Saskatchewan Roughriders' general manager Jeremy O'Day likes how CFL free agency has played out for his team.
"We didn't lose anyone that we didn't offer. When you have good players, it's something to be said about the number of our players that sign with other teams in the off-season is a credit to our personnel department and the job that they do," O'Day said.
"I feel like there are a lot of good players that won't be back for us, unfortunately, we weren't able to sign. You can only have one starter for each position and ultimately, it leads to you losing some players, which can happen in the offseason."
10 players players from the 2024 Riders team have signed elswhere in free agency. Peter Godber, Christian Albright, and Amari Henderson went to the Ottawa Redblacks. Miles Brown and Godfrey Onyeka went to the Calgary Stampeders. Adam Auclair and Deontai Williams went to the B.C. Lions and Shea Patterson and Jerreth Sterns went to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Anthony Lanier II went to the Toronto Argonauts.
American running back Khalan Laborn was recently signed by the Riders. O'Day initially wanted to bring him in last season. Laborn played for the Redblacks 2024, suiting up for six games, rushing 58 times for 310 yards and one touchdown.
"When A.J. [Ouellette] was going through his injuries, we explored bringing him in at that point," O'Day said. "We were only able to offer a practice roster spot at that time, so he went to Ottawa. He's a different style back than what we have, so we wanted to create some great competition and that's why we signed him."
O'Day felt less pressure to make changes to his roster in free agency coming off a 9-8-1 season in which Saskatchewan was second place in the West Division and made it to the West Final after winning a home playoff game. The Roughriders had nine all-stars and thanks to work by him and the front office, all nine are back with the team for the 2025 season.
"I thought we took some steps forward, new coaching staff, new players, coming to camp with new playbooks," O'Day said. "We're in good shape going into free agency, we don't have to do too much and you don't have to be super active. That's a nice difference from years past."
The CFL recently increased the salary cap by over $400,000 as reported by 3DowNation insider Justin Dunk. O'Day was surprised about the jump similar to many others.
"It was the same day as when it came out publicly we were made aware of that and it was surprising," O'Day said. "The majority of agreements were already in place with most teams, and to my knowledge, it didn't really change much in free agency."
