Reports: Riders to name Jason Maas offensive co-ordinator

According to reports, the Saskatchewan Roughriders could have a new offensive co-ordinator for the 2020 CFL season.

TSN’s Dave Naylor is reporting it’s “a done deal” that Jason Maas will become the Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator. The Roughriders haven’t announced the hiring.

Hearing Jason Maas as @sskroughriders OC is a done deal and has been for at least a couple of days. Maas has been in Regina since Wed to begin putting together a staff alongside HC Craig Dickenson. Obviously, last season’s OC, Steve McAdoo is not having contract renewed. #Riders

— David William Naylor (@TSNDaveNaylor) December 5, 2019

Maas, 44, was fired from his role as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos on Nov. 27 with one year left on his contract.

He spent four seasons as the CFL team’s bench boss, compiling a 39-33-0 regular-season record and going 3-3 in the playoffs. Edmonton was defeated by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 36-16 in the 2019 East Division final.

“This one catches me by surprise for a couple of reasons. One is there really had been no link between Jason Maas and Saskatchewan,” Naylor told the Green Zone on Thursday. “I talk to people in the league every day so I hear stuff every single day — some of it turns out to be true, some of it turns out not to be true.

“Most of the stuff that happens you’ve at least kind of heard kicked around as a possibility. This one I had not heard kicked around.”

Naylor also said Maas was in consideration for the Ottawa Redblacks’ head-coaching job but was ultimately not interviewed.

Maas spent 11 seasons as a quarterback in the CFL, playing 198 regular-season games and making 62 starts. A product of Beaver Dam, Wis., Maas completed 1,256 of 2,055 pass attempts for 17,126 yards with 81 touchdowns and 64 interceptions.

He spent time with the Eskimos, Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes. He won two Grey Cups (2003, 2005) as the backup to Ricky Ray in Edmonton.

Maas also won a Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012, when he was their quarterbacks coach.

In Saskatchewan, he would replace offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo, who joined the Roughriders in 2016.

McAdoo’s contract expired after the 2019 season. He reportedly is one of the head-coaching candidates for the Redblacks.

Naylor said Maas has found success with the quarterbacks in his systems.

“Mike Reilly was perennially the leading passer in the league when Jason Maas was coaching him and this year, Trevor Harris was there, and until (Harris) got hurt, he was the leading passer in the league,” Naylor said. “It’s a pass-heavy offence and they are not afraid to throw it deep.”

Naylor said Maas is in Regina to try and determine who would be on his staff.