Canadian Football League fans like to know how much their favourite players are making and legendary Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant understands.
"You learn over time that it just comes with the territory," Durant told The SportsCage. "Me being a quarterback, it's a little bit different because we would make, if you look at it from the big picture, so much more than the other guys."
According to 3DownNation insider Justin Dunk, Durant earned $444,432 during his last season with the Riders in 2016 after earning $500,000 in previous years. He spent most of his CFL career with the Green and White from 2006 to 2016. No. 4 knows how much passion Rider Nation has for its team.
"You try to go out there and make sure that you produce on the field because, especially in a place like Saskatchewan, they'll let you know in the middle of the second quarter how much you're making: 'We don't pay you all of that for you to go out there and throw interceptions.'" Durant recalled.
The two-time Grey Cup champion gave his analysis redgarding the contract defensive back Tevaughn Campbell signed with Roughriders, according to Dunk it's a one-year deal worth $153,200 in hard money.
"That's a hometown discount; that's some familiarity that Tevaughn has with the organization and with [Jeremy O'Day]," Durant said. "This is a steal, especially if he still has some of the juice. He hasn't been injured, nothing major and like I said a couple of weeks ago, he's always been fast."
Many CFL players have statistical bonuses in their contracts. Durant and his teammates were well aware of those incentives during his playing days.
"There have been plenty of times we're going into game 16 or 17 knowing that [Chris] Getzlaf may need 47 yards, Alex Hall may need a sack, John Chick may need one-and-a-half sacks to hit an incentive," Durant recalled. "We're always nudging the coach to let this guy play or let's get the ball to these guys because they deserve their money."
Durant has witnessed politics playing a factor with CFL decision-makers keeping players from hitting statistical marks to unlock bonus money.
"I won't put any names on the head coach who did that, but it was definitely something that, especially us veteran guys, we lost respect for," Durant said. "That's something you don't do, especially as a coach, unless he's getting the word from up top: 'Make sure this guy doesn't get it or we can't go over the cap in this certain situation.' It's like this: it's guys' livelihoods, man, and trust me, we lost all respect for the coach who did that to one of our guys."
