Riders general manager Jeremy O’Day provides update ahead of free agency

Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day continues to put the puzzle pieces together for how the 2026 roster will roll out.

O’Day has been busy trying to re-sign members from the 2025 Grey Cup championship team. The team had 44 pending free agents this offseason and currently 18 of those have be signed to extensions. Those include quarterback Trevor Harris, wide receiver KeeSean Johnson and defensive back Tevaughn Campbell.

But with many free agents still without contracts ahead of the CFL Free Agency Communication Window, there’s plenty of work to be done.

“I think we’re getting close. We’ve secured a fair number of our free agents. I don’t think you’re ever really super comfortable with the roster at this time of the year but I think we’re heading in the right direction,” O’Day said. “It’s a challenging time when you have that many free agents to try to retain as many guys as you want. We feel pretty good about where we are at and still feel comfortable moving forward with what the team will look like when we’re done.”

The CFL Free Agency Communication Window allows pending free agents to begin negotiations with other teams ahead of the official start of free agency on Feb. 10.

O’Day said they would love to bring back everyone but that’s just not a realistic possibility.

“We’re going to have to make decisions on who we can bring back, who we can offer and who we can’t. It’s no fault of the team or the players. Sometimes players understand their window to play football is limited so they want to get as much money as they can and there’s other players who are more comfortable with staying and, in some cases, taking a similar contract or less,” O’Day said. “That really hasn’t happened very much in our negotiations. Most guys are looking for increased salaries, which I understand. We had a successful year and they want to capitalize on that as well.”

One of the pending free agents remains running back A.J. Ouellette. The rusher had 1,222 yards and eight touchdowns last season. O’Day indicated there was some positive momentum behind getting him re-signed.

“We’ve had good conversations and feel like it’s going in the right direction,” O’Day said.

On the defensive side of the ball, there didn’t appear to be as much positive momentum when it came to key free agents like linebacker A.J. Allen, linebacker C.J. Reavis and defensive end Malik Carney.

Allen enjoyed a breakout season in 2025 as he was named the team’s Most Outstanding Canadian.

“I would say they are early on discussions (with Allen) — probably haven’t had discussions very often,” O’Day said. “We will wait and see. I would never say there’s no chance but I will tell you we’re not going to get all our guys back who are free agents. I just won’t get into the specifics of who or what we figure will happen. He’s very valuable and other teams see that as well so those discussions are somewhat ongoing.

“There’s only so much room you have with your cap when you’re signing so many guys back.”

One of the players the team has brought back will be kicker Michael Hughes. Hughes was signed late in the season and only played in one game for the Riders but he is expected to compete for the starting job come training camp. Kicker Brett Lauther, who struggled through much of the 2025 season, remains on the roster.

“It’s going to be an open competition. The roster is still fluid but regardless of who we bring to camp, it will be a competition. What we like about Michael Hughes is just he’s got a huge leg — something for us to start racking our brains about is the goal posts will move back in a year so how is that going to affect the kicking game. We like his leg strength and he was also very accurate. He has done it for a long time in college at a high rate of success and we’ve had him in the building,” O’Day said.

“Just a good quality kicker that we are going to give an opportunity to compete.”