Jamie Nye: 100 days until Riders kick off special season

In 100 days, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are to kick off their 2020 CFL regular season.

It’s a season in which they need everything to go right to win it all at home. This team was built a bit differently than the one in 2013.

Instead of building a team around a core that was there for five seasons with Darian Durant, Chris Getzlaf, Weston Dressler and Rob Bagg on offence, those Riders went out and got John Chick back from the NFL and picked up Ricky Foley and Geroy Simon.

This team is built on the back of a second-year starting quarterback, a few third-year receivers who are coming into their own, a star running back picked up in free agency and a defence that enters a second full season all together.

The West Division is wide open. The Calgary Stampeders are no longer a juggernaut, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers sprung some holes after the Grey Cup and the Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions have tried to make the improvements necessary to compete.

But it’s all about the quarterback. Can Cody Fajardo stay healthy? Can he improve on last season? Are the players around him enough?

If yes is the answer to all those questions, we’re 100 days from the beginning of a pretty special season.