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<\/p>\nMesidor, who played collegiately at Miami, became the sixth Canadian-born player taken in the first round. But he\u2019s the first Canuck on the defensive side of the ball to achieve the milestone.<\/p>\n
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The Chargers\u2019 selection of Mesidor, from Ottawa, means at least one Canadian has been taken in the NFL draft since 2011. He was the fourth edge rusher off the board in the first 22 selections and second Hurricane as teammate Rueben Bain Jr. went 15th overall to Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was an outstanding player with Rueben Bain with the Hurricanes,\u201d Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network\u2019s draft guru, said of Mesidor. \u201cThis guy plays with unbelievable passion and energy on the edge, inside as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremiah has long been bullish on Mesidor. Jeremiah had Mesidor ranked 18th in his first top-50 prospects list and over his three mock drafts had Mesidor going 17th overall to Detroit, No. 20 to Dallas and most recently No. 15 to Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah knows a thing or two about player evaluation, He has NFL personnel\/scouting experience with the Baltimore Ravens (2003-06), Cleveland Browns (2007-08) and Philadelphia Eagles (2010-12).<\/p>\n
The six-foot-three 265-pound Mesidor enjoyed a stellar 2025 season. He started 15 games and registered 63 tackles (36 solo, 17.5 for loss) with 12.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.<\/p>\n
Mesidor finished the year by recording three tackles (two solo) and two sacks in Miami\u2019s 27-21 NCAA championship loss to Indiana.<\/p>\n
Mesidor was an All-ACC first-team selection. He played his first two collegiate seasons at West Virginia and started 52 of 65 career NCAA games, recording 205 tackles (121 solo, 50.5 for loss) and 33.5 sacks.<\/p>\n
Following the season, Mesidor attended the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in January before participating in the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February.<\/p>\n
Mesidor said Thursday he had a formal visit with Los Angeles before the draft.<\/p>\n
Tuli Tuipulotu had a team-high 13 sacks last season for the Chargers. Los Angeles also re-signed veteran edge rusher Khalil Mack to a one-year deal as the 35-year-old returns for a 13th NFL campaign and fourth with L.A.<\/p>\n
\u201cMack is a little bit older at 35,\u201d Jeremiah said. \u201cSo they (Chargers) want to get somebody who can be that successor but someone who can roll through like they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mesidor plans to bend Mack\u2019s ear this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a legend,\u201d Mesidor said of Mack. \u201cI\u2019m going to learn so much from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mesidor\u2019s age has been a talking point throughout the off-season and was something he had to address again Thursday. It\u2019s unlikely to go away any time soon given new teammate Tuipulotu is just 23.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe age stuff, any of the negativity that people push into the media about me is all out the window,\u201d he said. \u201cThat does not faze me, I\u2019m here to play football.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready to come in, earn the respect of my teammates and my coaches and compete. I\u2019m mature, I have the football IQ and when it comes to the field, I\u2019ve got the motor, the relentless effort and athletic ability to rush the passer and set an edge. I\u2019m coming in ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mesidor was also ranked first overall by the CFL scouting bureau earlier this week in its final top-20 prospects for the league\u2019s draft Tuesday night. Mesidor also held down the No. 1 spot in the fall and winter lists.<\/p>\n
Mesidor will still be eligible for selection Tuesday. But instead of being a blue-chip prospect, he\u2019ll now be viewed by CFL teams as a definite future selection.<\/p>\n
The NFL draft continues with the second and third rounds going Friday night. The remaining four rounds will be held Saturday.<\/p>\n
Two other Canadians could hear their names called this weekend. Louisville defensive lineman Rene Konga, of Ottawa, is projected as a potential mid-round pick while Boston College offensive lineman Logan Taylor, of Lunenburg, N.S., could go in the later rounds.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mesidor, who played collegiately at Miami, became the sixth Canadian-born player taken in the first round. But he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-873426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangeleschargers","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116459235841954930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}