Samuel Emilus could have spent this week fielding lucrative contract offers from an assortment of interested parties.<\/p>\n
It never came to that. Not even close.<\/p>\n
Emilus, who was named the 2025 Grey Cup\u2019s Most Valuable Canadian after helping the Saskatchewan Roughriders capture a CFL title on Nov. 16, re-signed with the Green and White shortly before Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight after we won the Grey Cup, I knew I wanted to be back,\u201d Emilus said. \u201cIt was just a matter of wait-and-see and seeing how it played out. It played out exactly as I wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here for the next two years and I couldn\u2019t be more excited to be here and keep on building something special, like the Rider organization is doing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He could have waited until the free-agency period, which began on Sunday when the negotiating window opened, but talks with the Riders were consummated long before that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty simple,\u201d Emilus said. \u201cThey drafted me in the first round in 2022 so, obviously, they believed in me. It was only right for me to show the same love that they\u2019ve been showing me ever since I\u2019ve been here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only right that I stay here and build my legacy here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has done that in short order.<\/p>\n
The Montreal-born Emilus, who was chosen seventh overall in the 2022 CFL Draft out of Louisiana Tech, enjoyed a breakout year as a sophomore with the Roughriders.<\/p>\n
His first three CFL touchdowns were scored in the same game \u2014 a June 16, 2023 matchup with the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Just like that, he tied a team record for touchdown receptions in a game.<\/p>\n
Emilus went on to catch 70 passes for 1,097 yards and six TDs in 2023. He followed up in 2024 with an 87-catch, 1,064-yard season and five more majors en route to being named the Roughriders\u2019 Most Outstanding Canadian for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n
Having battled injuries for a considerable portion of the 2025 season, Emilus caught 37 passes for 588 yards in seven games. Those totals, extrapolated over a full 18-game schedule, work out to 95 catches and 1,512 yards.<\/p>\n
Operating at 100 per cent for the 2025 playoffs, Emilus hit 100 receiving yards on back-to-back weekends in November.<\/p>\n
He caught nine passes for 100 yards to help Saskatchewan defeat the visiting B.C. Lions 24-21 in the Western Final. The Roughriders\u2019 late-fourth-quarter, game-winning touchdown drive was kickstarted by a 23-yard Trevor Harris pass to Emilus.<\/p>\n
That combination clicked in the 112th Grey Cup Game, in which Emilus caught 10 passes for 108 yards to help Saskatchewan defeat his hometown team, the Montreal Alouettes, 25-17.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to bring the Grey Cup to Montreal, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to bring it home to my family and my friends and some schools, just to have it in Montreal.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Alouettes fans) are going to handle it the way they want to handle it. The Alouettes couldn\u2019t do it, but I\u2019ll bring it to Montreal for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emilus is one of 22 players who have re-signed with the Roughriders instead of joining a rival CFL team as a free agent. Here is the complete list:<\/p>\n
\u2022 QB Trevor Harris (Dec. 4).<\/p>\n
\u2022 QB Tommy Stevens (Dec. 5).<\/p>\n
\u2022 OL Jermarcus Hardrick (Dec. 9).<\/p>\n
\u2022 FB Albert Awachie (Dec. 9).<\/p>\n
\u2022 LB-DB Jayden Dalke (Dec. 16).<\/p>\n
\u2022 RB Thomas Bertrand-Hudon (Dec. 17).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DB Jaxon Ford (Dec. 18).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DL Caleb Sanders (Dec. 22).<\/p>\n
\u2022 REC Samuel Emilus (Dec. 24).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DB Tevaughn Campbell (Jan. 12).<\/p>\n
\u2022 QB Jack Coan (Jan. 19).<\/p>\n
\u2022 REC Kian Schaffer-Baker (Jan. 19).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DL Lake Korte-Moore (Jan. 20).<\/p>\n
\u2022 OL Jacob Brammer (Jan. 26).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DB Nelson Lokombo (Jan. 27).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DB Kerfalla Exume (Jan. 28).<\/p>\n
\u2022 REC KeeSean Johnson (Jan. 29).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DB DaMarcus Fields (Jan. 30).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DL Mike Rose (Jan. 31).<\/p>\n
\u2022 RB A.J. Ouellette (Feb. 1).<\/p>\n
\u2022 DL Benoit Marion (Feb. 2).<\/p>\n
\u2022 LB Aubrey Miller Jr. (Feb. 2)<\/p>\n
As well, All-CFL middle linebacker Jameer Thurman signed a contract extension on Jan. 12. Thurman, who was already signed for the upcoming season, is now under contract through 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samuel Emilus could have spent this week fielding lucrative contract offers from an assortment of interested parties. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-451900","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\/451900","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=451900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}