M. Carney could be closely associated with Ottawa — or an upcoming game versus Ottawa.
“That would be cool if they started calling me Prime Minister,” Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive end Malik Carney said with a laugh, referencing newly elected PM Mark Carney, “but all respects to him.”
With respect to football, the Roughriders’ Carney hopes to play a key role in a victory celebration — a green party, if you will — on Thursday, when Saskatchewan opposes the Ottawa REDBLACKS to open the CFL’s 2025 regular season (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“I was excited to just get back here for the start of training camp,” Carney said after Tuesday’s practice. “To be in a game, I’m even more excited.
“My skin is just popping right now. I’m ready to put hands on some guys. It has been a long wait and, come Thursday, it’s going to be all worth it.”
Carney is entering his second season with Saskatchewan. He signed with the Roughriders as a free agent on Feb. 13th, 2024, after three seasons with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“It’s the second year (in Corey Mace’s defensive scheme) for a lot of these guys and myself,” Carney said. “It’s more of a comfortability thing — being comfortable in the defence and playing fast and physical.”
Carney is coming off a season in which he registered 26 defensive tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble in 13 games. After battling an ankle injury last year, he is 100 per cent to begin Year 2 as a Roughrider.
“The sky’s the limit,” he said. “I’m pushing myself and setting individual goals for myself, team goals as a unit. Most importantly, it’s about getting it all done. It doesn’t matter who gets there, as long as we get ’em.
“As a defensive unit, we just want to get out there and build on what we had last year, specifically as a defensive front. There’s just guys getting after it.
We’ve got the pieces to get it done.
“I know the guys we’ve got are physical. We can do a little bit of everything — finesse, power, speed. It’s just a matter of bringing it together from training camp to the first game.
“I’m excited to see what we do.”
JIM MARSHALL (1937-2025)
Legendary NFL defensive lineman Jim Marshall, who began his professional football career with the Roughriders in 1959, passed away on Tuesday in St. Louis Park, Minn., after a lengthy illness. He was 87.
Marshall left the Ohio State Buckeyes before his senior year — monetary reasons being a key consideration — and opted to play in Canada.
His rights were initially held by the Ottawa Rough Riders, who traded him and four other players to Saskatchewan for quarterback Frank Tripucka on March 27th, 1959.
As a Roughrider, Marshall played in nine games before suffering a season-ending back injury.
His time in Saskatchewan was highlighted by an eight-yard touchdown pass he caught from Don Allard on a tackle-eligible play against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Aug. 29, 1959.
Eligible for the 1960 NFL Draft after what would have been his graduating season at Ohio State, Marshall was chosen by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round (44th overall).
Marshall joined Cleveland after a rare NFL-CFL trade. On May 20, 1960, his playing rights were sent to the Browns for Bob Ptacek.
Ptacek, who played quarterback, linebacker and defensive back for Saskatchewan over six seasons, entered the SaskTel Plaza of Honour in 2001.
Marshall spent the 1960 season with Cleveland before being traded to Minnesota and being a member of the Vikings’ defensive line — known in its heyday as the Purple People Eaters — from 1961 to 1979.
At the time of his retirement, he held the NFL record for consecutive games played (282).
For most of that time, Marshall’s head coach in Minnesota was Bud Grant — who was the opposing coach at Taylor Field on Aug. 29, 1959, when Marshall scored his first TD as a pro football player.
INJURY UPDATE
Offensive lineman Jacob Brammer, who is nursing a back injury, is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game.
The same status applied to another second-year Roughrider, linebacker C.J. Avery, when the official injury report was released on Tuesday afternoon. Avery has an ankle injury.
Defensive linemen Lake Korte-Moore (hand) and Shane Ray (ankle), linebacker Nick Wiebe (back) and safety Nelson Lokombo (hamstring) were listed as available after being full participants in Tuesday’s practice.
