a Monday morning media conference at Mosaic Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe new contract was announced on Sunday \u2014\u00a0barely an hour before the league\u2019s Free Agency Communications Window opened.<\/p>\n
Ouellette waded into the free agency pool two years ago after spending his first four CFL seasons with the Toronto Argonauts. His parents, Phil and Jody of Covington, Ohio, were a six-hour drive away from Toronto.<\/p>\n
Now Ouellette is separated from his hometown by 2,300 kilometres, but there is something magnetic about Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the way everything is run here \u2014\u00a0the front office, the support staff,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a true professional feel. You\u2019re also able to go out in the community and feel like you\u2019re impacting someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get stopped at Walmart and all that. That five-minute conversation I would have with someone who says it made their whole month, their whole year, it makes you feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only complications can result from the prospect of a series of five-minute conversations with a popular ball-carrier who was named the Roughriders\u2019 Wireless Age Player of the Year during the fifth championship season in franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I just run in there real quick, put the hoodie up, and just sprint,\u201d Ouellette joked when asked about occasions when a shopping excursion must be abbreviated from the standpoint of practicality.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I enjoy those stops \u2014\u00a0and they\u2019re not going to last forever. One day, another running back is going to step in and take my spot. A few years after that, I\u2019ll just be a Grey Cup picture on someone\u2019s wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to enjoy it while I have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is plenty to enjoy after a season in which Ouellette scored a team-high nine touchdowns and carried that success into November.<\/p>\n
He rushed 17 times for 117 yards to help a Corey Mace-coached Saskatchewan squad defeat the visiting B.C. Lions 24-21 in the Western Final. Eight days later, Ouellette carried the ball 17 times for 83 yards and set up his four-yard TD run with a 32-yard reception.<\/p>\n
As well, he contributed to airtight pass protection. Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris was not sacked in the Western Final or the 112th Grey Cup Game.<\/p>\n
Harris was the first prominent Roughrider to sign a new contract during the off-season. His one-year extension was announced on Dec. 4.<\/p>\n
Leading up to the free agency period and into the early stages of the Communications Window, Roughriders Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O\u2019Day has re-signed 21 players who were eligible to test the open market.<\/p>\n
Moreover, All-CFL middle linebacker Jameer Thurman \u2014 who was already under contract for 2026 \u2014\u00a0extended his deal by one year.<\/p>\n
All that activity, and more, was in advance of securing the valuable services of Ouellette for 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to wait for all the superstars to sign, right?\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
The 39-years-young Harris started the trend and, once that was done, he was in touch with several prospective free agents, lobbying them to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Coach Mace and the coaching staff is awesome,\u201d Ouellette said. \u201cThe whole locker room is amazing, but the bond that me and Trevor have developed over the (past) two years and then him signing and just getting pumped that he gets to play another season of football \u2014\u00a0and possibly three more, depending on how he feels after this one \u2014\u00a0was a big reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
So is the desire to help Saskatchewan win back-to-back championships for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as you can put work to your confidence, you\u2019ll have a good season,\u201d said Ouellette, who helped Toronto post a 16-2 record in 2023 after scoring two TDs in the Argonauts\u2019 2022 Grey Cup win at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (Toronto) team was very confident,\u201d Ouellette recalled. \u201cWe just have to make sure we\u2019re making the right decisions and staying on top of our work, our preparation, throughout the whole season. No matter how well the season\u2019s going, playoffs can make a turn real quick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll be my leadership going into this season \u2014 to have that confidence, but back it with the work like you did the previous year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be confident. We just won, right? So walk with your chest out but put in the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
RIDERS RE-SIGNINGS<\/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 REC Kian Schaffer-Baker (Jan. 19).<\/p>\n
\u2022 QB Jack Coan (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
Extended existing contract by one year: LB Jameer Thurman (Jan. 12).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A.J. Ouellette is far away from home, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders are close to his heart. Hence the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-511107","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\/511107","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=511107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}