Riders’ Schaffer-Baker to miss first part of 2023 CFL season: Dunk

A big part of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ aerial attack will be grounded to start the 2023 season.

Green Zone CFL insider Justin Dunk reported that receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker will miss the first part of the season after undergoing hip surgery.

“That’s projected because the way these things go with high-performance athletes and a young athlete like Kian Schaffer-Baker, who knows? He could be ready before the projected timeline,” Dunk told the Green Zone on Wednesday.

“I think the positive for the Roughriders is that when he is back to 100 per cent, there’s a possibility that Kian Schaffer-Baker could be even better than we saw as a guy who was close to 1,000 yards in 2022 when he finally steps on the field in 2023.

“It’s projected right now that he will miss the first part of the season. In terms of how many games that is, it will all be determined on the rehab process.”

Schaffer-Baker, a product of Mississauga, has been a find for the Riders. Taken in the fourth round of the 2020 CFL draft, the University of Guelph alumnus burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2021. He recorded 563 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games that season.

He followed it up with a sophomore season that saw him catch 68 passes for 960 yards and five touchdowns. He was named Saskatchewan’s most outstanding Canadian in 2022.

Dunk said the injury has been lingering for years.

“It was something that got worse as the (2022) season went along and he had dealt with it even the year before as well,” Dunk said. “At the end of the year, he was struggling to get through practice.

“The more incredible feat is the fact he was one of the best receivers in the league, the second-most-productive Canadian receiver in the league, while dealing with this injury as it nagged and got worse.”

Despite the injury, the 24-year-old worked out for nine NFL teams in the off-season.

“I think part of that decision-making process about going in to get the surgery had to have been, ‘Well, I know I can come back to Saskatchewan, I have a contract with them. The Roughriders are going to take care of me,’ ” Dunk said. “It’s something I think will benefit him in the long run.”