Aerial attack addition: Lenius, Wieneke back in Riders’ lineup

Brayden Lenius is set to make his long-awaited season debut.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ slotback is listed as a starter for Saturday’s Touchdown Atlantic game against the Toronto Argonauts in Halifax. Lenius missed the first six games of the 2023 CFL season due to a lacerated kidney.

“It was the second play of the pre-season game against Winnipeg and I lacerated my kidney. I had some internal bleeding,” Lenius said. “I had to go to the ER after that and then stay the night in Winnipeg.”

Lenius said he played the rest of the half after the injury happened.

“In the second half, I started feeling nauseous and then after the game I went to the bathroom and that’s what told me what was going on,” said Lenius, who noted he had blood in his urine.

He returned to practice last week to prepare to start his first game of 2023 for the Riders.

“That really set the foundation and broke the legs down before this week,” Lenius said. “I’m feeling really good.

“I tell a lot of people that after the injury I was only really down for a week (or) two weeks total. I had the base from training camp so I didn’t get too out of shape.”

The 26-year-old had 17 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown in seven games of action last season. His first game with the Riders last season was the Labour Day Classic after missing the first portion of it as he waited for an NFL opportunity after attending camp with the Atlanta Falcons.

Lenius will try to help out a Riders offence that couldn’t develop much against the B.C. Lions on July 22, when it put up just nine points in Mason Fine’s first start of 2023.

Lenius isn’t worried about trying to get used to the young quarterback, since Lenius has been on the team the entire three seasons Fine has been in green and white.

“We have that chemistry. We have been playing for a while together,” Lenius said.

Lenius isn’t the only starter set to return this week.

Peter Godber will be back in the centre of the Riders’ offensive line after missing a few games with a hand injury. Slotback Jake Wieneke is also back in the lineup after suffering a knee injury in Week 3 against the Calgary Stampeders.

“I feel good. I just came out here today with a smile,” Wieneke said earlier in the week. “It feels so good to get back out here, run around with the guys and just get better.”