Habakkuk Baldonado may not have been selected in the 2023 NFL Draft, but another major football league has made him a high selection.
The CFL conducted its 2023 Global Draft Tuesday afternoon, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders selected Baldonado with the 12th overall pick (third pick in the second round). Baldonado, who was signed as a priority free agent by the New York Giants following the NFL Draft, has another professional football avenue.
“Sheesh I didn’t even know,” Baldonado wrote on Twitter after being selected. “Good to know tho!”
The Global Draft is the annual event that allows the CFL’s member teams to add non-Canadian and non-American-born players to its rosters, As such, if Baldonado chooses to pursue the CFL, he will do so as a Roughrider.
But I still think that Baldonado will open a lot of eyes as he attempts to make the Giants’ roster this spring. He was the most surprising omission among Pitt’s non-draftees in my eyes.
And of course, as he went unselected in the NFL Draft, it adds just another chip onto his shoulder in his quest to be a professional football player.
“I can do it all,” Baldonado said at the NFL Combine. “I just wanted to showcase what I was able to do, and I think the coaches were happy about what I did. Some of them were surprised, I wasn’t surprised because it’s what I’ve been doing for the last five years.”
He recorded 25 tackles (nine solo), five tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass breakups in his last season at Pitt — not the production he wanted. But Pat Narduzzi felt like while Baldonado’s stats didn’t flash, NFL scouts were able to see the speed and power that Baldonado offers in a 6-foot-4, 250-pound frame.
In what amounts to about three seasons at Pitt, Baldonado recorded 99 tackles (48 solo), 21.5 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, a forced fumble and two recoveries and two pass breakups. He was an All-ACC performer in 2021, one of the best edge defenders in the conference.
Baldonado has a lot of potential to unlock yet, and I think if any of Pitt’s undrafted free agents are able to make an impact at the NFL level, it will be him.
But if the NFL doesn’t work out, he still has a pathway in the CFL, too.
