Saskatchewan Roughriders legend Darian Durant shared his view for how the 112th Grey Cup champions should handle the team's pending free agents, starting with the quarterbacks.
"You have to look at Trevor [Harris]. What are his plans? Is he looking to retire? What do you have in Jake Maier?" Durant said on the SportsCage. "Do you think you've seen enough from him to hand over the keys to him? If I'm J.O., I think about the defence first, then I go straight over and look at the quarterback situation and try to figure out what's next for Trevor Harris."
During the 2025 regular season, Harris started 16 games for the Green and White, completing 74 percent of his passes for 4,549 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He led Saskatchewan to the Grey Cup as the Riders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 and earned the game MVP award after connecting on 23-of-27 passes for 302 yards.
Durant elaborated about the Roughriders plans for the defence and offence in free agency.
"The defence only gave up 22 points a game this season, which tops the league, and you always want to make sure you can keep that secondary in place. In my opinion, the secondary is the heart of the defence. The communication that takes place between those guys has to be on point every single play. I look at the secondary and have guys like [Rolan] Milligan Jr., [Marcus] Sayles, and those halfbacks like [DaMarcus] Fields. Jameer Thurman, of course, he's also the heart of the defence as well," Durant said.
"I look at the secondary, make sure those guys are in place, make sure you have your defence intact, and then you go over to the offensive side. You have a lot of young guys that are on minimum to mid-type contracts, so you should be okay there."
Durant shared his thought process for players making free agent decisions and whether they should stay in Saskatchewan or sign with a new team.
"You want to be as loyal as you can, especially if this is the organization that gave you an opportunity to play professional football. But at the same time, we all have families to feed. If you're a guy that you feel like you're underpaid, you're overachieving and you're playing at the top of your position across the league, you're looking at the salaries of the guys across the league and saying, 'This is what you deserve.' You have to go in there somewhat selfishly and try to do what's best for your family," Durant said.
"At the same time, if you're on a winning team, this is what I would advise any guy before you think about leaving and going to another situation. If you're in a good situation and you can make close to the money that another team may offer, you want to think about staying in a good situation because sometimes you go and you chase those couple extra dollars and you find yourself on a losing team. If you're on a losing team, that's the fastest way out of the league because they're always looking to replace players and get rid of high-paid players on losing teams. It's a fine line. I would advise guys, you'll make up the money in the playoffs. You go to the Grey Cup, you'll make half of some guys' salary sometimes."
Beyond discussion about the team's free agency plans, Durant reflected on the 12th anniversary of the Riders Grey Cup win on November 24, 2013. Saskatchewan beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23.
"It seems unbelievable. I still replay some of those moments, watching the Grey Cup, you're having flashbacks of the confetti, hoisting the trophy, everything that comes with it," Durant said.
"It's crazy that time is flying by, and it's going that fast. But at the same time, it's such a moment that we'll never forget. I'm happy that I was a part of it, and it's something that we'll never forget in Saskatchewan."
