{"id":497387,"date":"2026-02-25T00:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497387\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:10:16","slug":"cfl-all-star-c-j-reavis-saw-writing-on-wall-in-saskatchewan-chose-ottawa-over-other-suitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497387\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL all-star C.J. Reavis saw writing on wall in Saskatchewan, chose Ottawa over other suitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

During the holiday season, C.J. Reavis\u2019 girlfriend had a dream he\u2019d be playing for a red team, and it turned into real life.<\/p>\n

The two-time CFL all-star was a key veteran piece for the Saskatchewan Roughriders as the team won the 112th Grey Cup. He was voted the best at his favoured strong-side linebacker position for two seasons in a row. However, after Canadians Nelson Lokombo and Jaxon Ford went down with injuries, the 30-year-old moved to safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntoine Brooks is my little\u00a0brother, but he\u2019s a baller, and I know a baller when I see a baller. Since the first day he got to camp, he\u2019s making plays \u2014 he does it all.\u00a0Antoine is one of the best athletes I\u2019ve ever been around. I feel like he didn\u2019t need\u00a0much coaching from me; he needed little stuff, little details\u00a0being more of a pro, but his ability is top-notch,\u201d Reavis told 3DownNation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they asked me to move, I\u00a0knew we weren\u2019t going to lose the playmaking ability that much because he knew how to make\u00a0plays.\u00a0He was such a sponge. He came to me, he asked questions whenever he didn\u2019t\u00a0understand something. He grew a lot from being a backup, special teams guy to playing and\u00a0counting on him to make plays. As you can see, he made plays throughout the\u00a0whole end of the season and playoff games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Week 18 was when Reavis slid back to safety, and Brooks Jr. started his first career CFL game at strong-side linebacker<\/a>. That came against the Ottawa Redblacks; little did Reavis know TD Place would become his future home. Brooks Jr. undercut a Dru Brown pass and took it back 85 yards for an interception touchdown<\/a> in Saskatchewan\u2019s 20-13 win on Friday, October 3. His playmaking ability and consistency allowed Reavis to become expendable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the season, I was told they were\u00a0going to start talking about deals with my agent, but it went quiet for a\u00a0while. When I saw people getting signed, I knew, I\u00a0felt it on my own; I didn\u2019t have to hear anything. I didn\u2019t hear from\u00a0anybody until Kyle Carson finally gave me a call and let me know what it might end up being,\u201d Reavis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe let me know that he loves me and that I outplayed\u00a0myself; it\u2019s not a bad thing, it\u2019s actually a good thing. You\u00a0have established as a great player in the league, so now you earn a certain\u00a0amount of money. If your team\u2019s best interest is to not do that, I understand\u00a0business. I get it, he\u2019s younger, he\u2019s cheaper, and he can play ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Brooks Jr. has one more year left on his CFL rookie contract at minimum salary around $75,000, while Reavis earned approximately $120,000 in 2025. The 30-year-old initially signed with Saskatchewan in April 2022. He played 55 games with the Riders, recorded 209 defensive tackles, 11 special teams stops, nine sacks, six forced fumbles and two interceptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I saw the writing on the wall. I wasn\u2019t really too upset about it. Obviously, it hurt. They brought me to\u00a0Canada \u2014 changed my whole life. I\u2019m forever indebted to Kyle and J.O. for\u00a0that. But it definitely hurt seeing that you make a move for the team betterment and then at the end\u00a0it gives you the short end of the stick,\u201d Reavis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit before the window. [Kyle] knew I hadn\u2019t heard from anybody. He knew what kind of person I was. He knew I took it to heart a little bit, but let me know, \u2018We all love you.\u2019\u00a0He was trying to get me back; they wanted me back, but it might not be for what I want to\u00a0come back for. He gave me the real on that, so I appreciated him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reavis entered CFL free agency for the first time when the communication window opened. The Toronto Argonauts wanted him to play safety, but he wasn\u2019t into it. B.C. wanted him to join the Lions, although he ultimately chose the Redblacks<\/a> mainly due to \u201ccomfortability\u201d with the coaching staff. Head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie had ties to Corey Mace from time together in Toronto, and so does defensive coordinator William Fields, who, according to Reavis, employs a similar defensive scheme to what he played in with the Riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn CFL free agency, it happens in one day. You get calls with a bunch of teams,\u00a0then you got to make a decision in one day. It\u2019s\u00a0a big turnaround. You go from having anxiety to then being excited. It happened in five hours.\u00a0I was in Mexico with my girlfriend. I woke up a free agent and went to sleep an Ottawa Redblack. It happens really, really fast,\u201d Reavis explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo win this cup. I feel like Ottawa\u2019s had\u00a0the talent to do it every year. They\u2019ve been close as far as competing early in the season,\u00a0they just fall off at the end of the year. But I feel like now with our coaches, R.D. at the helm, he knows how to win.\u00a0Us coming to bring that championship mentality and the players they already have on the roster, I don\u2019t see us\u00a0not competing this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

By \u201cus,\u201d Reavis means fellow former Roughriders in Canadian linebacker A.J. Allen, Global defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado and quarterback Jake Maier, who also signed with Ottawa as free agents. Those four played varying roles in Saskatchewan\u2019s CFL championship run, which the quartet wants to replicate in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The six-foot, 198-pound playmaker looks forward to playing the Riders for the first time in his CFL career. Saskatchewan travels to TD Place in Week 5 on Friday, July 3. Reavis goes to the prairies for the first time as a visitor in Week 10 on Friday, August 7. Even though he wanted to say playing the Roughriders would not give him any extra juice, it could not be denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing myself, I\u2019m definitely going to have some extra juice.\u00a0I already have juice anyway, but I feel like I\u2019m going to be a little extra. They already know,\u201d Reavis said about his old teammates in Green and White.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our battles in practice. I always told them, \u2018If it gets to that point, I\u2019m going to\u00a0have to do it to y\u2019all.\u2019 It\u2019ll be fun. I can\u2019t wait to go back to Mosaic; it\u2019ll be weird being there as a visitor. I\u2019m excited to go back to Regina and put on a show.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. During the holiday season, C.J. Reavis\u2019 girlfriend had a dream he\u2019d be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,193475,183437,49,48,7028,521,522,520,14966,169915,20739,14967,199264,70504,45083,55574,52041,24373,4400,82],"class_list":["post-497387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-antoine-brooks-jr","tag-c-j-reavis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-dru-brown","tag-kyle-carson","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-redblacks","tag-reavis","tag-redblacks","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-ryan-dinwiddie","tag-saskatchewan","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497387","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=497387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}