When it comes to the CFL's video review process, Glen Johnson wants everyone to think about the big picture and be patient.

The CFL's senior vice-president of football said the general managers and team presidents who gathered in Winnipeg this week to talk about the league's issues going into 2017 are ready to do it, so he's hopeful the fans will be as well.

That doesn't mean the three down loop is going to sit still when it comes to the issue that ruffled the most fan feathers this season.

“There's really still a lot of positive momentum around the use of replay,” Johnson said Thursday afternoon as the meetings were concluding. “But it's not dissimilar to this conversation you and I probably had three years ago when we first brought in defensive pass interference. We did something for the first time, and it doesn't always execute the way you drew it up in the boardroom.

“So we've certainly got some work to do on the process side. We understand that we gotta continue to try and get them shorter.”

The league made defensive pass interference reviewable in 2014 and this season added seven penalties for which coaches could throw their challenge flags. There were 97 challenge flags thrown in the first 10 weeks, so the league decided in late August to tie all challenges to timeouts. That resulted in 83 challenges during the final 10 weeks of the campaign.

And the league might not stop there in its attempt to limit the number of challenges.

“It's about how many they have,” Johnson said, refusing to go into details about some of the ideas being tossed around. “What is the right deterrent? What is the right incentive? It's important to balance those things. What's the incentive to use it in a moment when something is clearly wrong?”

Coaches currently have two challenges that are both tied to timeouts. They get a third one if they get their first two challenges correct and have a timeout remaining.

Johnson has said the league might one day use replay to fix an obvious mistake that can't be changed under the current rules. It sounds like that idea was bandied about this week.

“It's also better use of the video official,” Johnson said. “That other job kind of gets lost in all this conversation, but that person was doing a lot of really great stuff in the background this past year. They were fixing spots. They were making sure penalties were applied from the right place. They were making sure we had the right number of the player (on penalties).

“And all of that contributed to better officiating. So now it's: Can we use that individual to sort of overlap with the replay official to try and do some other things?”

NO, REALLY!

Promise that when you read the following line you won't stop reading or throw your newspaper/phone/computer against the wall: Johnson said CFL officiating was better this season.

Yes, he knows you think he's nuts, but hear him out.

“We were showing some progress,” Johnson said. “Guys got a little better on accuracy. Our number of misses was down a little bit. Lots of positive trending. I would say everything was generally trending in the right direction.”

The fans in Hamilton would no doubt agree to disagree, especially after Johnson admitted earlier this season that the league got even a couple replay decisions wrong when it came to the Ticats. Generally speaking, Johnson knows why fans might disagree with his assessment.

“I get that. I understand,” he said. “And what fans remember is a bad call or two that happened to their team. I understand that, but in totality, overall, things improved. It's hard for people to understand that at times, and I get that.”

THE NEXT GENERATION

The CFL Scouting Bureau released its second of three top prospect lists on Thursday, and Mississippi State offensive lineman Justin Senior remains in the No. 1 position.

Senior, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound Montreal native, last month was named the top collegiate offensive lineman in the state of Mississippi. The senior has started 37 of 47 games during his career with the Bulldogs, including 36 at right tackle and one on the left side.

Laval Rouge et Or tight end Antony Auclair catapulted from No. 10 to No. 2 on the list after guiding his team to the Vanier Cup last month and earning an invitation to next month's East West Shrine Game.

Coming in at No. 3 is UCLA Bruins defensive tackle Eli Ankou, a 6-foot-3, 325-pound Ottawa product who started the last two seasons in Los Angeles.

The other big mover was Manitoba Bisons offensive lineman Geoff Gray, who went from No. 11 to No. 5. The Winnipeg product will play in the East West Shrine Game along with Auclair.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have the first overall pick in next year's draft.

kpenton@postmedia.com

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THE TOP 20

The CFL Scouting Bureau's list of top prospects for May's draft (previous rank in parentheses):

Pos. School Hometown

1. (1) Justin Senior OL Mississippi State Montreal

2. (10) Antony Auclair TE Laval Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que.

3. (5) Eli Ankou DL UCLA Ottawa

4. (7) Rashaun Simonise REC Calgary Vancouver

5. (11) Geoff Gray OL Manitoba Winnipeg

6. (2) Kwaku Boateng DL Laurier Milton, Ont.

7. (4) Danny Vandervoort REC McMaster Barrie, Ont.

8. (6) Christophe Mulumba LB Maine Laval, Que.

9. (13) Junior Luke DL Montreal Montreal

10. (15) Mason Woods OL Idaho Port Coquitlam, B.C.

11. (14) Faith Ekakitie DL Iowa Brampton, Ont.

12. (8) Nathaniel Behar REC Carleton London, Ont.

13. (9) Qadr Spooner OL McGill Brossard, Que.

14. (18) Jean-Simon Roy OL Laval Quebec City

15. (-) Dariusz Bladek OL Bethune-Cookman Kissimmee, Fla.

16. (-) Jordan Herdman LB SFU Winnipeg

17. (12) Robert Woodson LB Calgary Calgary

18. (16) Nakas Onyeka LB Laurier Brampton, Ont.

19. (17) Kay Okafor DL St. FX Enugu, Nigeria

20. (-) Mitchell Picton WR Regina Regina