‘Dream come true’: Regina’s own Mitch Picton retires after Grey Cup championship with hometown Riders

Saskatchewan Roughrider receiver Mitch Picton is retiring after nine seasons with the CFL club he grew up cheering for.

Regina-born receiver Mitch Picton has announced his retirement from football after spending nine years with the hometown Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I can’t overemphasize how much fun I had,” Picton said during a news conference Friday. “It was a dream come true to play for this team, play for this province. To represent this team and this province in the best way I could.”

“Not a day went by I wasn’t thankful to work here. I do truly love the game of football so much. These last eight years, and before that with the Rams, it’s truly been a dream come true and something I’ll never forget,” he added.

Picton’s dream was one which started when he was just a kid, running around Old Taylor Field in touch-football leagues at just five years old.

He then worked his way through Regina Minor Football (RMF) and eventually into the local high school league.

The former LeBoldus Golden Suns standout spent five seasons (2013-17) with the Regina Rams, playing in 38 U Sports games.

Over that span, he caught 170 passes for 2,447 yards and 24 touchdowns. In 2016, he led Canada West in catches (58), receiving yards (834) and aerial touchdowns (11) en route to being named a Canada West All-Star and a First-Team All-Canadian.

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It was an emotional day for Picton, who had many to thank, including teammates, friends, and numerous coaches.

The people he thanked the most, however, was his family.

“To my parents, my whole they’ve given me every opportunity to be successful in football and beyond,” Picton said holding back tears. “They’ve chased me around the entire country for years to support me and watch me play football.”

“I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me over the last few years,” he added.

Picton also thanked his siblings, their spouses, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, and grandparents for their support of his football career.

“They put their lives on hold from May until November to watch me play football,” he described. “They don’t take vacations in the summer or anything like that, weekends are cleared because they’re watching Rider football.”

Finally, calling her ‘the backbone’ of his career, Picton thanked his wife Kaylee for all she’s done.

“She’s been with me through my entire pro career. She’s taken every opportunity she could to support me and make sure that I have everything that I need,” Picton said. “All while still balancing her own career.”

He then described her as a “superhero.”

“Her job at work is not easy,” Picton added. “She’s taking care of babies all day, and she’s running from work, countless times, to the stadium straight from work to make sure she can make kick-off.”

‘Never would have believed you’

Selected by Saskatchewan in the fifth round (37th overall) of the 2017 CFL Canadian Draft, Picton caught 96 passes for 1,081 yards and six touchdowns in 64 career regular-season games with the Green and White.

He played in the Roughriders’ first game of any description at new Mosaic Stadium, the June 10, 2017 pre-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers when he caught two passes for 21 yards in that game.

During his graduating season with the Rams, Picton was also a member of the Roughriders’ practice roster. He returned to the practice roster in 2018 before making his CFL regular-season debut on July 27, 2019 against the host B.C. Lions.

Picton made a career-high 25 receptions in 2021, when he scored his first CFL touchdown. He also established a career single-game best for receptions (eight), against the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 20, 2021.

In 2023, Picton posted a personal-best 232 receiving yards.

Last season, Picton caught 20 passes for 226 yards in 14 regular-season games.

Seven of those receptions were registered against the visiting Calgary Stampeders on July 12.

He went on to wear No. 81 on Nov. 16 for the 112^th Grey Cup Game, in which Saskatchewan defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 in Winnipeg.

“If you had told me when I got drafted nine years ago, which is crazy, you’d be standing here as a Grey Cup champion with the career I’ve had, I never would have believed you,” Picton said. “It’s been more than I ever could have imagined.”

Picton says he’ll miss being around his teammates, adding he expects them over often for dinners.

What he will miss the most, however, is the team’s equipment staff in Gordon Gilroy and Ty Robinson, two men Picton says he spent dozens of hours with chatting about more than football in back rooms.

“I’m going to miss these guys a lot,” he said. “It might have seemed like I was just going back there to hang out and kind of shoot the s***, for lack of better terms with those two. But there’s some hard days in this job. And sometimes you go into that room for a cup of coffee and getting made fun of all the time by you was exactly what I needed.”

Lifelong Rider

Picton says the timing could not have been better to hang up the cleats, but he knew it was time.

“I’ve come out of camp the last couple of years with some stuff going on, some knee stuff going on, and just wear and tear on my body,” he described. “There comes a point where you feel like you can walk away from the game moderately intact, and I feel like that’s where I am right now.”

“I’ve said a bunch of times, ‘There’s not a ton of happy endings in this game.’ Could I have squeezed out a year or two out of it? Probably. Did I want to be broke down, be put back together and, you know, potential injuries and things like that? Not really. It did hold some weight to me to be able to walk out on my own terms as a Grey Cup champion and be able to end my career as I see fit,” Picton added.

It is a rare feat to play a sport for a lifetime in the same city, yet Picton did it.

“It’s special,” he said. “I honestly don’t know if my career would have been as long as it was had I ended up somewhere else … to stay here to go to school and then to get drafted at home, which I didn’t think was going to happen at the time, is something that was incredibly special for me. Partially because of what Rider Nation is.”

Picton’s time with the Roughriders includes the club’s establishment of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, which he has represented by visiting schools across the province and speaking with youth about literacy and mental health.

When asked what five-year-old Mitch would think about what he’s accomplished, the answer was simple.

“He would think it’s pretty damn cool,” Picton said with a smile. “There was a lot of hard years, when I wasn’t the featured guy on my team. It just goes back to really, I feel like I worked for everything I got in my career.”

You can expect to still see the Pictons regularly around Mosaic Stadium, with Mitch saying he’ll remain close to the team and continue to cheer them on from the stands.