O’Day facing challenges from other leagues in rebuild of Riders’ roster

With CFL training camps getting closer, Jeremy O’Day is putting the final pieces of his 2023 roster together.

After a disappointing 6-12 record in the 2022 season, changes were on the way for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

But with the rebirth of the XFL and the USFL still operating, the Riders’ general manager admitted it made things more difficult when it came to bringing American players north to the Canadian game.

“All the other teams have to deal with the same thing we are dealing with, but it has definitely affected American players coming up to Canada or agreeing to come up to Canada,” O’Day told the Green Zone on Tuesday. “It’s not always necessarily about the dollar difference between the U.S. and Canadian dollar. Sometimes it has to do with opportunity.

“It’s difficult to come up to Canada and earn a spot a lot of times. If you look at our roster in particular, a lot of our positions have veteran players coming back and, in a lot of cases, they have been given signing bonuses. I think the intriguing part of the U.S. league is that you have an opportunity to go and it’s a fair opportunity to start and play. A lot of the players down there are looking for an opportunity to get back to the NFL.

“Whenever they have the drafts for those leagues, you just watch your guys get picked and you kind of lose out on those guys on the negotiation list and you kind of make a change and adjust your negotiation list accordingly. It has been a challenge.”

Combine comments

While American players are key to any CFL roster, all eyes have been on the Canadians ahead of the CFL draft, which is to take place on May 2.

The CFL combine, which allowed the top U Sports football players to show their talents to many CFL staffs, wrapped up on Sunday.

The format changed this year to include more full practices and meetings with coaching staffs.

“What we had talked about was trying to combine something like what they do with the Senior Bowl in the States, where you can see the players practising. It gives you the opportunity where you had meetings before going out to practice where they had to retain information given to them by the coaches,” O’Day said.

“Let’s take a receiver, for example. You have a receiver who has to read the coverage and it’s not just a one-on-one route that that player could be really good at. It helps you evaluate their mental capacity of how they are coached, how they take coaching and then after that first practice, how they make corrections if they are able to fix the mistakes they made going into the next practice.

“I’m a fan of it and hopefully it stays the way it is.”

Schaffer-Baker update

While O’Day tries to find some new pieces to join the roster, some already under contract will need to step up for Saskatchewan to improve its fortunes.

Wide receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker underwent off-season hip surgery and will be out to start the 2023 season. O’Day said the 24-year-old receiver will likely start the season on the six-game injured list.

“He’s working hard and getting through all the treatments here at the stadium but it’s an injury that’s going to take some time to heal. The most important thing for us is to just get him back healthy and not try to push him to get him back a game or two early,” O’Day said.

“Physically he will be 100 per cent. It won’t be something that’s going to linger on. It’s something that’s going to improve him. He has been dealing with this for the past couple years and been dealing with it but it has progressively gotten worse.

“How quickly will he be able to jump back in and play at game speed? It may take him some time, it may not. He is still so young and I think he will recover well.”

That means it will be up to fellow Canadian receivers like Sam Emilus, Brayden Lenius and Mitch Picton to fill the void left by the Riders’ leading receiver in 2022.

The team also signed veteran American receivers Jake Wieneke and Derel Walker along with two-year veteran Shawn Bane Jr. to round out the receiver group.

But the biggest change from 2022 fans will want to see is improved pass protection. The Riders gave up a CFL-high 77 sacks last season.

The Riders signed CFL veterans Philip Blake and Peter Godber on the first day of free agency to go along with a number of American offensive linemen who have been signed to be brought into camp.

“We feel like we’re off to a better start than the way we finished for sure,” O’Day said.