\u201cOne more year!\u201d<\/p>\n
Rider Nation got its wish.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced on Thursday that quarterback Trevor Harris \u2014\u00a0Most Valuable Player of the 2025 Grey Cup Game \u2014\u00a0had signed a one-year contract extension.<\/p>\n
It was the very same transaction fans had lobbied for during public celebrations that followed the Roughriders\u2019 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Nov. 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see it on TV a lot with the guys who win titles,\u201d Harris said on Friday. \u201cYou hear \u2018one more year!\u2019 and the \u2018MVP\u2019 chants and all that kind of stuff. It was one of those \u2018little kid\u2019 moments, where the little kid in me was thinking, \u2018This is pretty darned cool, man,\u2019 especially with the fact that it\u2019s here in the green and white.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019ve said this several times, but it\u2019s kind of weird how I\u2019ve always been drawn to Saskatchewan ever since I\u2019ve been in the league. I know a lot of people who grow up in Regina dream of playing for the Riders, but as soon as I set foot in Canada and got a chance to play in the old Mosaic \u2014\u00a0old Taylor Field \u2014\u00a0I was like, \u2018Man, this is where I\u2019d want to be.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the city fits me. We\u2019re three years in, but I already feel like I\u2019m a Saskatchewan person. I feel like we fit in with the whole province. I couldn\u2019t be more grateful. So for those moments \u2014\u00a0for the fans to be saying those things and to be chanting \u2014\u00a0it was one of those pinch-myself moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that moment, Harris fought off the temptation to give the fans what they were clamouring for by responding with an immediate, \u201cI\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
But very soon after the fifth Grey Cup championship victory in Roughriders history, it seemed inevitable that he would return for a 14th CFL season and a fourth year in green and white.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the 39-years-young Harris did not want to make an impulsive decision, as much as he was leaning in that direction. Before leaving Regina for his home in Ohio, he told reporters he would be \u201cshocked\u201d if retirement was on the horizon.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven on the drive home, I talked to A.J. a little bit,\u201d said Harris, who made the trek to the United States with Ohio-born running back A.J.\u00a0Ouellette. \u201cMy wife (Kalie) had sent me a really long text message about how happy she is in Regina and how much she loves being there and how happy it makes her to see me happy at my work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those things that felt like a no-brainer. I just wanted to make sure that the motivation is there and the drive is there \u2026 and it is. So why not? Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Informal, yet important discussions, began as early as the Roughriders\u2019 Grey Cup celebration bash, held at the team\u2019s hotel in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to my wife that night when we were at the party,\u201d Harris recalled. \u201cWe left and we sat down. She said, \u2018Honey, this is the way to go out, but how can you go out when you\u2019re playing like this and we enjoy being here so much? Things are kind of just set the way they are.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said, \u2018It\u2019s so nice to see you happy working and this is what you do to provide for us. We feel like you\u2019re glorifying God through this. I just can\u2019t see this being the end.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she said that, I was like, \u2018I think we should (return), too, but let\u2019s still wait a week because emotions are very high right now.\u2019 On the long drive when she sent me that long text message \u2014\u00a0I read it while A.J. was driving, obviously \u2014\u00a0I was like, \u2018I think I\u2019m coming back to play.\u2019 I didn\u2019t tell anybody yet because I was still going to let it marinate for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was so much to digest after a history-making November.<\/p>\n
After finishing first overall in the league with a 12-6 record, Saskatchewan defeated the B.C. Lions 24-21 in the Western Final on Nov. 8 at Mosaic Stadium. Harris threw a game-winning, three-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Nield with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The Roughriders\u2019 No. 7 proceeded to set a Grey Cup single-game record for completion percentage (85.2) by going 23-for-27 for 302 yards versus Montreal. It was par for the course for someone who sported the CFL\u2019s top accuracy rate (73.6 per cent) during the regular season.<\/p>\n
The year before, Harris had completed 72.4 per cent of his passes (second-best in the league) and led the loop in quarterback-efficiency rating (108.4) en route to being a divisional All-CFL selection. Considering the trajectory he is on, why not keep playing?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still curious what my ceiling is as a player,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t assure you of very much in terms of next year, but the one thing I can assure you of is that I won\u2019t be outworked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be shocked if I\u2019m not a better player next year than I was this year. I know a lot of people kind of roll their eyes at that or kind of doubt me when I say these things, but I remember saying this stuff to you guys (in the media) last year, and people said, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s going to be 39 \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI can promise you that I will be a better football player next year. I wouldn\u2019t come back if I thought I was going to plateau or if I\u2019d hit my ceiling. I\u2019m still curious about how high a level I can play at and I\u2019m still curious about how high a level we can take this to in Regina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have the right cards in your hand, for you to just play one and be able to possibly have the same cards in your hand and go play it again, why wouldn\u2019t you? Why wouldn\u2019t you play them better if you have more experience and you\u2019ve got guys together?\u201d<\/p>\n
Continuity was a keyword as the Roughriders entered what proved to be a championship season in 2025. Now repeat has become an essential part of the vocabulary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team has never won back-to-back and that kind of drives you a little bit, too,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of an end goal, like putting a cap on at the end. To me, it\u2019s about, \u2018What can we do today to become a better football team?\u2019 Maybe it\u2019s recruiting some guys.\u00a0Maybe it\u2019s getting your workouts in. Maybe it\u2019s watching some film, or whatever that may be.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it does kind of drive you, thinking about being the first team to ever go back-to-back and bringing another championship to the fans and help them talk their smack a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they\u2019ve taken a beating through the years: \u2018You\u2019ve only got four!\u2019 Well, now we\u2019ve got five, and I know those (rival teams\u2019) fans out there are a little nervous we might get six if we can get this band back together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOne more year!\u201d Rider Nation got its wish. The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced on Thursday that quarterback Trevor Harris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-327886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327886","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=327886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}