While excitement builds for Riders, backup QB spot still unresolved

While it was a long training camp for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, one big decision still needs to be made: Who will back up Trevor Harris?

At Saturday’s roster deadline, the CFL team kept all four of its quarterbacks — Harris, Jake Dolegala, Mason Fine and Shea Patterson — on its roster ahead of Sunday’s regular-season opener in Edmonton against the Elks.

Saskatchewan general manager Jeremy O’Day said they’re still evaluating the trio vying for the backup spot.

“We don’t have the answer of who is going to be the No. 2 or the No. 3 going into (the season). That will be determined as the week goes on,” O’Day said at Mosaic Stadium.

“Right now they are all Roughriders and we are happy to have them all. It’s a good problem to have when they all play well and they got the opportunity in the pre-season to run the offence and get the guys in and out of the huddle.”

But whatever quarterback lines up behind centre Peter Godber, there could be a new bodyguard lining up at one of the tackles.

While the team announced a number of cuts Sunday, it also announced the signing of six-year CFL veteran Colin Kelly. The 33-year-old has played 90 games in the league and also played in the XFL this past spring, earning All-XFL honours with the Seattle Sea Dragons.

“He had a release clause in his contract that allowed us to sign him. We had conversations with him in free agency and stayed in touch with him through the process,” O’Day said.

“He told us he wanted to go play in the XFL and he was going to be able to get out of his contract after the season. He got out healthy and was named an all-star in the XFL, and he had his agent reach back out to us.”

Kelly is suspended for the first two games of the CFL season after testing positive for a banned substance.

Kelly may find himself advancing up the depth chart for the Riders as Jerald Hawkins — who was playing left tackle for most of training camp — remains away to deal with a personal matter.

“We don’t know exactly when and if we will get him back,” O’Day said. “He’s got some personal family issues that he is dealing with at home. Right now he is not back and we don’t know when or if he will be back but we certainly hope so.”

There were a couple of CFL veterans who ended up being cut by the Riders following camp.

One of those was Canadian running back Kienan LaFrance, who has spent the past three seasons with the Riders in his second stint with the team. Saskatchewan elected to keep 2023 fourth-round draft pick Thomas Bertrand-Hudon on the roster.

“Kienan has been with us and been a good player for us — an outstanding guy and great in the locker room and he is kind of a glue guy — so it’s a tough decision when you have to make those decisions,” O’Day said. “We decided that we were going to go a little bit younger there.”

3DownNation is reporting LaFrance has signed with the B.C. Lions.

The Riders also released defensive end Stefen Banks. He had signed with the Riders on the first day of CFL free agency after spending the previous two seasons with the Calgary Stampeders.

“Every year, you want to go to camp hoping you find some guys that are going to upgrade your roster or make your roster better,” O’Day said. “I don’t think it’s anything that Stefen Banks did, I think it was more so what Bryan Cox and a couple of the other younger guys did.

“We felt like they had better camps and took advantage of the opportunity so that’s why we decided to go with those guys.”

After a lengthy off-season filled with a number of roster changes, a lot of the legwork is done as the Riders get ready to open their 2023 season, hoping for better results than last year’s 6-12 disappointment.

“They are long off-seasons when the team doesn’t have success,” O’Day said. “When you make substantial change, people grow impatient with that process but ultimately we felt we needed to change in certain areas and obviously that is what we did.

“Hopefully people are going to be excited and people are going to get behind us like they always have. The expectation from me from being here so long is that our fans have always supported us and I think they understand every year is a new year.

“We certainly are excited to get it rolling and get started and see how our team does.”