them with nothing.

Those bets have largely been restricted to Canadians who played NCAA football, and usually along one of the lines of scrimmage.

But that line has been blurring of late, with more and more Canadian players from what are considered the speed and skill positions – receiver, running back, quarterback and defensive back – starting to get traction from NFL scouts and teams.

That brings us to the Ford twins.

A generation ago, CFL teams could select a defensive back or quarterback from the Canadian university ranks without a worry in the world about the