Mitchell Blair
It doesn’t matter to the Saskatchewan Roughriders who won the 102nd Grey Cup. What matters to them is they want to be in and win the 103rd version of the CFL’s big game, however, if they are to do that they have a huge job in the off-season as they lead the league in free agents—27 to be exact.
While there are some who won’t be back, there are some the football team obviously wants to keep as they feel they will be the cornerstone to success in future years. One of those is offensive lineman Ben Heenan.
The 24 year old was the number one pick in the CFL draft in 2012 after a successful CIS career with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Regina product was thrust into duty immediately starting 12 games and showing he belongs. Since then, his game has improved to the point he is considered one of the top Canadian born offensive linemen in the game. As he looks at what the future holds, he really has no idea as to what the next few months will entail.
“I haven’t really given it a lot of thought,” Heenan concedes. “You don’t want to think about it during the season because you focus on football, but now that the season is done, you start to look at it. This is certainly an organization that has treated me great, but there are many things you look at. It’s a first class team here with some first class people here and I’m sure everything will be taken care of. “
There have been some whispers coming from Winnipeg that the Blue Bombers might want to break the bank to acquire Heenan’s services. Heenan admits he has heard those stories, but he says money isn’t the be-all, end-all and the team that throws the most money his way won’t necessarily be the team that he works for the next few years.
“Money is a part of it, but there are many other things that weigh in on the decision.” Heenan said. “There are a lot of decisions to be made. One of them is wanting to win and that’s what I want to do. I have this ring on my finger from what happened in 2013 and I think the opportunity is here to have a chance at playing in a couple of other Grey Cups, but at the end of the day, I have to weigh everything and look at the positives and the negatives.”
When he looks back at the season he had, he says that like the team it had its ups and downs, but he’s not ready to classify how things went for him on a personal basis.
“Like free agency, I really haven’t sat down to think about the year and decide if it was a good year or not. It was a bad year as far as the team went because of what happened in the second half, but when I look at things it was one of those years where it was like the team where it was up and down. I’ll sit down at the end of the year and try to figure things out, but in the end I think there were more positives than negatives.”
Without donning a uniform, Heenan had pressure put on him as some said he would follow in the footsteps of great homegrown like Gene Makowsky and Roger Aldag. Heenan has certainly shown he has the tools to be as great as those two Rider all-time greats, but his career is still young and to make those comparisons now would not be fair. Both Makowsky and Aldag played their entire stellar careers in a Rider uniform and it is hoped that as Heenan continues his CFL career that it will be at Mosaic Stadium as he is a player that if he re-signs will be a key for the football team as they look to climb the mountain and resume their role as the CFL’s best.
