{"id":306322,"date":"2025-11-25T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306322\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:15:12","slug":"saskatchewan-roughriders-qb-jake-maier-contemplates-pivotal-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306322\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan Roughriders’ QB Jake Maier contemplates pivotal decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Andrew Mahon\/CFL.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 pending free agent Jake Maier does not want to force being a starting quarterback in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really depends. I\u2019ve learned over the last few years that you wanna surround yourself\u00a0with good people, you wanna surround yourself with people that genuinely care\u00a0about you and are gonna be in your corner supporting you every step of the way. My priorities have definitely shifted more towards that. Obviously, you wanna play, you wanna compete, you work really hard for a reason,\u201d Maier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wanna be able to make sure that the stars align in multiple ways.\u00a0Not, \u2018Hey, how can I get on the field?\u2019 But, \u2018How can I be surrounded by the people that I enjoy coming to work with every day so that you keep yourself in a good headspace and you continue to grow?\u2019 It\u2019s a combination of the two to tell you the truth. I don\u2019t think you can lean one way or the other. My goal is to try to find the middle ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maier was acquired by the Riders through a trade in December 2024<\/a> and signed a one-year contract extension last January<\/a> to back-up Trevor Harris. He dressed all 18 regular-season games for Saskatchewan, starting two, while completing 64.3 percent of his passes for 617 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The six-foot, 200-pound QB produced a 1-1 win-loss record, but it\u2019s worth noting he did not finish his Week 20 start against Winnipeg as Jack Coan entered in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no greater teacher than experience of being out on the field. Staying ready and doing what I could for the team this year was something that I focused on. I feel like I\u2019ve definitely grown as a person. The next opportunity that comes my way, I\u2019ll be super grateful for it,\u201d Maier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not currently an obvious starting quarterback vacancy in the nine-team league. One could come open at any moment, however, which has caused the 28-year-old to be undecided about whether he would turn down an opportunity to start elsewhere for a chance to take a run at back-to-back Grey Cups<\/a> with the Riders, presuming Harris re-signs as the team\u2019s QB1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I have no answer to that.\u00a0I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be something that\u2019ll be presented to me. I don\u2019t know the answer.\u00a0I think you try to find a good relationship between the two things\u00a0that I mentioned to you. Regardless of what happens,\u00a0I\u2019ll be super grateful either way,\u201d Maier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite uncertainty regarding the Fullerton, Calif. native\u2019s future, Maier remains steadfast in his praise for Saskatchewan offensive coordinator Marc Mueller. Mueller was with the Calgary Stampeders as the team\u2019s quarterbacks coach when Maier signed his first CFL contract in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc Mueller is one of the hardest-working people I\u2019ve ever been around.\u00a0He\u2019s somebody that doesn\u2019t leave a stone unturned. He\u2019s a great communicator.\u00a0He\u2019s someone that genuinely has your back.\u00a0He\u2019s somebody that\u2019s gonna try to give you as much information as he can,\u201d Maier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all you can ask for in pro sports when it comes to your coordinator\u00a0and your position coach \u2014 that they\u2019re all in, they\u2019re committed,\u00a0the hardest-working guy in the building. Over the years, I\u2019ve seen coach Mueller\u00a0progress to where he is now, he\u2019s a championship coordinator, and eventually, he\u2019ll be something even bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Roughriders enter the offseason with 45 pending free agents<\/a> and Maier sits among that extensive group with an expiring contract.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished first in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 12-6 record, finishing first in the West Division for the first time since 2019. The team went on to defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg, marking the team\u2019s first championship in 12 years. Trevor Harris went 11-5 as a starter, throwing for 4,549 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.<\/p>\n

The Roughriders ranked second in net offence, second in net defence, and tied for third with a turnover differential of plus-eight. The club\u2019s leading rusher was A.J. Ouellette with 1,222 yards, leading receiver was KeeSean Johnson with 1,159 yards, and leading tackler was A.J. Allen with 91 tackles. Saskatchewan finished second in attendance with average crowds of 28,427, which was a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Andrew Mahon\/CFL. Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 pending free agent Jake Maier does not want to force being a starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-306322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}