Duke Williams leaves Riders practice early with ankle injury

Duke Williams’ status could be up in the air for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ game Saturday against the Edmonton Elks.

The Roughriders slotback was down on the ground holding his left ankle away from a 12-on-12 team drill. He got up and walked with a slight limp to a bench where a trainer taped up his ankle.

After walking up and down the sideline, the 29-year-old Williams eventually made his way to the locker room.

“I don’t have an update. He turned his ankle at some point during practice. I noticed he wasn’t out there during the last team period. We will go in and get a better idea of what he did (after practice),” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said. “I think he’s going to be all right. I sure hope so.

“Duke’s a tough guy. It’s going to be hard to keep him out of the game, but certainly if he injured himself, we will find out about it later (Wednesday) and hopefully it’s not too bad.”

Williams joined the team near the end of the 2020 season after spending two seasons with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. With Saskatchewan, he appeared in four regular-season games and two playoff games.

In the regular season, Williams hauled in 17 passes for 285 yards and one touchdown. During the two playoff games, he caught nine passes for 163 yards and a score.

In the Roughriders’ 30-13 season-opening win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, Williams caught five passes for 58 yards and had a two-point convert.

Meanwhile, defensive tackle Charbel Dabire didn’t practise Wednesday due to a knee injury. His availability for Saturday’s game isn’t known.

Lawrence fined for hit on Fajardo

A hit on Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo has left Hamilton linebacker Simoni Lawrence lighter in the wallet.

The CFL announced the disciplinary action on Wednesday afternoon.

Lawrence hit Fajardo in the back as the quarterback was rushing the ball to get to a first down, resulting in an unnecessary roughness penalty.

“No comment. It has been like that the entire time I’ve been in this league,” Fajardo said after Saturday’s game when asked about the hit.

Fajardo admitted he was dealing with an injury to end the first half due to the hit. He finished the game with 311 yards passing with a touchdown and added 42 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown as well.

TSN CFL insider Dave Naylor reported Tuesday the league missed the hit and should have taken Fajardo out of the game so he could be looked at by trainers.