Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Jeremy O'Day. (Britton Gray/980 CJME file photo)

By Britton Gray/ CJME News

Roughriders’ O’Day busy to start free agency

Feb 11, 2021 | 5:56 PM

With question marks still surrounding some of the players the Saskatchewan Roughriders hoped to re-sign, general manager Jeremy O’Day decided against the wait-and-see approach.

The first day of CFL free agency saw the Roughriders sign a bevy of players, with a majority of those players on the defensive side of the ball.

The team is heading into 2021 with none of its starting linebackers from 2019 under contract. Derrick Moncrief is currently signed to a future/reserve contract with the Los Angeles Rams, Solomon Elimimian retired and Cam Judge is still pursuing NFL opportunities.

Judge was seen as one of the top prizes in 2021 free agency, with the 26-year-old linebacker being named the West Division’s most outstanding Canadian in 2019.

But O’Day said when it came to Judge, the team had to eliminate some of the risk associated with him possibly not coming back to the CFL and re-signing with the Riders.

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“We really had a decision to make and at that point the decision was, ‘Do you wait and hope that you get him back or do you make a decision to attack free agency?’ ” O’Day told media on Thursday.

He said the team didn’t want to hold back a substantial amount of salary for a few days and let the free-agent market dwindle.

The Roughriders were busy on the defensive side of the ball, signing American linebacker Larry Dean and Canadian linebackers (and brothers) Justin and Jordan Herdman Reed.

The team also signed American defensive tackle Micah Johnson, American defensive back Lorenzo Jerome and Canadian DB Godfrey Onyeka. Jerome has played both defensive back and linebacker.

“All of these decisions are not easy decisions. It was very thought through and affected the way we approach free agency,” O’Day said. “I’m sure that (Judge) will have an opportunity in the CFL if he chooses to come back.”

One of the things losing Judge could do is possibly force the Riders to adjust their ratio on defence.

“I think we have some good Canadian linebackers that can play at a high level but we also have the ability to switch our ratio if need be where we can go with a (Canadian) field corner and add another Canadian defensive back,” O’Day said. “We also have a good group of Canadian receivers where we have an opportunity there.”

The Roughriders also released Charleston Hughes, who is nearing the top of the CFL’s all-time sacks list. O’Day said they were in conversations for multiple weeks.

“From our standpoint, it got to a point where we really needed to know if Charleston was going to come back and so we felt like it wasn’t fair for both parties to continue to have conversations if we didn’t feel like a deal could get done,” O’Day said.

“At that time, we decided that it was best to release Charleston. It gives him the ability to get out in front of the free agent market.”

On offence, the Riders have signed only one player so far — guard Evan Johnson.

While it was a busy start to free agency, O’Day says a majority of the Roughriders’ work is done.

“I don’t ever want to say never. We’re always looking for opportunities to try and make our team better, so there may be some more (signings) happen but I don’t anticipate it. We’ll continue to have conversations with some guys and there’s nothing imminent right now,” O’Day said.

Other transactions

The club announced Thursday it had signed American defensive back Damon Webb.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder out of Ohio State University signed with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He played in four pre-season games that season.

As a senior with the Buckeyes, the Detroit product had five interceptions. He was named the MVP in the 2017 Cotton Bowl.

The Roughriders also announced Canadian offensive lineman Vincent Roy had retired. Saskatchewan selected him in the sixth round (53rd overall) in the 2019 CFL draft, but the Sherbrooke Vert et Or product didn’t play a game in the CFL.