Riders’ Amari Henderson makes CFL debut against Als

Even though Amari Henderson’s first CFL start is coming against one of the league’s top receivers, that doesn’t affect his preparation.

Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Eugene Lewis leads the league with 307 receiving yards which includes a four-catch, 68-yard performance against the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.

The Alouettes will also have Jake Wieneke back in the lineup after the slotback missed last week. While he has only caught two passes for six yards in 2022, Wieneke led the league with 11 receiving touchdowns last season.

“Everybody is just an X to me. It doesn’t matter who they put in front of me,” Henderson said. “I’m going to try to perform to the best of my ability no matter who is in front of me, that’s just my whole mindset.”

Due to a hamstring injury to defensive back Nelson Lokombo, Henderson will find his way onto the active roster in the halfback position. Jeremy Clark will move from there to defensive back.

The Riders welcome the Montreal Alouettes to Mosaic Stadium a week after losing 37-13 to them while out on the road. Kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 5 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 3 p.m.

“It was really more on us (last week). Coming into this week, we knew we had to build ourselves up coming into this game,” Henderson said. “Coach has been preaching it to us that this is a character game.”

Henderson played five seasons at Wake Forest University, completing his time there with 169 tackles and seven interceptions. He was signed to the Jacksonville Jaguars practice roster for 2020 and then signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, appearing in one pre-season game.

Henderson signed with the Riders on Jan. 20, 2022.

“Henderson has been good all year, he’s been working hard and doesn’t say much but comes to work each day,” head coach Craig Dickenson said. “We think he’s a good cover player – he can really move, he has good versatility.

“We feel like we can put him out there against a good receiving crew with the addition of Wieneke, which makes it even better. We think (Henderson) is going to compete and play well.”

The Riders will have their own change to the receiving group this week, with Mitch Picton getting the start for the injured Shaq Evans.

Picton appeared for Evans last week after the receiver left with an injury. Picton has caught seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown this season.

Picton has been a versatile player for the Riders since he was drafted in 2017. He has the ability to play and of the receiver spots if called upon.

“I haven’t been able to get too comfortable, they keep me on my toes. I just keep doing what I’m doing and just keep trying to make plays when the come my way,” Picton said.

“I’m sure (Picton) appreciates the opportunity but we appreciate him. Hopefully he knows that. We would have been in trouble a number of times without him,” Dickenson said. “He saves our bacon a lot of times because he knows all five receiver positions, he’s got tremendous hands, he can run, he can block, he can play special-teams.

“We owe him a little more than he owes us.”

Riders release Damon Webb

The Riders announced it has released defensive back Damon Webb.

“Damon was not playing as much as he did last year and we felt like we had a couple of guys on the (practice roster) that we liked a little better. We thought about giving him a PR spot but the reality was he wanted to be on the active,” Dickenson said. “When he wasn’t on the active, I think it was just time to make a change. We wish him all the best – he was a good player for us and we appreciated everything he did.”

Webb appeared in 10 games for the Riders last season, recording 27 tackles and an interception.