has signed a one-year contract extension<\/a> that will carry through the 2027 campaign.<\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s one of our leaders \u2014\u00a0a team captain and the consummate professional,\u201d O\u2019Day said. \u201cHe works his butt off.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of years ago he played through a torn bicep. He fought through an injury and played the whole year for us at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thurman had 11 defensive tackles (one for a loss) in the championship-game win over Montreal.<\/p>\n
In so doing, he tied a franchise record that he shares with two former middle linebackers.<\/p>\n
Cleveland Vann\u2019s 11 defensive tackles in 1976 were the original high-water mark for a Roughrider in a Grey Cup Game. That feat has since been matched by Renauld Williams (in 2009) and Thurman.<\/p>\n
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOILS<\/p>\n
Mace, who doubled as the Defensive Co-ordinator for the past two seasons, recently handed those responsibilities to Joshua Bell.<\/p>\n
Bell was the Roughriders\u2019 Run Game Co-ordinator and Defensive Backs Coach in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt many teams would want Joshua Bell to be their Defensive Co-ordinator,\u201d Mace said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that wasn\u2019t a secret for myself or Josh. It\u2019s something we talked about.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had certainly been prepping Josh and pushing Josh for taking that next step and working hand-in-hand with him for the last two years. It was just his time. He has definitely earned the right to be able to see what that looks like.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of stuff that our defence looks like going back a bunch of a years is from the brains of Joshua Bell, myself, and everybody else included.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think how we operate is going to change. The recipe will probably be the same, but the ingredients might look a little bit different and add a little bit of flavour to it. I\u2019m excited to see that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
JAKE AND JACK<\/p>\n
The Roughriders\u2019 list of pending free agents includes Jake Maier and Jack Coan, who were second and third, respectively, on the depth chart last season.<\/p>\n
Starting signal-caller Trevor Harris and short-yardage specialist Tommy Stevens both signed new deals in early December.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it comes down a little bit to what Jake wants to do,\u201d O\u2019Day said. \u201cIs he comfortable coming back and being in the same situation he was before?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a question to ask him, because his thought process is \u2018Do I come back and kind of be put in the same position or do I have an opportunity to go somewhere else where I feel like I might be able to start or play more this season?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as Jack, we\u2019d love to have him back, too. I think he\u2019s in a situation where he wants to grow from where he was the last two seasons. He wants to have an opportunity to be the Number 2 quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are conversations we have. I think some of it comes down to Jake and then, from there, conversations with Jack. He\u2019s looking for an opportunity to be a Number 2 and Jake\u2019s looking for an opportunity to try to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good question. It\u2019ll be ironed out shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWINNING\u2019S A LOT OF FUN\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to run it back and win back-to-back Grey Cups, which has never been done in Saskatchewan,\u201d O\u2019Day said when asked about his approach to negotiations with the remaining pending free agents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of guys in the locker room. They just have to understand that they all have to fit into the (salary) cap, one way or the other, so that can be a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome guys may have to sacrifice but, ultimately, what we\u2019re trying to do is keep everyone together and give us all an opportunity to do what we just did, because winning\u2019s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to have our guys back but, ultimately, it takes concessions on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One scribbler\u2019s takeaways from Monday\u2019s media session featuring Jeremy O\u2019Day and Corey Mace begin with someone who orchestrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-405751","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\/405751","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=405751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/A9304349-800x640.jpg\")
<\/p>\n