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“Thrown into the fire. That’s just how it goes sometimes,” Draheim said Wednesday following Redblacks practice at TD Place stadium. “I’m just excited because this is what you play for. You play for the post-season and getting to the Grey Cup. I’m happy and excited for it.”

A 27-year-old American who started 13 CFL games for the B.C. Lions last season, Draheim has spent all of this campaign alternating between the one-game injured list and “inactive” status for games, meaning he was officially scratched from the active roster an hour before kickoff.

The question of whether he can be at “game speed” is a valid one, but it’s possible to make a plausible counter-argument that he’s healthier and more fresh than CFLers who have played as many as 16 regular-season contests.

“It helps because I’ll last deeper into the game and won’t have those heavy legs toward the end of the game,” said Draheim, who before joining the CFL Lions cycled through a half-dozen National Football League organizations. “It will hopefully help keep Hank (Burris) clean and help open holes for all the running backs.”

Injuries have been a problem for the Redblacks all season, and particularly so along the offensive line. The resulting shuffles have kept members of that unit from developing anything similar to the cohesion they displayed in 2015, when the same five athletes started every regular- and postseason contest.

Head coach Rick Campbell said being around all season would help Draheim, who would know the offence well and had practised with his cohorts up front.