Dohnte Meyers to the NFL<\/a>, O\u2019Day has been able to get three of his impact receivers back and under contract.<\/p>\nCanadians Sam Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker, who both missed a ton of time with injury last season, as well as American KeeSean Johnson, are all back on for two more years.<\/p>\n
The latter was the leader in the core last year amid the injuries, putting up 86 catches (third) for 1,159 yards (fourth) and four touchdowns en route to an All-CFL nod. Emilus\u2019 84 receiving yards per game in his seven contests, while battling through knee and foot injuries, was the third-best mark in the CFL, while Schaffer-Baker came back late in the year after being sidelined for four months from a foot injury suffered on the Riders\u2019 second play of the season.<\/p>\n
Add in Canadian Ajou Ajou, who will have a full off-season under his belt after joining late in the year following a stint in the NFL, and you have a dynamic, largely Canadian core. It seems unlikely Saskatchewan would go out and add at the position, with the most likely scenario being one or two of their current pending free agents returning.<\/p>\n
Establishing a physical run game was a big part of the team\u2019s success as well, and as of now, the catalyst, Ouellette, remains without a deal.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old put up career highs in yards (1,222) and touchdowns (eight) in 2025, fitting in perfectly in Saskatchewan. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going positive, is all I can say,\u201d O\u2019Day said on Friday regarding the talks with the running back. \u201cWe\u2019ve had good conversations. I feel like it\u2019s going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
It makes sense on a lot of levels for Ouellette to return, but if he doesn\u2019t, Canadian Thomas Bertand-Hudon and Americans Mario Anderson Jr. and Marcus Major remain under contract.<\/p>\n
Defence<\/p>\n
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Roughriders <\/p>\n
After coaching up a stellar defence over the past two seasons, Mace has passed the torch to Joshua Bell, who\u2019s been a defensive backs coach since 2018 after retiring as a player.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany teams would want Joshua Bell to be their defensive coordinator, and it\u2019s something that wasn\u2019t a secret for myself or Josh,\u201d said Mace from the CFL\u2019s off-season winter meetings in Calgary. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we talked about and certainly have been prepping and pushing Josh to prep for taking that next step over the last couple years, it was just his time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old inherits a defence that finished top three in points allowed, net offensive yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, sacks, turnovers forced, and second down conversion rate last season, though it could look very different from that group in the front seven.<\/p>\n
Three starters on the defensive line remain without a contract in edges Malik Carney and Shane Ray, as well as tackle Mike Rose. Carney and Rose, in particular, would be massive losses.<\/p>\n
Carney has ascended into one of the premier pass rushers north of the border, with his 14.9 pressure rate topping the CFL in 2025, while his 62 pressures (fourth), eight sacks (fifth), and 39 tackles (fourth among defensive linemen) were top marks as well.<\/p>\n
After seven seasons manning the middle of the Calgary Stampeders\u2019 defensive front, Rose moved over to the Riders last season and was just as productive. The 33-year-old registered 17 tackles, six sacks (third amongst defensive tackles), and 43 pressures (second amongst defensive tackles) in 2025.<\/p>\n
The team has brought in double-digit Americans along the line, which could signal that they are preparing for the losses of one or both of their impact players. As of now, the entire defensive line is the biggest need for Saskatchewan. The Riders are a bit more prepared for the losses, should they happen, on the interior, as Caleb Sanders \u2013 who posted the second-best pressure rate among defensive tackles in 2025 (10.5) \u2013 and last year\u2019s fourth overall pick, Ali Saad, could be ready for bigger roles.<\/p>\n
In the linebacking core, the team extended Jameer Thurman through 2027 following an All-CFL season up the middle, but similar questions as seen up front are present on either side of him.<\/p>\n
On the weak side, Canadian A.J. Allen remains a free agent, who got an opportunity and broke out defensively in 2025 after becoming one of the best special teams players in the league. The 27-year-old racked up 87 tackles, four sacks, three interceptions, and three forced fumbles in 2025 and quietly was fantastic. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very valuable; other teams see that as well,\u201d said O\u2019Day to the media on Friday. \u201cThose discussions are somewhat ongoing, but there\u2019s only so much room that you have on your cap when you\u2019re signing so many guys back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team has committed to being Canadian at the position with four other players under contract on the weak side, but they are young. While bringing back Allen would be a big boost, they could potentially need someone to step up, like Allen did last year.<\/p>\n
With presumably not many starting nickel\/safety spots left, it will be interesting to see what happens with C.J. Reavis. The 30-year-old has helped lead the charge over the last three years on this fast, downhill Riders\u2019 defence from his position, while defending the run exceptionally well. If he were to move on, 27-year-old Antoine Brooks Jr. has shown impressive flashes and would be another player Saskatchewan could potentially need to step up in 2026.<\/p>\n
Where it won\u2019t look different for Bell\u2019s unit is on the back end, as the Riders bring back the entire secondary from a year ago.<\/p>\n
Corners in Canadian Tevaughn Campbell and American Marcus Sayles, halfbacks in 2024 Most Outstanding Defensive Player Rolan Milligan Jr. and the recently re-signed DaMarcus Fields, and safety in former second-overall pick Nelson Lokombo form an outstanding group. <\/p>\n
This is a unit that is dynamic, fast, and can make jaw-dropping plays unlike any other DB room outside of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers\u2019 elite unit.<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s very likely the Roughriders lose talent this period, all championship teams do, but the team has already done a solid job of mitigating the damage. There\u2019s still work to be done, but for success next season, the Riders will more than likely need a \u201cnext man up\u201d mentality at multiple positions across the roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s going to be a very busy communication window and subsequent free agency for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,77833,82],"class_list":["post-445496","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-saskatchewan-roughriders-sports-football-team-team-genius-sports-106752","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445496","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=445496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Roughriders <\/p>\n