The Saskatchewan Roughriders hardly made a splash in free agency but Trevor Harris knows that a cannonball rarely wins in diving competitions.
The 38-year-old quarterback told 620 CKRM’s The SportsCage that he believes general manager Jeremy O’Day has put together a winning offseason, despite being overshadowed by high rollers in Edmonton and Hamilton.
“A lot of people talk about all the additions of all these teams and they’re buying these players, but continuity is a pretty awesome word to have,” Harris insisted.
“I think JO said in one of his media outlets, we had nine all-stars and nine are returning. On top of that, Yoshi, Jermarcus Hardrick, is one of the best O-linemen that we have in the Canadian Football League and he’s going to be healthy. A.J. Ouellette’s going to be healthy for a full season. Sam Emilus is back. Schaffer-Baker’s back. KeeSean Johnson is back. Dohnte Meyers is going to be back. We’ve just got a slew of guys that are coming back to play, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way our team has shaped up.”
The Riders were quiet on the opening day of free agency, bringing in just veteran offensive lineman Philippe Gagnon and short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens. Perennial all-star centre Sean McEwen, arguably the team’s biggest addition, signed on a few days later.
Much of the heavy lifting was done in the weeks prior, with defensive end Shane Ray and Canadian cornerback Tevaughn Campbell heading to Regina after NFL stints. The team also traded for backup QB Jake Maier, while scooping veteran defensive tackle Mike Rose and Canadian receiver Tommy Nield off the scrap heap.
The sum of those additions still pales in comparison to the talent added by those rebuilding teams but Harris believes what stayed in place is far more important.
If I were to tell Roughrider fans we had a blank slate and we added Jermarcus Hardrick, A.J. Oullette, Marcus Sayles, Rolan Milligan, Jameer Thurman — shoot, we added a ton of defensive linemen with Rose, we added Shane Ray — if I said we added all these people in free agency, you’d be fired up,” he said.
The Riders have lost a handful of impact players from last season, most notably centre Peter Godber and defensive linemen Bryan Cox Jr., Anthony Lanier II, and Miles Brown. However, most of the departures have ready-made replacements already in place.
With their veteran corps almost entirely intact, many of the new additions were handpicked for their familiarity with head coach Corey Mace and offensive coordinator Marc Mueller. That could give the Riders a massive early-season advantage over other teams that will need to learn how to gel.
“I think we’re a few weeks ahead of the curve. Not only that, we’ve got a bunch of guys that like each other, and that’s kind of the awesome thing,” Harris said.
“We have these guys that most of us have played together. The core group of guys that we have have played together, and so continuity is the word of the year to me. To me, the best teams I played on have been the closest ones.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished second in the West Division in 2024 with a record of 9-8-1 and defeated the B.C. Lions in the West Semi-Final before losing the West Final to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The team will open the 2025 CFL regular season against the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium on Thursday, June 5 with kickoff slated for 9:00 p.m. EDT.
