Bailey Flint selected second overall by Ti-Cats in 2022 CFL Global Draft

Flint, an Australian national, will continue his football career in Ontario.

Former Toledo tight end Bailey Flint didn’t get the phone call for an NFL opportunity over the weekend, but he’ll still have a chance to start his professional football career in North America, getting selected by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 2022 Canadian Football League Global Draft on Monday afternoon.

The Global Draft is a relatively new phenomenon for the CFL, and is part of their global diversity initiative to give players from non-traditional backgrounds a chance at the professional levels of football.

As of 2021, the CFL requires at least two “global” players per team on a 46-player maximum roster in the roster-building process, which makes for plenty of intriguing selections.

Flint, a native of Melbourne, Australia, was eligible as a selection for the CFL, despite not participating in the Global Draft Combine, and summarily taken with the second overall pick in by the Ontarian gridiron side.

Flint was a sharpshooting punter in the Glass City, finding himself on the Ray Guy Award Watchlist for best punter in the country in both 2020 and 2021, finishing his five-year Toledo career with 211 punts for 8,501 yards, averaging 40.3 yards per punt, with 16 touchbacks, 83 punts inside the 20-yard line and 75 fair catches forced.

The longer and wider fields of Canadian gridiron football— combined with there only being three downs per possession— makes the punter position a very important one in the CFL, as it allows for more options to give the defense good field position.

Flint will be in a position battle right away with fellow Aussie national Joel Whitford, who was the Ti-Cats’ primary 2021 starter, finishing with 68 punts for 3,069 yards, with a 45.1 yard per punt average and 23 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.