Elimimian has high expectations for 2020 Roughriders

A game in the middle of the 2019 CFL season helped convince Solomon Elimimian to sign a contract extension with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the 2020 campaign.

“The Labour Day Classic was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had,” the veteran linebacker told The Green Zone. “The fans were unbelievable.

“It’s what football should be about, having fun and whooping butt at the same time.”

Yet as Tuesday’s free-agent deadline approached, reports suggested Elimimian and the Roughriders weren’t close on a contract.

But well before Tuesday’s 11 a.m. deadline arrived, word leaked out that Elimimian had signed a one-year extension before he could hit the market.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to be back and they wanted me back,” said Elimimian, 33. “When I looked around and I talked to other teams, I just felt like the best opportunity for me was in Saskatchewan. I didn’t want to be part of a rebuild (somewhere else).

“Every team in the CFL thinks they have a chance to win the Grey Cup, but sometimes when you look at the roster (from the) outside looking in, you might not get the same sense. You might not have the same confidence that they do.

“I think (signing an extension) works out. I had a good time here last year in Saskatchewan. It was a breath of fresh air.”

Elimimian joined the Roughriders after spending the first nine years of his CFL career with the B.C. Lions.

He missed much of Saskatchewan’s training camp while helping the CFL Players’ Association negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the league. Then he suffered an injury that sidelined him for the first three weeks of Saskatchewan’s regular season.

After getting into the lineup, Elimimian recorded a team-high 88 tackles en route to being named a West Division all-star for the sixth time in his career.

He said that working on the CBA was “tiresome” and that it limited his ability to work out in preparation for the season. As a result, he felt like he had unfinished business in Saskatchewan, which was one of the reasons why he wanted to re-sign.

The Roughriders’ defence should feature many of the same faces in 2020 that it had in 2019, with defensive ends Charleston Hughes and A.C. Leonard, linebackers Elimimian and Cameron Judge and all five starting defensive backs set to return.

Linebacker Derrick Moncrief was released so he could sign in the NFL, but former Roughrider Otha Foster III — who also played with Elimimian in B.C. — has been signed as a possible replacement.

With that group in place — and with an offence under the guidance of quarterback Cody Fajardo — Elimimian has high hopes for the 2020 Roughriders.

“I’m excited about where this team can go,” he said. “We’ve just got to continue to work hard and make sure the main thing is the main thing and that’s having the right mindset going into practice, the right mindset going into each game and really just outworking the competition.

“The opportunity is now,” he added. “It’s not something to shy away from. You’ve just got to embrace it and diligently work hard with the end goal in mind of hoisting the Grey Cup trophy.”

Micah on the move

While Elimimian signed an extension with the Roughriders, defensive tackle Micah Johnson left as a free agent.

After just one season in Saskatchewan, Johnson signed with B.C.

On Tuesday, Johnson tweeted that the Roughriders hadn’t offered him a contract. He repeated that claim on The Green Zone, saying he hadn’t spoken to anybody in the organization.

Asked if that burned a little bit, he replied: “At this age and this stage of the game, it doesn’t.”

“Before I came to the CFL, I was cut from five different teams in the NFL,” Johnson added. “Honestly, it’s no big deal to me. It’s just a business.”

Johnson joined the Roughriders after a dominant 2018 season with the Calgary Stampeders. He had 14 sacks that season and 41 over his six seasons in Calgary.

But Johnson managed just four sacks for the Roughriders during an injury-plagued season.

Like Elimimian, Johnson said the fan support and the facilities in Regina were tremendous, but on the field, he said 2019 was “the worst season that I could have.”

“It was rough on me, so it was frustrating sometimes,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really think I fit in the defensive scheme. I don’t think I fit what they want to do and what they envision their defence being. That was one of the bigger things.”