Attention turns to the future as Riders clean out lockers

With their 2022 CFL season now finished, the attention of the Saskatchewan Roughriders turns to the future.

The Riders’ season came to an end Saturday with a 36-10 defeat to the Calgary Stampeders. After a 4-1 start, the Riders lost 10 of their final 12 games, which included a seven-game losing streak and six straight losses at Mosaic Stadium.

“We just weren’t good enough at the end of the day. You can’t make excuses — guys being hurt, COVID, the flu, whatever it may be,” defensive back Rolan Milligan said Sunday as the players cleaned out their lockers. “You still have to go out and win games when you have to play. We just have to be better than we were.”

Milligan is set to become a free agent in the off-season, but says he would like to be back in Saskatchewan.

“We’re a tight-knit group. There are a lot of good guys in this locker room and in this building,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll be back. We’ll see what happens.”

With the way the season ended, there will be plenty of questions about the future of the team and who is involved in it.

That includes quarterback Cody Fajardo, who is set to test free agency. He has thrown for 10,632 yards, 48 touchdowns and 32 interceptions since he became the starter in 2019. He also rushed for 1,436 yards and 22 touchdowns.

“It was a torturous year in terms of we went through a lot and it’s a sense of relief it has ended,” said Fajardo, who lost his starting job to Mason Fine with two games left in the regular season. “It didn’t end the way we wanted it to.

“I gave it everything I had and I felt the way the season played out was a little sickening for me, a little frustrating after giving it everything I had for three years and I just felt like the organization moved on from me.

“I haven’t ruled anything out. I would love to play another game in the green and white, but that’s not up to me. That’s up to management. It’ll be a very interesting (off-season), that’s for sure.”

Fajardo admitted someone could write a book about what happened this season, but fans will need to wait for it to come out.

“I don’t think it’s the time or place here, plus you guys have to buy my book when I get there,” Fajardo joked. “There is a lot that went on in this locker room and these guys never broke. We stuck together through it all and there’s a lot of teams that would have broke with some of the stuff we went through physically and mentally.”

Dan Clark has been around the league for a while, appearing in 100 games for the Riders. He said it’s tough to pinpoint what went wrong this season.

“Every game doesn’t go your way and it’s one of those seasons that just destructs,” Clark said. “It hurts our hearts. You look at the guys in the locker room and the guys you won’t ever see again. You look at the guys who want to hopefully be around and hopefully we build the culture back up that we need to build.”

Clark has been one of those players who has helped build up the culture over the years, but the 34-year-old is on an expiring contract.

“I think my heart is in it. I think I can play at a dominant (level), especially given an off-season to work on my ankle,” said Clark, who broke his leg in June. “I think the biggest thing is getting the future in here and guiding that person.”

The Riders gave up 77 sacks this season, the most ever given up by a Roughriders team.

“As an offensive line, your job is to protect and when you don’t do that very well, that’s when bad things happen,” Clark said.

Clark admitted people could tell Fajardo had lost confidence in the pass protection as the hits started to add up.

“One example that showed for me was a three-man rush and he tried to spin out of somebody that wasn’t even there and I think that, as an offensive lineman, it hurts my heart,” Clark said.

There also are questions surrounding the coaching staff and who may be back in 2022.

“As a coach, you’re judged on wins and losses and whether it’s fair or not, it’s reality so I accept that and I’ll be meeting with (general manager) Jeremy (O’Day) and (CEO) Craig (Reynolds) later (Sunday) and we will probably meet in the morning again to figure out where it went wrong — we think we have a good idea — and how we can fix it so it doesn’t happen again,” head coach Craig Dickenson said.

“(I’m not worried). I think those meetings are good and you have to have them even when you’re winning. I think it’s a state of the union sort of (conversation) — how is this team, where can we get better, what went well and what didn’t.

“I say this to the players all the time: As long as you do your best and you know you’ve given the best you can give, you can sleep well at night knowing you did all you could.”