O’Day busy as Roughriders recharge for 2023

Jeremy O’Day believes a lot of the heavy lifting has already been accomplished when it comes to CFL free agency.

“You wish you had a ton of cap space and you could go out and sign more players, but ultimately you can only sign so many players. You don’t ever get through it with having a whole bunch of money left over and say, ‘Oh, we can really go out and get some other players in the end here,’ ” the Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager said Wednesday.

“Sometimes as guys go through free agency, their prices go down and there’s an opportunity there. We try more than anything to keep the door open.”

The Riders signed eight free agents on Tuesday, with the majority on offence.

They included quarterback Trevor Harris, receivers Jake Wieneke, Juwan Brescacin, and Shawn Bane Jr., and offensive linemen Peter Godber and Philip Blake. On the defensive side of the ball, the Riders bulked up their defensive line with Micah Johnson and Stefen Banks.

“You don’t know who is going to be a free agent until they make it to free agency. There’s a bit of a waiting game there,” O’Day said.

Harris and Wieneke both reportedly decided to leave the Montreal Alouettes due to uncertainty surrounding ownership of the club. On Tuesday, before free agency began, the CFL announced it was taking over control of the team.

“When you’re going into free agency and you don’t have a starting quarterback and there’s uncertainty there, you hope you get to sign the players you want,” O’Day said. “You always have a plan but until you get into free agency, you never know how that plan is going to shake out.”

Riders revamp aerial attack

Along with a new quarterback, the Riders also brought in a trio of receivers in a new-look passing attack.

The Riders brought in Wieneke, Brescacin, and Bane Jr., but lost Shaq Evans (Ottawa Redblacks), Justin McInnis (B.C. Lions), Kyran Moore (Edmonton Elks) and Duke Williams (Hamilton Tiger-Cats) when free agency began.

Wieneke had been with the Als since 2019 and was Harris’ teammate for the past two seasons.

“We wanted to bring someone in that Trevor was familiar with and we think is a very good player,” O’Day said of Wieneke. “He was fired up to come here.

“It’s always refreshing when you talk to free agents and how excited they are to come and play in Saskatchewan. We were excited to hear that.”

O’Day says the coaches view Bane Jr. as a player with great potential looking for a bigger role in an offence, which the Riders can offer.

Riders bring in pair of veteran offensive linemen

The offensive line was one of the most criticized parts of the Riders’ 2022 CFL season, with the unit giving up 77 sacks in 18 regular-season games.

O’Day signed a couple veterans on the first day of free agency to help fix what was the weakest part of the team last season.

Godber became B.C.’s starting centre in 2021 and has played 34 games at the position since then.

Blake, who was with the Riders in 2018 and ’19, can play any position along the line and brings eight seasons of CFL experience.

“You look at all the players who are available and you have to see how you can improve the offensive line,” O’Day said. “There wasn’t a heck of a lot of offensive linemen but we had conversations with a lot of them.

“Peter Godber is a starting centre in our league and is someone we feel like the ceiling is high for and was super-excited for us to call and offer him a contract.

“We really think (Blake) can bring some veteran leadership to a group of younger offensive linemen who will need it.”

With the signing of Godber, O’Day said it is highly unlikely the team will sign long-time centre Dan Clark to a contract.

Defensive line gets bulked up

After signing starters Pete Robertson and Anthony Lanier II to contract extensions in the days leading up to free agency, the Riders added two more potential starters Tuesday.

Saskatchewan signed defensive end Stefen Banks to a contract. The 6-foot-1, 260-pounder was mostly a rotational player in two seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, recording four sacks in each of those seasons.

“He was productive with the limited amount of time he played,” O’Day said.

Micah Johnson is also back in Regina for a third stint. The 6-foot-2, 278-pound defensive tackle had seven sacks with Hamilton last season. Johnson was with the Riders for the 2019 and 2021 seasons.

“He left here for different reasons and it wasn’t bad breakups or anything like that. I think both occasions (when) he went to a different team, we offered him a contract back,” O’Day said.

“This was a late development into free agency. We didn’t think we would have an opportunity to get Micah; we thought his salary wouldn’t be in the range for us. Just the way the market shifted and changed, we kept the conversations open with his agent and then eventually we realized we could make a fair offer for him.”