The Saskatchewan Roughriders are taking a shot with their first round pick in the 2018 CFL Draft.

The Riders used the fifth overall selection on UBC Thunderbirds offensive lineman Dakoda Shepley, who has already signed a free agent deal in the National Football League.

The size and talent that Shepley brings to the table was too much to pass up for the Riders, even with his NFL aspirations.

"He's a guy that plays all three positions on the offensive line, he's one of the best testers of the group, he has the size that fits and he's a guy that we had ranked up at the top in o-linemen," said Riders assistant GM Jeremy O’Day following the draft.

Standing in at six-foot-four and 306 pounds, Shepley was too much to pass up.

"We decided to take the best player that we thought was available and that's the guy that we took," said O’Day. "The ceiling is real high for him, he fits all the height and weight measurable and the fact that he played offensive tackle at UBC and that he has NFL interest, when you combine everything together with his film, his measurables and the fact that he can play all around the offensive line, we really liked his aggressiveness at the combine."

The Riders feel that if Shepley ends up in Saskatchewan this year, he’s the type of player that could step right into the lineup and make an impact.

Shepley was surprised that he was picked as early as he was and is excited to be a part of Rider Nation, even if his focus right now is with the NFL's New York Jets.

"Getting my name called fifth was a surprise, but a good one," said Shepley. "The way I operate is one thing at a time, don't get too ahead of myself, so right now that’s the NFL with the New York Jets and I'm going to take it as it comes and if it doesn't work out for me, it doesn't work, but just by nature, I have to give it my all and hope I do stick here."

The Windsor, Ont. product grew up with a focus on playing hockey, but a broken hand in Grade 10 changed that and pushed him to turn his attention to football. As the saying goes, the rest is history.

"Like most guys in Ontario, I wanted to be a professional hockey player, so close to Detroit as well, I grew up as a Red Wings fan and I still am today, but turns not many six-foot-three, 265-pound 14-year-olds are destined for hockey," he said.

The Riders only had five picks in total during Thursday’s draft.

They went with Calgary Dinos linebacker Micah Teitz (six-foot, 229 pounds) with the 14th overall pick in the second round. O’Day expects him to play a role on the team’s special teams immediately.

"We really just trusted our board, we had a lot of research that went into our special teams, we rely a lot on Craig Dickenson for our special teams picks and at that point, he was our highest special teams guy," said O’Day.

"He'll have a great guy to learn from in Sam Hurl, who came from the same school, and he's a high character guy that will help on special teams."

The next selection for the Riders wasn't until the fifth round when they used the 36th pick on defensive lineman Mathieu Breton out of Bishop's University. He stands in at six-foot-eight and 274 pounds, and posted 30 defensive tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss in seven games last season.

The Riders stayed on the defensive line for their sixth round pick, taking Tresor Buama-Mafuta (six-foot, 290 pounds) out of St. Mary's with the 45th overall pick. He didn't play football last season.

Saskatchewan's final selection of the draft was York offensive lineman Christopher Smith with the 63rd overall pick in the eighth round. He’s six-foot-six and 290 pounds.

The Riders will open training camp coming up on May 20 in Saskatoon.