O’Day, Roughriders busy during first days of CFL free agency

After his team endured a second straight 6-12 season in 2023, Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day had a busy start to free agency this week.

The Roughriders signed six CFL free agents as well as an American fullback to their official roster on Tuesday after reaching agreements with a number of players during the negotiation window the previous week.

“When you have a year when you are 6-and-12, you have to make some change and have to change the mix of players you have in the building,” O’Day said Wednesday at Mosaic Stadium. “It’s a crazy period in the window there – you are talking to a lot of people at once.

“We feel good about the positions we were able to get.”

The Riders got Tuesday started by announcing running back AJ Ouellette was officially joining the team. That was followed by announcements that offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, defensive back Jalon Edwards-Cooper, linebacker Jameer Thurman, defensive end Malik Carney and Canadian linebacker Jordan Herdman-Reed were also set to join the Green and White for 2024.

While the Riders have struggled in back-to-back seasons, O’Day said that hasn’t affected free agents wanting to join the club. One of the big positives for the club when it came to negotiations was the new coaching staff with head coach Corey Mace at the helm.

“Having Coach Mace here was a big plus going through the window, and getting him on the phone with players we targeted was a big deal,” O’Day said. “You can feel his energy when he gets on the phone with you.

“He’s not someone that calls you – he FaceTimes you so always be prepared if you’re sitting around and he calls you. He always wants to talk to players face to face.”

A number of the players the Riders have brought in bring championship experience – Hardrick has two Grey Cup rings with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2019, 2021), Thurman has a ring from his time with the Calgary Stampeders (2018) and Ouellette won the 2022 CFL championship with the Toronto Argonauts.

O’Day said bringing in players who knows what it takes to win Grey Cups is important.

“It certainly helps. They are all very similar in their character – they are all blue-collar guys and just workers,” O’Day said. “They just go to work every day and are consistent in their play and they are pros. I felt like we do have a good locker room but they will only add to it.”

While there will be high expectations for the team after two disappointing years, O’Day said it is ultimately up to the players who will need to reach those heights.

“I think the big responsibility for the success of the team is really the players. Coaches can stand and give their messages and give their speeches but it really comes down to how hard the players are going to work and how well they are going to bond with each other,” O’Day said.

While free agency can’t win a team the Grey Cup, O’Day believes it is an important part of the process.

But he would like to be less busy during the period.

“I think the goal is to be less active in free agency and have the same core of guys coming back,” O’Day said. “We were probably a bit more active than we want to be, but when you come off a season with six wins, there’s going to be some change.

“(There’s) a new coaching staff and a new philosophy and so there is some input for them and there’s some evaluations of the roster before you get into free agency … I’d love to be less active next year come this time but we are always going to try to improve the team. If you feel like you did good in free agency, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to have a great year.

“We certainly think that we added some good players and it is really on the players just putting it on their backs and working extremely hard for the next couple months and then working on the chemistry once we get to training camp.”

O’Day said they are never really done trying to make the team better, but the salary cap means teams can’t keep adding players.