Dohnte Meyers’ numbers started increasing even before he played in a CFL regular-season game.
Upon arriving at the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2024 training camp as a rookie receiver from a smaller university — Delta State — Meyers was assigned a number (71) that has not been synonymous with prolific pass-catchers since the 1980s.
Very soon, though, his uniform number was in the high 80s. He sported No. 88 during his inaugural pre-season and, while styling the double digits, caught a touchdown pass in Edmonton on May 25, 2024.
Now, during a breakout season, Meyers is poised to play in the Alberta capital for the first time since he was a CFL neophyte.
Cemented into the starting lineup as No. 88, he enters Saturday’s game against the host Edmonton Elks with 54 catches for 851 yards and a team-high seven touchdown receptions for the 10-3 Roughriders.
Saskatchewan played in Edmonton twice last season — once when he was on the practice roster and a second time when he was injured. The latter victory clinched a playoff berth for the Green and White, which has already ensured its post-season presence for 2025.
“I watched it last year when the guys had that incredible win,” Meyers says. “Just to go out there and do it this time with them, it’s amazing.”
Amazing is an apt description of the manner in which Meyers introduced himself to CFL regular-season play in 2024. He had 101 receiving yards in each of his first two games. In the fourth contest, he scored his first touchdown in the three-down ranks, only to suffer a season-ending shoulder injury later in the contest.
“When he got injured last year, we were all choked, just because you saw the potential,” Head Coach Corey Mace says. “With what he has been doing this year, zero shock.”
But plenty of shock and awe.
Meyers boasts four of the Roughriders’ seven receptions of 50-plus yards this season. His 70-yard touchdown connection with Trevor Harris on June 20 against the host Toronto Argonauts endures as the team’s longest passing play of 2025.
The secret?
“There’s his twitch and his speed and getting in and out of his breaks and his cuts at top speed,” Mace says. “When you see stuff like that, you think, ‘Oh yeah … that’s a little different.’ He was one of those ‘that’s a little different’ kind of guys.
“When he came in, he had some crazy number like 71. Anytime you see a receiver out there wearing that, your eyes are kind of drawn to that. Then, with the plays that they make, you try to figure out how to get them in an 80.”
Oh yeah … back to the number issue and the ordinarily ominous 71.
“I was just happy to have a jersey number and happy to have a locker and to not take any day for granted,” Meyers says. “I was just being grateful.
“I understood how blessed I was to be out there, day in and day out. When your number changes, I was like ‘OK …’ You don’t want to look at any signs and get your hopes up. You just want to enjoy the moment.”
That being said … 88!
“When I got that, I was like, ‘OK … Michael Irvin …,’ ” Meyers says with a smile. “A lot of the Cowboys’ receivers have worn 88.”
Irvin and Drew Pearson are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Cowboys’ current No. 88, CeeDee Lamb, has had four 1,000-yard seasons — peaking at 1,749 — since entering the NFL in 2020.
Dez Bryant, formerly of Dallas, crested at 1,320 receiving yards and 16 TDs in 2014.
Let’s not forget great 88s such as Lynn Swann (Pittsburgh Steelers), Marvin Harrison (Indianapolis Colts) and Demaryius Thomas (Denver Broncos).
“There are so many people who have had success, so you kind of go, ‘OK, this has some potential,’ ” Meyers says. “Of course, you don’t want the number to make you, but it kind of holds some weight when you wear it.”
Meyers was a single-digit specialist until heading northward.
He wore No. 5 at Norcross High School (in Georgia) and Presbyterian College (Clinton, S.C.) before transferring to Delta State University (Cleveland, Miss.) and donning No. 1 for the Statesmen.
Nine Delta State alumni have played in the NFL. Six of them have been drafted, including one former Roughrider.
Defensive lineman Tim Edwards, who spent the 1995 and 1996 seasons with Saskatchewan, was chosen by the New England Patriots in Round 12 of the 1991 NFL Draft.
Edwards, Meyers and defensive lineman Andre Brown (2001 to 2003) are the only three ex-Statesmen to play in at least one regular-season game for Saskatchewan.
Don’t bet against that number expanding in the years ahead.
“We have a slogan at Delta State: ‘Where Champions Play,’ ” Meyers says. “We feel like that’s our motto. That’s something we preach. That’s kind of the standard.
“Having professional coaches, they preach that and they translate their success to the players. To be another one of those guys to kind of follow in the footsteps, it’s an honour.
“You want to do justice to the people before you and pave the way for the people behind you.”
After catching 65 passes for 877 yards and eight TDs as a senior with Delta State, he attended the Atlanta Falcons’ rookie mini-camp in 2023. On Oct. 25 of that year, he signed a futures contract with the Roughriders.
Meyers’ myriad talents had been identified and touted by Assistant GM Paul Jones, who attended the receiver’s pro day and was also impressed by his showing at a Roughriders tryout camp in Atlanta.
Not even two years later, Meyers is on pace to comfortably exceed 1,000 receiving yards. His seven TD catches are the most by a Roughrider since Duron Carter and Naaman Roosevelt had eight each in 2017.
Individual accomplishments, as impressive as they may be, are not the focus for Meyers.
“To contribute to team success, this is everything you dream of,” the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder says. “This is my first professional football team to play on and get game experience. This is going to be my first full season under my belt.
“With the locker room, all those things just add to the experience personally and satisfy the kid in you.”
As a kid growing up in Duluth, Ga., near Atlanta, professional sports were already on the radar.
“My first love was baseball, but I kind of wanted to play pro baseball and football like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders and other guys,” Meyers says.
“Just to be able to play the game of football is the dream, plain and simple. You dream of being able to make plays, to hear the crowd, to win, to experience the camaraderie, to be part of a brotherhood. All those things are what you wanted.
“That’s the dream. When you take a second to kind of look up and breathe, you think, ‘Man, this is amazing.’ Then you’ve got to put your head back down and go to work.”