The Saskatchewan Roughriders are sitting Jordan Williams-Lambert and inserting Manny Arceneaux back in to the lineup.
“We’re going to dress Manny this week, see how he does, he’s earned the right to play. He practices well, he prepares very hard. He was playing well when we sat him and we feel like he might give us a little boost,” head coach Craig Dickenson said.
The last time Arceneaux took the field with the Riders he had his most productive game of the season with two catches for 77 yards and one touchdown against the Toronto Argonauts in Week 16.
Since then Jordan Williams-Lambert has started three games at the field or wide side receiver spot, he played mostly slotback in 2018. The 25-year-old has five receptions for 57 yards in three games. Last season, Williams-Lambert caught 62 passes for 764 yards and four touchdowns in 17 games. The impressive campaign led to Williams-Lambert being named the West Division Most Outstanding Rookie.
“He’s got to play a little better. He knows it and he’s not playing poorly, it’s a chemistry thing a little bit too. We feel like we were playing a little bit better as a unit with Manny out there. J-Will we’re asking a lot of him coming back from the NFL, it’s a new position for him. So we’re going to give him a little more time to learn the offence,” Dickenson said.
Arceneaux’s totaled 20 grabs on 27 targets for 235 yards and one touchdown in nine games. Riders general manager Jeremy O’Day targeted Arceneaux in free agency, inking him to a one-year deal. The 32-year-old pass catcher had spent the first eight years of his CFL career with the B.C. Lions.
The 32-year-old has played 138 games recording 576 receptions for 8,404 yards and 56 touchdowns. Arceneaux had three straight 1,000-yard seasons – including a career-high 1,566 yards in 2016 – from 2015-2017. Two times Arceneaux has been named a CFL all-star (2015 and 2016).
Saskatchewan has gone back to the veteran for a spark.
