Roughriders release veteran kicker Crapigna

Tyler Crapigna saw it coming.

The CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Tuesday that they had released Crapigna, who kicked for them for two-plus seasons.

Crapigna missed the 2018 season with an injury to his right (kicking) leg, and the Roughriders turned to Brett Lauther to handle their kicking duties. Lauther developed into a West Division all-star and earned Saskatchewan’s nominations for league awards as most outstanding Canadian and most outstanding special-teams player.

“(The release) didn’t really come as a surprise, to be quite honest with you,” Crapigna, a 26-year-old product of Nepean, Ont., told The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye. “It’s something that I kind of saw coming for a little bit.

“Jeremy (O’Day, the Roughriders’ general manager) tried to do what was best for the organization and my agent and I were trying to do what was best for us and we just mutually decided this was probably the best option to go forward.”

The Roughriders acquired Crapigna from the Calgary Stampeders late in the 2015 season in a deal that sent tailback Jerome Messam west.

In 36 regular-season games with Saskatchewan, Crapigna was 76-for-88 on field-goal attempts and 74-for-78 on convert attempts.

He initially hurt his right leg midway through the 2017 season, but completed the campaign. He didn’t participate fully when the team opened training camp in 2018 and, in fact, was shut down before camp ended. He subsequently underwent season-ending surgery.

Lauther took the job and ran with it, hitting on 54 of 60 field-goal attempts in his first full season as a CFL kicker. Crapigna, meanwhile, worked to rehabilitate his injury.

“It was an injury that had implications on my last year’s off-season training and I wasn’t able to do certain things,” he said. “For me to finally have a full year off and a true CFL off-season to get back to 100 per cent, that was the best decision that I needed to make.”

Crapigna said he now feels “great” and is fully recovered. He already has been kicking for more than a month in hopes of landing another opportunity.

That may not be that far away.

“There has been some interest already,” Crapigna said. “My agent and I are handling that and it’s going well.

“It’s nice to know that there are other teams out there that are also looking for a kicker, especially the day you get released … I’m really looking forward to the future.”

Lauther signed a one-year contract extension in February, leading many to wonder what would happen with the kicking duo in 2019. During a media conference on Wednesday — one day before the CFL draft — O’Day was asked about the team having two proven kickers on its roster.

“That’s a good problem to have,” he said. “Both of those guys are very good kickers who kick at a very high level.

“There are ongoing discussions as to whether we bring them both to camp and let them compete and then also see if there’s interest (on the trade market). But I can assure you that all the other teams, if anyone’s interested in a kicker, they know that you can’t end up keeping two of them. You have to evaluate what the market would be for those guys and then make the decision from there.”

In the end, the decision was made to release Crapigna, ending his time in Saskatchewan. He leaves with game-winning field goals under his belt, with lifelong friends in holder Josh Bartel and long-snapper Jorgen Hus, and with fond memories of the Roughriders faithful.

“Obviously there’s a lot of scrutiny involved with the position that I play and mainly (with) just being on the Riders football team,” Crapigna said. “But that’s what you want as a football player. You want those people who are interested.

“In coming to the games, they want to see how you do and they’re cheering hard for you. I don’t think there’s a better organization in the CFL (for fan support) than that.”