Off-season has been a busy time for Riders’ Dickenson

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ season has been done since late October, but Craig Dickenson has been keeping busy.

“When you have a tough season like we did, I think there’s a push to get rolling right away. But I think the process is going to play itself out. We’re right on track,” the Riders’ head coach said from his off-season home in Whitefish, Mont.

“This off-season feels busier than other off-seasons because anytime you have coaching changes where you have to make some changes to your staff, you don’t really go home and have Thanksgiving and relax. I got home (to Montana) about a week ago and you’ve just been hitting the phones the whole time and talking to coaches. We are working hard.”

The Riders’ 2022 season came to a crashing end, as they lost the final seven games of the campaign and failed to make the CFL playoffs in a year when the Grey Cup was handed out in Regina.

Just two days after their final game, the Roughriders fired offensive co-ordinator Jason Maas and told offensive line coach Stephen Sorrells and receivers coach Travis Moore their contracts would not be renewed.

The search for Maas’ replacement came to an end on Monday when the team announced Kelly Jeffrey as their new offensive co-ordinator.

“We went and really turned over every stone and we thought Kelly impressed right from the first interview,” Dickenson said. “We’re very happy with where we landed. We feel Kelly is an outstanding football coach, he’s a good person (and) he’s got the respect of the room.”

While the Riders put the finishing touches on their coaching staff — they need to find a running backs coach, an offensive line coach and a receivers coach, with Jeffrey taking over as quarterbacks coach — a decision needs to be made about their quarterback position.

As of now, the quarterbacks under contract for 2023 are Mason Fine, Jake Dolegala and Levi Lewis. Cody Fajardo has not signed a new contract with Saskatchewan and could test free agency in February.

Dickenson said the team plans to sign one or two veteran quarterbacks before training camp.

“We feel like it’s important to have a good veteran when you go into camp and then have some really good young ones that are champing at his heels and trying to win the job,” Dickenson said. “It’s going to be wide open this year in camp for us.”

Earlier this month, Fajardo said he hadn’t been contacted by the Riders. Dickenson said he reached out to the 30-year-old pivot after those comments.

“We have end-of-the-year meetings with everybody, including Cody, and most of the time we don’t talk talk to our guys until after the holidays,” Dickenson said. “I called him and wished him a happy holidays and told him where we were at with our offensive co-ordinator search. I told him our offensive co-ordinator is going to have a big say in what direction we go at quarterback.”

Fajardo was relegated to the backup role behind Fine for the final two games of the regular season, one of those being a must-win to keep Saskatchewan’s playoff hopes alive.

Dickenson admitted he doesn’t know if the relationship between Fajardo and the club can be fixed.

“We will kick the tires on it. We still have our players under contract until free agency hits and we’re going to do a good job of making sure we re-sign the guys that we feel like can help us win. If Cody decides he wants to go another place, that is up to him. If we decide we’re going to go in a different direction, that’s our choice too. Those conversations are still yet to be had,” Dickenson said.

While there are a number of changes on the way for the Riders, Dickenson believes 2023 is a great opportunity for them.

“It feels like a fresh start. I know 2023 isn’t here yet, but if feels like it is. It feels like a restart and I’m very motivated and excited,” Dickenson said.

“I don’t believe a lot of people expect much from us and I think the guys are ready to get to work, roll up their sleeves and prove to the league and the doubters that we’ve got a good team, we’ve got a good staff and we’re going to be a team to reckon with.”