Dava's injury likely hurt his stock. He had surgery for a torn rotator cuff at the end of November. Recovery for that is anywhere from 6 to 9 months meaning at best he misses training camp but also may not be available until Labour Day or maybe longer. In light of that he's really a futures pick. Other teams may not been as willing to use an earlier pick on somebody they might not see until late in the season or maybe even next year.OV:54-40 wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 7:12 pmB.C.FAN wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 6:02 pmThis is a huge signing, and I’m not referring to Covington’s size and strength. As others have said, he and Stove Richardson can be difference-makers in the middle if they’re healthy and in game shape. Having national status as a local product from Vancouver College bolsters the CFL’s deepest national talent pool on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t know what it means for Cherry, Bemiy and draft pick Kail Dava, and especially American DLs in the rotation. Richardson, Robertson Teuhema and Banks will have to earn their time in the rotation.
I was quite surprised Dava fell way down to the 5th round where the Lions got him (big-time steal maybe?); thought he was arguably the best DT in this draft crop with the Div I resume and production; torn rotator cuff injury to recover from but hopefully that goes well.
If he has it, that would be potential great Canadian DT depth if he could team with Covington & Cherry. Hope Covington is still in great shape and revved up to play in the CFL> A couple of other ex-NFL Canuck DTs - Vaughn Martin & Stefan Charles - who did come back to play in the CFL were disappointments with not much playing time or production.
Covington, Martin & Charles all return at roughly the same age. After that the similarities mostly stop.
Martin played 51 games over 5 years starting 27. However he only played 3 games in his final season then with Miami. He signed with Detroit in March 2014 but was released 3 months later, well before training camp opened. The following year 2015 he signed with KC but didn't make it past final cuts. He then signed with Montreal in Feb 2016, more than 2 years after he last played a game.
Charles played 49 games with 2 starts over 4 seasons from 2013-16. From 2017 until signing in Edmonton in mid-Sept 2019 he bounced through 3 NFL clubs but never made it past final cuts. He also had a 3 week cup of coffee in the short lived AAF. I can't find any info on whether he played in any of the 3 games San Antonio played between the day they signed him and the day they cut him. For all intents he didn't play from the end of the 2016 season and when he signed with Edmonton. He didn't play in any games for EE that year and lost the 2020 Covid season. He did sign in Ottawa playing 9 games in 2021, 5 years after his last action. He returned to Edmonton for 2022 but didn't make final cuts.
Covington comes with a lot less rust. He played 102 NFL games starting 32. His last game played was Nov 13, 2022. He did spend 2023 on the Chargers PS but didn't play.
What should separate Covington from the other two is a) he hasn't been away from the game at all, b) he's returning to play in his hometown where he grew up and played his HS football, c) he will no doubt want to make his CFHOF dad Grover proud. Where it might have been a challenge for Martin and Charles to re-stoke the fire in their bellies motivation should be no problem for Covington. Covington should also be in shape given he spent all last season on the LAC PS and no doubt was keeping in shape this offseason in case he was offered some workouts to try landing another NFL contract.
