{"id":762888,"date":"2026-06-26T17:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/762888\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:24:11","slug":"4-elite-canadian-pass-catchers-headline-friday-night-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/762888\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Elite Canadian pass-catchers headline Friday Night Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Hall of Famer and CFL on TSN panelist Milt Stegall suggested this current crop of Canadian receivers is going to end up being the best we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a hard point to argue, too.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s not just because it\u2019s coming from one of the greatest pass-catchers to ever do it. Entering Week 4, seven of the league\u2019s top 10 receivers held National designations with a few others just on the outside.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED<br \/>\u00bb Depth Charts: <a href=\"https:\/\/static.cfl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-Week-4-%40-SSK-PDF.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TOR<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/static.cfl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-Positional-Chart-Game-3-at-Toronto.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SSK<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/2026\/06\/25\/3-keys-to-victory-for-toronto-saskatchewan-in-week-4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">3 keys to victory for Toronto, Saskatchewan in Week 4<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.riderville.com\/theme-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tickets: Toronto at Saskatchewan<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/2026\/06\/21\/cfl-injury-reports-week-4-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Injury Reports: Stay up to date<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gamezone.cfl.ca\/pickem?&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=pickem_2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"https:\/\/gamezone.cfl.ca\/pickem?&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=pickem_2025\" aria-label=\"Who\u2019s gonna win? Play CFL Pick \u2018Em presented by Old Dutch now! - open in a new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"\" data-uw-original->Who\u2019s gonna win? Play CFL Pick \u2018Em presented by Old Dutch now!<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/plus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" aria-label=\"Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally - open in a new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/plus\" data-uw-original->Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And if you\u2019re looking for a great showcase of this great Canadian receiving class, look no further than Friday\u2019s showdown between Toronto and Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n<p>Count \u2018em\u2026Friday night at Mosaic Stadium features four high-end National receivers worth keeping an eye on. Fans can catch the action at 9:00 p.m. ET on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States and CFL+ internationally.<\/p>\n<p>KIAN SCHAFFER-BAKER | SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve known <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/kian-schaffer-baker\/165755\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Kian Schaffer-Baker\">Kian Schaffer-Baker<\/a> was on the cusp of something special ever since his breakout 2022 campaign. That year saw him reel in 68 catches for 960 yards and five touchdowns and had him emerging as a top tier receiver. The only thing that\u2019s held Schaffer-Baker back has been the injury bug, which has limited him to just 28 games over the last three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Well, Schaffer-Baker is fully healthy to start the 2026 season and he\u2019s rolling. The 2020 fourth-round pick opened his season with 11 catches and 165 yards in a Roughriders win over BC before racking up 130 yards and two touchdowns the following week in Calgary. We\u2019ll see if he can make it three straight games in the triple digits Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>KEVIN MITAL | TORONTO ARGONAUTS<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also looking for a third straight game with 100 yards or more is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/kevin-mital\/168778\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Kevin Mital\">Kevin Mital<\/a> after his stellar start to the season. The 2024 first-round pick started this year by reeling in seven catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in Toronto\u2019s tight loss to Montreal in week 2. He then followed that up with eight catches for 178 yards in last weekend\u2019s win over the REDBLACKS.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a nice run for Mital. He\u2019s picking up right where he left off last season, which served as his breakout campaign. Last year saw Mital record 102 receptions, 886 yards, and four touchdowns. With an increased role in 2026, we\u2019re already seeing solid returns.<\/p>\n<p>SAMUEL EMILUS | SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Already an established star, no one should be surprised to see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/samuel-emilus\/166979\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Samuel Emilus\">Samuel Emilus<\/a> among the league\u2019s top receivers, Canadian or otherwise. After only playing seven games in 2025, Emilus is up to 181 receiving yards in a pair of Riders wins to start the season. Oh, and don\u2019t forget, he opened his season with three touchdowns against BC.<\/p>\n<p>Emilus is already a two-time 1,000-yard receiver and would have gone well over that total last season had it not been for a couple separate injuries. As such, seeing Emilus start the season the way he has is very much par for the course.<\/p>\n<p>DAVID UNGERER III | TORONTO ARGONAUTS<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Much like Mital, an increased role for David Ungerer III seems to be paying off nicely for the Argos. Ungerer III posted a career best 653 receiving yards last season to go along with a pair of touchdown catches. Well, two games into 2026, he\u2019s well on his way to besting that first total and has already matched the second.<\/p>\n<p>Ungerer III has a touchdown catch in each of Toronto\u2019s first two games; he paired that with five catches for 65 yards in Week 2 and three catches for 82 yards last weekend. With quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/chad-kelly\/161801\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Chad Kelly\">Chad Kelly<\/a> averaging around 40 attempts per game early on, Ungerer III is one to watch Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, Hall of Famer and CFL on TSN panelist Milt Stegall suggested this current crop of Canadian&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-762888","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\/762888","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=762888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}