{"id":592624,"date":"2026-04-09T14:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592624\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:16:44","slug":"night-before-grey-cup-trevor-harris-asked-himself-if-cfl-championship-game-would-be-his-last-during-incognito-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592624\/","title":{"rendered":"Night before Grey Cup, Trevor Harris asked himself if CFL championship game would be his last during incognito walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

From afar during the lead-up to the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg, it did not seem Trevor Harris intended the game to be the last of his 13-year CFL career. However, he recently admitted to 3DownNation\u00a0that the thought entered his mind once on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cDay four, after we had our walkthrough finished,\u00a0I was like, \u2018I need to go for a walk.\u2019 I was bent [sic] up with emotion of gratitude of being able to be\u00a0in the position we were. I put on a neutral-coloured hoodie as best I could, put my hood over my head, and I walked around \u2014 I sobbed, I cried. It was gratitude for\u00a0where I\u2019ve been, the journey that has taken me to this moment,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t know. I was like, \u2018Man, am I this way because I think this is it?\u2019 It was a question I asked myself on the walk, but\u00a0I didn\u2019t think anything more of it after that. I played the game and I was more curious after the game, \u2018I wonder how I\u2019m gonna feel if I\u2019m gonna be like, \u201cOK, I did it, we did it!\u201d Now people can stop asking me if I can win a big game,\u2019\u00a0which I think has been unfair throughout my career, if you want my honest opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

That question was answered very quickly. By Tuesday night \u2014 approximately 48 hours after winning his first Grey Cup as a starting quarterback<\/a> \u2014 Harris was at Mosaic Stadium in the gym working out with A.J. Ouellette. He knew his drive and motivation was still there to continue playing. The soon-to-be 40-year-old signed a one-year contract extension in December<\/a>. It\u2019s a fair deal financially for both sides<\/a> and some might say a below market rate for a Grey Cup MVP QB.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be careful saying we\u2019ve taken way less because quarterbacks are paid much more than most of the other positions. I\u2019m thankful for what I\u2019m getting paid, but I know that I didn\u2019t need to be paid in the top-three, four \u2014 I don\u2019t even think I\u2019m the top-five paid. I think that I\u2019d be in the back half, which is fine with me. I\u2019m doing just fine, my family\u2019s just fine,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-three, 212-pound passer ranks sixth among starting quarterbacks in the CFL when it comes to financial compensation for the 2026 regular season.\u00a0B.C.\u2019s Nathan Rourke<\/a>, Toronto\u2019s\u00a0Chad Kelly<\/a>, Winnipeg\u2019s\u00a0Zach Collaros<\/a>, Calgary\u2019s Vernon Adams Jr.<\/a>, and Hamilton\u2019s Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a> will earn more than Harris, which seems like a great value deal for general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day and the Roughriders as the team tries to win back-to-back Grey Cups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to put us in a position to be able to make a run at it. If I can be a part of us bringing in one or two more free agents, if I free up an extra 50 or 75 [grand] or whatever it is,\u00a0if I can provide that, then why wouldn\u2019t I? It\u2019s actually being selfish by taking less, if you want my honest opinion, because if I take less, then we can sign more people.\u00a0Maybe I can play longer.\u00a0Maybe we have some more success,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there\u2019s a different way of looking at it. Obviously, it\u2019s being selfish and maybe I could have taken more money, but the way I look at it, it\u2019s actually making us richer by getting us more teammates, better people, and\u00a0allowing the GM to have a little bit more freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris knows players will be cut if they\u2019re not worth what they\u2019re paid in professional football, which puts every athlete in the sport on a year-to-year basis. He still loves the grind and enjoys finding ways to grow and learn to be one percent better each day for his teammates. That mindset has allowed No. 7 to play as long as he has and could bring him even more success in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think a quarterback could work out this hard,\u201d Ouellette said. \u201cWith how he\u2019s looking this year, he\u2019s gained weight and more muscle \u2014 dude looks jacked. I\u2019m worried I\u2019m gonna be the small guy in the backfield now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After driving back home from Regina to Ohio, Harris let his throwing shoulder rest and regenerate for three to four weeks. Last year, he threw a deep ball to Joe Robustelli in Week 5 and took a shot under his arm, which caused him to be hurt but not injured. That issue lingered for the rest of 2025, limiting his ability to push the ball down field past approximately 50 to 55 yards. According to the franchise QB, it\u2019s fully healed and there should be more \u201cpop\u201d on his footballs in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m able to push the ball way further than I thought I would through training, it\u2019s been great. I feel like I\u2019ve got the ability to do the things I need to do,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve improved in terms of my mobility, ability to run, change directions, move in the pocket and do the things I need to do there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris won\u2019t be a scrambling QB like Nathan Rourke or Vernon Adams Jr. but T-Mobile should be able to run, if needed, after going through his fourth or fifth read. He has worked on his mobility but more importantly for his playing style, focused on pushing his mental preparation forward with performance coach Dr. Chantale Lussier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing for us as athletes, as soon as you stop ascending mentally, you are officially a declining asset. I\u2019m not gonna go out there and have Josh Allen\u2019s arm strength,\u00a0no matter what I do. I\u2018m not gonna go out there and run around like V.A. or Nathan or\u00a0Davis [Alexander] or anything like that, but I can get better and sharper mentally,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a major advantage which could help Saskatchewan\u2019s franchise man compete for an unprecedented second Grey Cup in a row.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Football insider, reporter and analyst.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. From afar during the lead-up to the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,183436,49,48,7028,521,522,520,225416,68627,2212,11139,10599,45083,55574,24373,4400,82,11135,14977,22073],"class_list":["post-592624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-aj-ouellette","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-dr-chantale-lussier","tag-grey-cup","tag-josh-allen","tag-nathan-rourke","tag-regina","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-sports","tag-trevor-harris","tag-vernon-adams-jr","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592624","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=592624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}