- Xs and Argos Staff
Acadia's Matt Gledhill Signs
The Toronto Argonauts have signed 6’1, 212lb Canadian WR Matt Gledhill.
Gledhill’s path to the CFL has been a strange one due to the pandemic. Prevented from participating at a live combine in each of the past two years, the Acadia Axemen grad was granted permission to take part in this year’s Eastern Regional Combine, where he raised some eyebrows. Gledhill’s vertical, considered by many to be the best gauge of explosiveness, was a full inch higher than the next closest athlete. It was the exact same number (37.50in) he posted in his virtual combine last year. The rest of his measurables saw a slight drop with the exception of his bench press.
As a receiver, the 2019 version of Gledhill was a sure-handed speed merchant and a seem-heavy route-runner with great instincts for sitting in space and immediate recognition for sight adjustments. He played intelligent football. Fast.
Interestingly, the 2021 Gledhill seems to have been redesigned. While he once posted 40-times in the high 4.5 range, Gledhill has added about 10 pounds of muscle in exchange for a little over a tenth of a second on his dash (he ran a 4.7 last week).
Did he receive feedback on his weight given the type of receiver role he’d be looking to play in the CFL (Y or R depending on the system), or is he positioning himself as a special teams ace, which he almost certainly would have to be to make the Argos?
Signing Gledhill at this stage is essentially gifting yourself an additional third round draft pick, so you have to give the Argos credit for that.
To make the final roster, Gledhill will be looking to outduel draft picks and special teams stalwarts WR/FB/LS Sam Baker, WR Tommy Neild, and DB Josh Hagerty.