Riders’ O’Day says goal was to retain core group before free agency

A Saskatchewan Roughriders helmet can be seen before preseason CFL football action in Regina, Monday, May 20, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

Saskatchewan Roughriders’ general manager and vice president of football operations Jeremy O’Day says the goal this offseason was to retain as many of their players as possible before the start of free agency.

Heading into the first day of CFL free agency on Tuesday, the Riders had already re-signed 17 of their pending free agents.

That included the likes of Trevor Harris, Mario Alford, Micah Johnson and Marcus Sayles.

The front office was also able to extend top defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. through the 2026 season and acquire quarterback Jake Maier via trade with Calgary as well as sign former NFLer and U of R alumnus Tevaughn Campbell.

As of Tuesday, the Riders had six of their free agents still not signed by themselves or any other team around the league. That included Anthony Lanier II, Ryan Sceviour, Colton Hunchak, Frankie Hickson, Bryan Cox and Philip Blake.

See the Riders’ current free agent list here.

“Going into free agency [it was] pretty clear we wanted to get as many of our guys back as possible,” O’Day said on Wednesday.

“I thought we have a good core of players here and thought we took a lot of growth last season and we really wanted to try and bring them back and have continuity and so we knew we weren’t going to be very active in free agency,” O’Day said, recognizing that was the opposite from previous years.

“Ideally this is the way you’d like to have it where you’re keeping your guys inhouse and they can form that bond with each other,” O’Day added.

O’Day said there are a few areas where adding a veteran would help but also said he feels good where the team is at on day two of the CFL’s free agency period.

“Right now, if we add someone we’re just creating more depth but as far as the heavy lifting that’s pretty much done.”

Signings like Tevaughn Campbell and Mike Rose, a three-time All CFL defensive lineman were a bonus and an unexpected luxury, according to O’Day.

On the opening day of free agency Tuesday, the Riders made just two signings acquiring former Montreal Alouettes OL Philippe Gagnon and Calgary Stampeders QB Tommy Stevens. The Riders also signed former Stampeders OL Sean McEwen on Wednesday.

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The CFL’s salary cap for 2025 was increased to $6,062,365 on Feb. 5 after it was initially scheduled to be set at just over $5.6 million.

O’Day said teams didn’t learn of the additional increase until the day it was made public by the league.

“It was surprising and everyone’s just kind of trying to figure out how that was going to impact everything, but the majority of agreements were already in place with most teams and to my knowledge it didn’t really change much in free agency,” O’Day said.

The unexpected increase of more than $412,300 adds more than $134,700 to each active roster spot.

O’Day said currently it’s still being determined how much more wiggle room the increase gives the team if they want to make additional signings.

The Riders will open the 2025 CFL season at home on Thursday, June 5 when they host the Ottawa Redblacks. That will be followed by two road games before returning home to host B.C. on Saturday, June 28.