REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders and general manager Jeremy O’Day have gone through some busy, busy times, with plenty of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes while executing the team's CFL free agency plan.
Fans were naturally extremely curious when it came to how the reigning Grey Cup champions would fare in retaining key components of their roster — and for the most part, the news was good, with more than a few elite members of the championship squad opting to return to the Green and White.
The news wasn’t perfect, of course, as it never is in professional football. Free agency saw a handful of key contributors sign with other teams, as one might expect to happen to a club with a winning pedigree. But through it all, O’Day is happy with how things turned out — and now it’s just a matter of refining and preparing for training camp in May.
“It’s good, obviously there are a lot of moving pieces,” O’Day said. “Free agency was pretty unique for us this year, pretty much every position across the board our free agents were top targets, so it was a challenge with managing who we get back and who we’d be able to offer. So we had to have a game-plan going in, and you don’t know how it’s really going to go until you start talking with player representatives.”
The Riders had been fortunate enough to get a lot of signings done not long after their Grey Cup victory. Quarterback Trevor Harris was one of the first major pieces to come back, with running back A.J. Ouellette, receivers KeeSean Johnson, Sam Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker, and defensive back Tevaughn Campbell all putting ink to paper before the free agency window opened.
Saskatchewan was able to sign standout defensive lineman James Vaughters from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but lost backup QB Jake Maier, receivers Tommy Nield, Joe Robustelli, defensive linemen Malik Carney and Habakkuk Baldonado, linebacker A.J. Allen and strong-side linebacker C.J. Reavis to other squads.
Still, O’Day was pleased with how things turned out, especially knowing how likely it was CFL clubs would be taking a hard and long look at the best team in the league last season.
“It’s a little bit different, but not in a good way, because many of our players were sought after,” O’Day said of the signing process coming off a championship season. “Getting the guys back, some of the decisions were made for financial purposes, but we did have some players that left money on the table from other teams who wanted to come back and try to win back-to-back Grey Cups. Then there’s other guys who are at different points in their careers and are looking at it from a financial aspect, and I completely understand that side of it."
“But we’re happy where we’re at, we got a couple more guys done since the last time we spoke and once we look at the roster and what we have on the roster, we’re pretty pleased with how it all turned out… We feel good where we’re at, we knew it was going to be a challenge, but we’re excited where we ended up.”
When it comes to making roster decisions at this time of year, there are always some difficult ones, and few were tougher for O’Day than releasing kicker Brett Lauther. Once a field-goal kicking machine, Lauther struggled at times during the 2025 campaign, leading the Riders to opt to go in a different direction for the coming season.
“It was very difficult,” O’Day said of making the decision. “He’s been a very good player for us for a number of years, and aside from the fact he’s a good football player, he's an excellent teammate and excellent in the locker room."
“These are the tough decisions you have to make, not one you take for granted or make a snap judgement on. I felt like we gave Brett opportunities and stuck with him for a long time, but ultimately you have to see what you feel as an organization. Brett’s a pro, he’s a class act and he made a lot of big kicks for us in the past. When someone is going through challenges or struggles and miss some, we remembered that, and gave him the opportunity to kick out of it. Unfortunately we decided to go a different route.”
With the release, the Riders will have a competition between two Americans for the kicking position in training camp, with Appalachian State’s MIchael Hughes and Michigan State’s Jonathan Kim battling it out for the spot.
“Hughes has been here before and got to kick a little bit in our game and Kim is another talented American kicker as well,” O’Day said. “We’ll continue to look at that area as well, but we’re pretty comfortable that they’re both elite kickers.”
Lauther’s release highlights the difficulty of dealing with the person as well as the player, with O’Day and his crew having to make tough choices with people they’ve often become close to.
“It’s very challenging, you spend the whole year or years together and they give you everything they got,” O’Day said. “They’re out in the community, they’re busting their butts in practice, and there comes a point where it has to be a business decision. These guys were on a Grey Cup championship team and played at a very high level, so they also have to make decisions in their own situations."
“So it’s difficult. The guys who are leaving, you don’t want to say goodbye to them and the truth of the matter is we would have loved to have everyone back, but we couldn’t. The challenging part of the job is the relationship you have with those players, and sometimes it’s a tough part of the job.”
Of course, the news isn’t always bad when it comes to free agency, and the signing of Vaughters shows that. It’s expected the six-year CFL veteran will immediately start on the defensive line while bringing valuable experience to the hard-hitting crew.
“We’ve lost some guys in the defensive end position, so when we looked at the room we wanted to add some veteran experience, someone who knows [head coach] Corey [Mace] and our defence, and someone who brings a little bit of veteran leadership,” O’Day said. “Him and Mike Rose will assume that, and we have some young guys who are growing into veteran guys in the D-line room, so it all worked out.”
With the bulk of player signings and deals out of the way, the attention will now turn to the 2026 CFL Draft, which will take place on Tuesday, April 28 and bring the newest crop of Canadian and international talent into the league.
“We started diving into it. It’s kind of funny how no sooner is free agency over and we’re right into the draft,” O’Day sad. “We’re getting into it, watching the guys, the coaches are evaluating their positions so we haven’t put them all together yet,” O’Day said. “It’s an exciting time when you actually get to dive down into it.”
Be sure to listen to The SportsCage every weekday afternoon and check out SportsCage.com for Roughriders updates throughout the CFL offseason.
