{"id":704952,"date":"2026-05-31T02:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T02:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/704952\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T02:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T02:18:10","slug":"saskatchewan-roughriders-finalize-2026-roster-add-13-to-practice-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/704952\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan Roughriders finalize 2026 roster, add 13 to practice squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Saskatchewan Roughriders finalized their roster Saturday, adding 13 players to the practice roster while releasing 19 others ahead of the start of the 2026 CFL season.<\/p>\n

The moves comes just over 24 hours after training camp wrapped up at Mosaic Stadium<\/a>, where coaches spent the final day evaluating talent before making some difficult decisions.<\/p>\n

All four quarterbacks remain on the Roughriders roster in starter Trevor Harris, Jack Coan and Brayden Schager battling for the backup job, as well as short-yardage option Tommy Stevens. A decision will need to be made on who will dress heading into the team\u2019s first game of the season on June 13 with a maximum of three quarterbacks allowed on an active roster per game day.<\/p>\n

Among the players earning practice roster spots were receiver and return specialist Mathew Sexton<\/a>, receiver Johnny Johnson III<\/a> and running back Quali Conley<\/a>, three players who made strong cases for themselves during the pre-season.<\/p>\n

Sexton finished tied for the team lead in pre-season receiving with nine catches for 112 yards while also contributing on special teams. Johnson III made the most of his opportunities, hauling in four catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Conley added 43 rushing yards on 13 carries over two exhibition games.<\/p>\n

Several Saskatchewan athletes were among those affected by the final roster decisions.<\/p>\n

Former University of Regina Rams defensive back Carson Sombach<\/a> was listed as a return-to-school transaction. Sombach was one of the local stories of training camp after earning an opportunity with the Riders following his standout university career.<\/p>\n

A return to school\u00a0designation allows the club to retain a player\u2019s rights for a future season while keeping the player off the active roster.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, University of Saskatchewan athlete Daniel Wiebe earned a practice roster spot<\/a>. Wiebe made the most of limited opportunities during the pre-season, recording two catches for 10 yards and a game-winning touchdown on his former home turf.<\/p>\n

Big River-born offensive lineman Connor Klassen was among the players released.<\/p>\n

One of the more notable cuts was running back Mario Anderson Jr.<\/a>, who led the Riders in pre-season rushing with 65 yards on 10 carries. Also released were receivers Juwann Winfree, Siaosi Mariner, Javian Hester and Abdul Janneh Jr.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan also decided to cut kicker Jonathan Kim, as well as Jesse Mirco who handled punting duties for the team late in the season and won a Grey Cup last year.<\/p>\n

The complete list of players is:<\/p>\n

Added to practice roster
\nAmerican running back Quali Conley
\nAmerican linebacker David Gbenda
\nNational defensive lineman Liam Hoskins
\nAmerican defensive back Juju Hughes
\nNational offensive lineman Jez Janvier
\nAmerican receiver Johnny Johnson III
\nAmerican defensive back Seyi Oladipo Jr.
\nAmerican defensive lineman Jaylen Pate
\nAmerican offensive lineman Thomas Perry
\nAmerican receiver Mathew Sexton
\nGlobal linebacker Tyron Vrede
\nNational receiver Daniel Wiebe
\nAmerican offensive lineman Jaison Williams
\nRetired or return to school
\nNational linebacker Osasere Odemwinge
\nNational defensive back Carson Sombach
\nMoved to one-game injured list
\nNational defensive lineman Benoit Marion
\nMoved to six-game injured list
\nNational offensive lineman Darius Bell
\nNational receiver Dylan Djete
\nReleased
\nAmerican running back Mario Anderson Jr.
\nAmerican defensive lineman Sundiata Anderson
\nAmerican defensive lineman Chico Bennett Jr.
\nAmerican offensive lineman Spencer Brown
\nAmerican defensive back James Burgess Jr.
\nAmerican receiver Javian Hester
\nAmerican long snapper Reed Hughes
\nAmerican receiver Abdul Janneh Jr.
\nAmerican linebacker Vi Jones
\nAmerican kicker Jonathan Kim
\nNational offensive lineman Connor Klassen
\nAmerican receiver Siaosi Mariner
\nNational receiver Shemar McBean
\nGlobal punter Jesse Mirco
\nAmerican defensive back Benny Sapp III
\nNational defensive back Trae Tomlinson
\nAmerican defensive lineman Davin Vann
\nAmerican defensive back Steven Weston Jr.
\nAmerican receiver Juwann Winfre<\/p>\n

The transactions finalized Saskatchewan\u2019s roster as the defending Grey Cup champions prepare to open their 2026 regular-season on June 13 against BC Lions after their bye in week 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Saskatchewan Roughriders finalized their roster Saturday, adding 13 players to the practice roster while releasing 19 others…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-704952","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\/704952","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=704952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}