Jeremy O’Day already had the 13th man under contract when he spoke to the media in advance of the CFL’s free-agent communications window opening on Sunday.
As of Thursday morning, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager had reached new deals with 13 players who had been eligible to test the open market, ensuring the presence of a strong nucleus.
“It’s a fun time when you’re starting to get players back, because there’s excitement,” O’Day said during a Zoom call with reporters.
“We want players who want to be here, so it’s fun when you’re able to reach an agreement. It brings energy to the rest of the guys on the team. They get excited. They all text and social-media each other and it creates some momentum.
“We feel good with where we’re at.”
Included on the lengthy list of re-signings are two 2024 divisional All-CFL selections — quarterback Trevor Harris and linebacker Jameer Thurman.
Saskatchewan has also extended the contracts of linebackers A.J. Allen (the CFL’s co-leader in special teams tackles last season), Justin Herdman-Reed and Jordan Herdman-Reed, defensive linemen Malik Carney, Charbel Dabire and Benoit Marion, offensive linemen Trevon Tate and Noah Zerr, and defensive backs Nelson Lokombo and Jayden Dalke.
As well, the Roughriders negotiated a new contract with would-be free-agent quarterback Jake Maier, who was obtained from the Calgary Stampeders on Dec. 23. Harris and Maier give Saskatchewan half of the four CFL quarterbacks who threw 20-plus touchdown passes last season.
“They’re all big pieces of what we’re doing and critical to the success of the team, so it is exciting,” O’Day said of the aforementioned returnees.
The Roughriders’ GM added that he is still talking with other pending free agents who could be re-signed before the negotiating window opens on Sunday at 11 a.m., Saskatchewan time.
All teams will then have a full week in which to negotiate with players and/or their agents. Tentative agreements can be reached over those seven days, but nothing can be signed or announced until the formal free-agency period begins on Feb. 11 at 11 a.m.
For a two-day period, beginning on Feb. 9, teams will have an exclusive negotiating window with players who remain under contract until Feb. 11.
“The salary cap was implemented (18) years ago and I think it has changed free agency in general,” O’Day said. “You can actually quite drastically change your team within a season in free agency if that’s the plan.
“We were very active last year and we’ve got a lot of those guys still under contract, which is great, but we’re also going to do everything we can to try to improve our team if there’s areas where we can do it (via free agency), but also within the restrictions of the salary cap that we have to abide by.
“This year it was important to work through our own free agents and get our guys back, which we continue to do. I think there are certain teams that will be really active and some teams that aren’t going to be as active, as is the case every year.”
Over the space of a year, the Corey Mace-coached Roughriders will likely move from one category to the other.
“It’s a lot different,” O’Day noted. “Last year, we were just getting our coaching staff in place and going through and evaluating the free agents and any roster adjustments or changes that we needed to improve our team with the new staff.
“This year, the staff’s in place. A lot of the free agents who we signed last year are currently still with us or have been re-signed.
“It’s just a different situation. We took a step forward in the season, which hopefully leads to us having more continuity going into this season and probably being a little less active in free agency.”
