The Saskatchewan Roughriders\u00a0are\u00a0hosting open CFL tryouts\u00a0in the United States and TSN’s Farhan Lalji knows the benefits\u00a0from them.<\/p>\n
“Most teams probably will have two to three guys in their roster every year that they find in these U.S. camps,” Lalji told SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk.<\/p>\n
“You get a chance to go down there,\u00a0guys are kicking the tires, and they might not know a lot about the Canadian football league.\u00a0Then all of a sudden, they learn this is available, and they’re like, ‘I’ll pay my hundred bucks and go try out.’\u00a0They unearth some guys.”<\/p>\n
According to Riders senior journalist and historian Rob Vanstone,\u00a0receiver Dohnte Meyers<\/a> was found through an open CFL tryout.<\/p>\n “I’ve known about the CFL my whole life. My baseball coach is like a mentor and a second father. His brother, Paul, knows about the league. He’s been in multiple Grey Cups. He always mentioned if the NFL doesn’t work out, you can play in the CFL, and you will do very well,” Meyers said while on the SportsCage\u00a0in\u00a0January<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I played running back growing up, but I was always a natural athlete. I didn’t transition to receiver till college, and I made it to college because of my return ability. Paul said in the CFL, you have that five-yard halo, you get an opportunity to return, that will suit you, that’s a good opportunity for you. It honestly didn’t come to fruition until about 2023, when I had an open tryout in Atlanta, Georgia\u00a0for Saskatchewan. I ended up signing like two or three weeks later.”<\/p>\n Meyers was with the Roughriders\u00a0last season.\u00a0He played 15 regular season games and recorded 65 receptions for 1,056 yards with\u00a0eight touchdowns. He was with Saskatchewan when the Green and White\u00a0won the Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes 25-17. In the offseason, he left Saskatchewan and signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n Other players\u00a0Vanstone mentioned the Riders\u00a0found from open tryouts were Shaq Evans<\/a>, Sam Eguavoen, Derrick Moncrief, and Joe Robustelli<\/a>. Lalji explains why\u00a0CFL teams value\u00a0open tryouts beyond uncovering new players.<\/p>\n “A lot of teams will take guys that are on their neg list and they’ll steer them to those camps if they’re ready to sign, so they can get an early evaluation and get to know them a little bit,” Lalji explained.<\/p>\n “So there’s a lot of value to these things and plenty of diamonds in the rough. There are tens of thousands of football players in the United States. You can’t find them all, but they tend to find some.”<\/p>\n