The Carolina Panthers have reached an agreement with defensive lineman Linden Gaydosh, per Scott Cruickshank of the Calgary Herald. Gaydosh was the first pick in the Canadian Football League Draft last week.
Carolina Panthers sign top CFL draft choice Linden Gaydosh
The Panthers are looking north of the border to find defensive line talent.
Jeff Vinnick
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats selected Gaydosh, acquiring the lineman who played his college ball for the University of Calgary Dinos. With the Dinos, a team that competes in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Gaydosh compiled 90.5 tackles and six sacks in four years.
Standing 6’3 and weighing in at 305 pounds, Gaydosh has decent size for an NFL lineman. He participated in rookie minicamp at Carolina’s Bank of America Stadium last week, and his impressive performance earned a contract from the Panthers. Understandably, he is excited about the career move:
“It’s great,” Gaydosh told Cruickshank. “I’m so happy right now. I was at a loss for words when the CFL draft came -- so I don’t know how to describe the feeling I have right now.”
As James Dator of Cat Scratch Reader points out, Gaydosh put up good numbers at the CFL's scouting combine:
His bench press would have ranked him 3rd in Indianapolis, his broad jump was three inches behind Sharrif Floyd, and his vertical was up there with athletic freak Ziggy Ansah. If you want a true representation of Gaydosh, he was the CFL's Margus Hunt -- the player who caught everyone's eye, and became the talk of the combine.
However, just because the lineman had good showings at the combine and minicamp and was the CFL’s top pick, Dator isn’t getting his hopes up for a world-class player:
Lets be clear: There's a reason Gaydosh wasn't selected in the NFL draft, or even offered contract as a UDFA. So despite holding the impressive title of #1 overall pick, keep the expectations measured. It's slim Carolina turned over a stone nobody else did, or found themselves a defensive Victor Cruz, but it's the kind of player Gaydosh is that makes this signing interesting.
More from SB Nation:
See More:
