Unlike fellow Canadians O.J. Atogwe and Nick Kaczur, Jesse Lumsden didn't hear his name called during the 2005 NFL Draft.
Yet Lumsden, a record setting CIS running back at MacMaster, didn't have to wait long for his NFL opportunity to emerge.
Just hours after the draft Lumsden agreed to a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks. Lumsden will become the fourth Canadian on the Seahawks roster this fall if he makes the club, joining Toronto's Kerry Carter, Montreal's J.P. Darche and recently signed receiver Jerome Pathon from Vancouver.
Three other Canadians also signed free agent contracts after the draft. Ottawa's Billy Palmer (TE, Notre Dame) signed with Washington. Louis-Phillipe Ladoucer from Point Claire, Quebec (long-snapper, University of California) signed with the New Orleans Saints. Wallaceburg's Shaun Suisham (K, Bowling Green) signed with Pittsburgh.
Kaczur (Brampton, ON) and Atogwe (Windsor, ON) were both drafted in the third round of the draft. Atogwe was chosen by the St. Louis Rams and Kaczur by the New England Patriots.
