{"id":425794,"date":"2026-01-22T12:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425794\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:14:10","slug":"darian-durant-views-malik-carney-as-top-priority-for-riders-to-re-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425794\/","title":{"rendered":"Darian Durant views Malik Carney as top priority for Riders to re-sign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Matt Smith\/CFL.<\/p>\n

When former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant looks at the team\u2019s current pending free agent list<\/a>, he views defensive lineman Malik Carney as the next priority to be re-signed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the ages of Mike Rose, Shane Ray and the guys up front,\u00a0the retirement of Micah Johnson, you need some veteran leadership on that D-line. Malik Carney is a guy who\u2019s a veteran, who\u2019s still highly productive and still getting\u00a0it done,\u201d Durant said on The SportsCage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you need to bring back him, that experience, and make sure he\u2019s locked in. Then that way you have someone that can mentor these young guys because I\u00a0think they want to go a lot younger at the defensive line position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old recorded a single-season career-high eight sacks in 2025. Carney earned $178,400 last season<\/a>, which put him among the top-15 highest-paid players at his position in the CFL. He recorded 39 tackles with one forced fumble in 18 regular-season games and added five tackles, two for loss, in Saskatchewan\u2019s West Final and 112th Grey Cup wins.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day was able to re-sign fan favourite Canadian receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker<\/a>. It\u2019s a two-year contract through the 2027 season for No. 89, who has been the most popular player among fans in Riderville for some time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you can get high-level Canadians\u00a0in your receiver room or anywhere on the roster, you don\u2019t have to use\u00a0those roster spots on Americans, now you can build the team elsewhere. With [Samuel] Emilus<\/a> and Schaffer-Baker being high-level Canadians, pretty much on par with some of\u00a0the top American receivers around the league, you allow yourself flexibility with the roster,\u201d Durant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting this young core of receivers to stay together is huge. The chemistry that they\u2019ve built with Trevor [Harris], it\u2019s so important to have that when you\u2019re trying to repeat. This is a big-time signing with Schaffer-Baker and getting him back in that\u00a0receiver room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Mississauga, Ont. native made 15 catches for 177 yards over five regular-season games last year. He added three receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown in the West Final against the B.C. Lions and three catches for 27 yards in the 112th Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Day was able to bring back quarterback Jack Coan<\/a> on the same day Schaffer-Baker\u2019s new contract became official. The 51-year-old GM said from the winter meetings in Calgary, Alta. that Jake Maier\u2019s decision about his future would help the team know which direction to go at backup QB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, with Jake being a former starter in the league with his\u00a0time in Calgary, you have to approach this differently. You have to ask him, is he comfortable being a backup? Would he like to see what opportunities are out there around the league if other teams\u00a0may give him an opportunity to compete for a starting job?\u201d Durant questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different scenario because he\u2019s been a starter. That\u2019s tremendous by J.O. showing him that respect and not bringing\u00a0him back for selfish reasons, but finding out where he\u2019s at in his development.\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s normal, but I think in this situation, with Jake being a former starter,\u00a0he\u2019s being shown that respect from J.O. and the front office of the Riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old passer is a pending free agent after spending the 2025 season behind Trevor Harris in Regina.\u00a0He was acquired by the Riders through a trade in December 2024<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0signed a one-year contract extension last January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Jake\u2019s situation,\u00a0being a former starter, he may be looking elsewhere trying to see around the\u00a0league some other places where he has an opportunity to start or at\u00a0least compete for a starting job. Trevor\u2019s the guy in this case and nothing\u2019s happening to really put much threat his way. Everything behind him is laying the foundation to see who will be\u00a0the next guy,\u201d Durant said.<\/p>\n

Maier dressed all 18 regular-season games for the Roughriders in 2025. He made two starts and completed 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, though it\u2019s worth noting he did not finish his Week 20 start against Winnipeg as Coan entered in the fourth quarter to get some playing time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to look at the rosters around the league. I keep going back to Jake being a former starter, that\u2019s the ultimate position you would like to be in \u2014 that\u2019s all you care about.\u00a0So you\u2019re looking around the league each and every game, who\u2019s hurt, who\u2019s having issues\u00a0at the quarterback position, which guys are struggling,\u201d Durant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look around the league, you look what\u2019s going on out there and\u00a0the uncertainty in Ottawa, especially behind Dru Brown<\/a>, there may be some more\u00a0enticing opportunities for Jake, and that may be what he\u2019s looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Matt Smith\/CFL. When former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant looks at the team\u2019s current pending free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,49,48,7028,521,522,520,177963,68627,69897,10599,45083,55574,24373,4400,82,4403],"class_list":["post-425794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-darian-durant","tag-grey-cup","tag-malik-carney","tag-regina","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-sports","tag-sportscage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425794","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=425794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}