The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ kicking job will be up for grabs in 2026, whether or not Brett Lauther is with the team.
“It’s going to be an open competition,” general manager Jeremy O’Day said on Friday. “The roster is still fluid, but regardless of who we bring to camp, it’ll be a competition.”
It remains to be seen whether Lauther, the team’s incumbent kicker, will be part of that competition. The 35-year-old is scheduled to receive a $25,000 offseason bonus on February 1, which could trigger a decision regarding his future.
Lauther connected on just 39-of-54 field goal attempts in 2025 for a rate of 72.2 percent, the worst mark of his eight-year tenure in Saskatchewan. He also made a league-worst 91.2 percent of his converts.
The native of Truro, N.S., was perfect in the West Final, when he connected on all three of his field goal attempts and both of his converts. He missed a 39-yard field goal attempt in the Grey Cup, however, which would have given the Roughriders a two-score lead midway through the fourth quarter.
In the week leading up to the Grey Cup in Winnipeg, 3DownNation reported that Saskatchewan inquired about kicker Lirim Hajrullahu prior to the trade deadline, though the Toronto Argonauts weren’t interested in striking a deal at that time. The Riders did sit Lauther due to injury on two occasions, including the regular-season finale when American Michael Hughes connected on both of his attempts.
Saskatchewan brought back the former second-team All-American kicker after he finished the year on the practice roster, and it would appear that he’ll be in the mix for the top job in training camp.
“What we like about Michael Hughes is he’s got a huge leg. Something for us to all start racking our brains about is the goalpost is going to move back in a year, so how is that going to affect the kicking game?” O’Day said, referencing the CFL’s structural rule changes that will be enacted in 2027.
“We like his leg strength. He was also very accurate, has done it for a long time in college at a high rate of success. And we had him in the building. We actually brought him in on a tryout with some other kickers, and he was pretty near perfect on his kicks in the tryout and then got an opportunity to play a little bit in the game. Just a good quality kicker that we’re going to give an opportunity to compete.”
Lauther and Hughes are currently the only two kickers on the Riders’ roster, though there is plenty of time before training camp to add bodies to the competition — or subtract one contender from the equation.
Saskatchewan finished first in the West Division for the first time since 2019 with a 12-6 record in 2025. The Riders went on to defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup at Princess Auto Stadium, marking the team’s first title in 12 years. Harris went 11-5 as a starter, throwing for 4,549 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 16 regular-season starts.
The Roughriders ranked second in net offence, second in net defence, and tied for third with a plus-eight turnover differential. The team’s leading rusher was Ouellette with 1,222 yards, the leading receiver was KeeSean Johnson with 1,159 yards, and the leading tackler was A.J. Allen with 91 tackles. Saskatchewan finished second in attendance with average crowds of 28,427, which was a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year.
