Before the Saskatchewan Roughriders offered Ka'Deem Carey a contract on the team's practice roster, he totalled 3,915 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns along with two Grey Cup rings and some all-star nominations in his CFL career.
"I felt someone needed me, I always said that I want to play for an organization that wants me. I don't care what position they gave me, they said they had a spot for me on the practice squad — of course. I had to take a deep breath and figure out the bigger picture to see what my role would be on this team. I got to sit back and anybody that wants me to play for their team, I think that's an honour," Carey told Justin Dunk on the Rider Broadcast Network.
"I took it that way and acted like I'm 22 again and went out there and ran around and hit some people on the practice squad and made the team better."
This season, Carey has suited up for one game with the Riders, which was against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 2, a 28-23 win. The five-foot-nine, 215-pound running back had four carries for 26 yards and one reception for nine receiving yards.
The bond between Carey and Green and White bench boss Corey Mace helped bring him to Saskatchewan.
"It's been good, it was good back in Calgary, he's always been a great coach. I always saw what he did outside looking in and now that he gets the defence and gets the control of this team, I definitely wanted to join up with him," Carey said.
"The way that he leads the team, he's a big brother, a father, a role model. Everyone looks up to his team and he gets us going — I'm excited to play for him."
Carey and Mace were together in Calgary from 2018 through 2021. The Stamps won a Grey Cup in 2018 with Mace as the Stampeders defensive line coach during that championship. He left Cowtown to go to the Toronto Argonauts as defensive coordinator in 2022.
In Saskatchewan's running back room, there is growing rapport between Carey and his cohort A.J. Ouellette.
"You got two great running backs and we both enjoy each other's play. We look for things that we can get better in each other's place," Carey detailed. "I like how he hits the hole; I love how he rips through and jumps over people all the time. He may like some things that I do. We're copycatting off things and putting it on the field. Then we got a great coach that's leading all of us through. Right now, we got a little four-headed monster because one of them was down."
Ouellette shared a story about how Carey reminds him of someone on the Riders' coaching staff.
"He's a ballplayer and I like ballplayers. It was like when Andrew [Harris] came to Toronto. The story is I didn't like it when he came because he was a Winnipeg guy," Ouellette recalled.
"He came on the first day asking football questions, balling out there. Every time he comes out here, he does what he's asked."
Saskatchewan hosts the Calgary Stampeders at home on Friday. Be sure to catch the pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates at 4 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 7 p.m. You can hear and watch all the coverage on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
