Roughriders' M.O.P. Naaman Roosevelt inks extension

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ top receiver Naaman Roosevelt isn’t going anywhere.

The team’s star receiver, and this year’s Most Outstanding Player, signed a deal Thursday that will keep him in the green and white through the 2018 season.

Despite playing just 11 games this season before being sidelined by injury, Roosevelt caught for 1095 yards.

Now, with his contract extension settled, Roosevelt is ready to focus on being well.

“I just wanted to get the deal done and I just wanted to get it out of the way and (go) into training knowing I’ll be back,” Roosevelt said, who found out the deal was done about five minutes before the announcement.

“When you got teammates like this and coaches like this and an organization that really wants you to do well and wants you to succeed, you’re just glad for that,” he continued.

Head coach Chris Jones said getting Roosevelt back was something that he really wanted to make happen because he’s a “solid individual” and a good football player.

“He’s one of the league leaders and missed a big portion of the year. He’s a guy, when you target him, he catches the football, he blocks, he’s physical,” Jones said.

“He’s a guy that loves being here and it was very important for me to get that guy.”

The Riders are also in talks with Darian Durant and Jeff Knox Jr. about their contracts.

Durant was unavailable to the media Thursday because he didn’t practice, but earlier in the week, he said he’d rather not talk about it.

“The truth of the matter is it’s between my agent and the front office and I just think the best thing for me to do is just focus on football,” he said on Tuesday. “I mean sitting and talking about it every week is not going to make it happen, it’ll happen in due time.”

Knox Jr. said he had a meeting about his contract Thursday in the hopes of working some things out.

When asked if he wanted to stay with the Roughriders, Knox Jr. gave a resounding “hell yeah” and then promptly apologized for his language.

Free agency begins in mid-February.