Does he want to return to the Roughriders in 2026 as a backup? Will he look to compete for playing time elsewhere? There\u2019s a lot on his plate this off-season as he debates his future following his first season with the Green and White after being acquired by the club last December.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the last few years, my perspective a little bit has changed in terms of what my value system is, and what I feel like is important for not just my career, but just athletes in general,\u201d said Maier, who started 45 games for the Calgary Stampeders from 2021-24 prior to arriving in Saskatchewan. \u201cI\u2019m just a real big believer now in surrounding yourself with people that you can align with and enjoy showing up to work with on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing around coaching staff that believes in you and wants to make sure that they\u2019re getting the most out of you and challenging you at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such a great work environment here \u2026 I view that as if not the most important, one of the most important things that I am going to seek out at every year in my career, wherever this takes me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I got better during the year, even from not physically being out in the field. Just from learning from Trevor and how he preps and how he does all this stuff. So there\u2019s stuff I\u2019ll implement that I took from this season, no doubt. And then you just kind of play the patient game in terms of what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Maier started playoff games for the Stampeders in 2022 and 2023, this season he got to hoist his first Grey Cup. How does being the starter on a team that falls short compare to being a backup on a championship-winning team<\/a>?<\/p>\n \u201cI think being a part of something like this is more special because it\u2019s bigger than you,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I felt like I got the opportunity to contribute as well. I got to be in meeting rooms every day and try to help guys out and help Trevor and help (offensive coordinator Marc) Mueller. I got the game plan a ton; I got to play a little bit in some meaningful games.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like when I got the opportunity to help contribute to the team, I took a lot of pride in that, and that was really fun for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Maier dressed in all 18 games this season and made two starts \u2014 a victory in Week 4 and a loss in Week 20 \u2014 while completing 56 of 87 passes for 617 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.<\/p>\n Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Jake Maier (9) hands the ball to Saskatchewan Roughriders running back A.J. Ouellette (45) during the first half of CFL action at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday, June 28, 2025 in Regina.<\/p>\n Those numbers pale in comparison to the action he got over the last few years with the Stampeders, which included a 22-touchdown season in 2024 before he was acquired by Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n And while it\u2019s no guarantee the 39-year-old Harris returns to Saskatchewan<\/a>, Maier must wait for that first domino to drop before he considers what his future holds.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got the right to choose whatever he wants to do,\u201d Maier said of Harris, who is also a pending free agent. \u201cAnd everybody needs to respect that, and he\u2019s going to take his time, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019ve talked to him periodically throughout the season just about the shelf life of a quarterback in this league, and just kind of going back and forth on, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s important to you? Where do you want to go? What do you want it to look like? What should matter? What shouldn\u2019t matter?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI would say Trevor and I are completely on the same page in terms of how we view this thing. And yeah, whatever he wants to do, he\u2019s earned that right. He\u2019s a champion. He\u2019s a captain this team and I\u2019m going to respect whatever he decides to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The good thing is Maier has a few months to weigh his options before he can start talking to any of the other eight teams across the CFL who might be interested come free agency in February.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a situation where I\u2019m just going to hunt down a bunch of teams and knock on their door and say, \u2018Hey, here are my services,\u2019 \u201d said Maier. \u201cI think it\u2019s the other way around.<\/p>\n \u201cYou put your resume out there. You wait to see who reaches out; wait to hear some of the plans with the organization here and maybe some other places. And then you choose accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cBut again, I know what\u2019s here. I love being here, and I love the people that are here and the teammates here outstanding. So I have no problem being a Roughrider for as long as I can. It\u2019s just a matter of the direction they want to go, not just with the guys that are here right now, but just them with me, and what they how they see this thing going. And I\u2019m all ears, and I\u2019m excited to see what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n Quarterback Jake Maier during the Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp.<\/p>\n Seeing Harris win his first Grey Cup as a starter at the age of 39 also gives Maier some pause. Aside from B.C.\u2019s Nathan Rourke and Montreal\u2019s Davis Alexander, who are both 27, Maier is younger than the other seven starting quarterbacks in the CFL. And with 45 starts, he\u2019s already one of the more experienced quarterbacks under 30 and could have plenty of football ahead of him if that\u2019s what he chooses.<\/p>\n \u201cI should just be grateful right now just to be able to be able to say that I\u2019ve had the opportunity in this league to play, I\u2019ve had the opportunity this league to make some money, I\u2019ve also had the opportunity in this league to win a championship and be a part of something that\u2019s bigger than me,\u201d said Maier. \u201cSo I\u2019ve got the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, there\u2019s one more thing probably I can check off, which would probably be doing both; being able to play and win championships, but man, at this stage of my career, I\u2019m 28 years old, I\u2019ve seen a lot of things. This (winning the Grey Cup) is second to none right now in terms of experiences in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n Does that mean he\u2019d be fine waiting another year or even two before getting the chance to compete for a starting role with the Riders?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d absolutely be willing to come back,\u201d said Maier. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what the rest of the landscape looks like. But I love it here. And if that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to be, then that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to be. And I\u2019ve told him that. And then the dynamic would keep on rolling. And we\u2019d do what we can to make sure we can do this again.\u201d<\/p>\n tshire@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n The Regina Leader-Post has created an\u00a0Afternoon Headlines\u00a0newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day.\u00a0Click here<\/a> to subscribe. <\/p>\n With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com<\/a> and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here<\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Maier doesn\u2019t know what the future has in store. After helping the Saskatchewan Roughriders win the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[137787,49,943,48,521,522,520,107930,4400,82,11135],"class_list":{"0":"post-307954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-backup-quarterback","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-calgary-stampeders","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-canadian-football-league","13":"tag-canadianfootballleague","14":"tag-cfl","15":"tag-jake-maier","16":"tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-trevor-harris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307954","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=307954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4aa18ce21fa4ba8d19ba8d9b9ba4f41e.jpeg\"\/)
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