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“Well, I guess our savior is here.”

Sewell had no response Monday when the signing of NFL cut Charles was also announced.

To me, the arrival in Edmonton after the NFL cuts of two players the Eskimos had drafted should be considered one of the most significant CFL stories of the year. But more interesting, perhaps, might be the rest of the story.

General manager Brock Sunderland said the Eskimos created their own analytics study going into the draft to determine the likelihood of a Canadian player being cut from an NFL team and returning to the CFL.

Their gamble on No. 3 pick Betts returning from the Chicago Bears wasn’t really a gamble, said the son of an NFL scout who also worked as an NFL scout himself.

Betts is expected to go directly to the depth chart for Friday’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Charles has spent the week practising with the team but is officially listed on the practice roster. He’s a maybe.

“It’s a good problem. Any time you get a good football player on your roster, that’s a good thing. When they’re Canadian, it has added value to it, obviously, because of the ratio,” he said of the requirement to have seven Canadian starters on the field.

“It puts us in a very good position. If you want to make a change ratio-wise, you have that flexibility. If you want to potentially start two Canadian defensive linemen, you can do that. You wouldn’t think you’re taking any sort of setback from a talent point of view. It gives us the flexibility to go with an American at a different position.