After a few years of calls from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Derick Roberson has finally ventured north and joined the CFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been with the UFL for a couple of years, and the agent reached out to me with the opportunity to make a few bucks,\u201d the San Antonio, Texas product said after Wednesday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a chance for him to finish some business this year. His UFL team, the DC Defenders, lost 27-20 to the Louisville Kings in the United Bowl on June 13.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n
\u201c(The Riders) won the championship, so I\u2019m trying to get one since I lost,\u201d Roberson said.<\/p>\n
The six-foot-four, 250-pound defensive end spent three seasons (2019\u20132021) with the NFL\u2019s Tennessee Titans, appearing in 19 games. He had 29 tackles, six tackles for loss and five sacks in that time.<\/p>\n
Prior to joining the NFL, he spent three collegiate seasons at Sam Houston State. As a senior, he started all 11 games and totalled 68 tackles (39 solo), 21 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, five forced fumbles, and two pass breakups. He went undrafted in the 2019 NFL draft.<\/p>\n
Roberson most recently spent three seasons (2024-26) with the Defenders. In 2026, he appeared in 11 games and recorded 47 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, eight sacks, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles and was named an All-UFL defensive end.<\/p>\n
The Riders announced they signed Roberson on July 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an aggressive player. I think everything you saw about the guy prior to coming here, he just validated all that stuff that you see. A true pro. He understands what it means. He has been taking his time, learning stuff on the fly and try to pick up as much stuff as he can in the event he will get an opportunity to play,\u201d said Riders head coach Corey Mace.<\/a><\/p>\n That opportunity could come as early as this week as the Riders take on the Edmonton Elks<\/a> on Saturday. Kickoff for the game at Commonwealth Stadium is set for 5 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show begins at 3 p.m.<\/a><\/p>\n While he just wrapped up a season in the UFL, Roberson\u2019s not worried about the quick turnaround to joining a CFL team.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really been easy, especially if you take care of your body. At this age, it\u2019s all about being ready and staying ready,\u201d Roberson said. \u201cI just think about it like a month-and-a-half bye week.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s making the adjustment to the Canadian game and all the nuances that come with three-down football.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different, especially that yard off the ball,\u201d Roberson said. \u201cWith me and how I play the ball, I line up as close as possible so that yard off the ball, I have been adjusting to it. I have had to take a couple more steps in the pass-rush, a little better timing. After a couple days of practice, you get that timing down and it gets a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s hopeful to get the chance to suit up this weekend for the Riders.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m itching to play. Still don\u2019t know if I\u2019m up or not, but itching to play,\u201d Roberson said.<\/p>\n Wide receiver Sam Emilus<\/a> (foot) did not practise for the second straight day. Mace said the team is \u201cpretty hopeful\u201d when it comes to Emilus and expects him to be on the field for Thursday\u2019s closed practice. Defensive back Rolan Milligan<\/a> left practice early and was listed as limited with a knee injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a few years of calls from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Derick Roberson has finally ventured north and joined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-835444","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\/835444","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=835444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}