Jeremy O’Day explains why Saskatchewan Roughriders signed James Letcher Jr., James Vaughters in CFL free agency

Photo: Montreal Alouettes

The Saskatchewan Roughriders believe the team upgraded its primary returner in CFL free agency and filled a need at defensive end.

After electing to let Mario Alford move on, the Riders signed James Letcher Jr. The 26-year-old flashed his potential with the Montreal Alouettes, particularly in 2024. That year, he ranked second in the CFL in both kick-off and punt return yards. Injuries limited him to nine regular-season games in 2025.

“We liked him quite a bit and got into the window so we could have discussions. We put a lot of value into our coach’s evaluations, our head coach,” general manager Jeremy O’Day said.

“He’s a younger guy that we hope is ascending as a returner. His college career as a receiver was really good — possibility of implementing him on offence. Hopefully, he’s an electric returner.”

Following Malik Carney and Habakkuk Baldonado’s departure for Edmonton and Ottawa, the front office felt a veteran presence was needed at defensive end: enter James Vaughters. Corey Mace was his defensive line coach for two seasons (2017 and 2018) in Calgary with the Stampeders. That relationship helped the two sides come together for a contract.

“We tried to sign Vaughters a couple years back, I think when he was coming back from the NFL, so we had discussions with him in the past. That’s an area where we lost some guys in the defensive end position. When we looked at the room, we wanted to add some veteran experience,” O’Day said.

“Someone that’s played a number of years in our league and has experience working with Corey, knows our defence, and brings a little bit of that veteran leadership, him and Mike Rose will assume that. We’ve got some young guys that are growing into more of veteran-type guys and leaders in the defensive line room. Saw the value there, had discussions with his agent and then worked out.”

The 32-year-old Vaughters spent the 2025 season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, recording 36 defensive tackles, six sacks, and one defensive touchdown over 18 regular-season games.