Kansas City Chiefs sign top ranked CFL prospect Ryan Hunter
By Matt Conner
One player signed by the Kansas City Chiefs after the draft was listed as the top-ranked prospect for the Canadian Football League, OL Ryan Hunter.
This weekend is the Kansas City Chiefs rookie minicamp, which gets underway on Friday and runs through the rest of the weekend. While there are several promising players hoping to turn heads and land a spot on the Chiefs active roster, only one player can claim to be a No. 1 ranked prospect.
Offensive lineman Ryan Hunter is a native Canadian, born in North Bay, Ontario, who played his college ball at Bowling Green. Recently he was listed as the No. 1 overall prospect available for the Canadian Football League’s annual draft as a 6’4, 324 lb. offensive tackle/guard, but most CFL teams knew his hopes of playing in the NFL. That didn’t stop the Toronto Argonauts from selecting Hunter anyway, grabbing his rights with the No. 9 overall selection in the first round.
More from Arrowhead Addict
- Former Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las Vegas
- Chiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract news
- Chiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in Germany
- Podcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battles
- KC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator
Hunter is one of dozens of players in minicamp this weekend with the Chiefs, who are hoping to strike gold with their Canadian import. While he wasn’t drafted, Hunter was still in very high demand after the draft with six teams overall wanting to sign him as a priority free agent. Fortunately the Chiefs were already familiar with his agent, since he also represents Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.
"“I knew Ryan could play that role of swing interior lineman very well,” Ghavami said. “And you can’t put enough value on having someone like Laurent there. You have a veteran who’s French Canadian, a really solid head coach in Andy Reid and a solid organization. It all fit.”"
If the buzz is right and Hunter really is a hidden gem for the Chiefs, he could certainly help fill the void created with the loss of Zach Fulton to the Houston Texans this offseason. Cam Erving is also entering his final year, and the Chiefs already decided to not exercise his fifth year option. Having a player like Hunter in the fold would give them a few cost-controlled years of a young, ascending player.