Riders’ O’Day expects quiet free agency, again

Do not expect the Saskatchewan Roughriders to be active on the free agency market coming off a Grey Cup championship.

That’s according to VP of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day, who spoke to reporters ahead of the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) free agency communication window opening.

“We’re not going to be super active in free agency,” he said Friday. “With trying to get all our core guys back, we’ll evaluate that I guess.”

It’s a similar story to the previous offseason, where Saskatchewan made very few free agent signings and retained much of their previous roster.

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Teams are allowed to talk to pending free agents without contracts and have not been released by their respective clubs beginning Sunday.

At the end of last season, the Roughriders had 44 pending players without contracts.

To date, 18 have signed extensions to stay with the club, two have been released with another two retiring

O’Day says the focus has been on retaining the Riders’ core, again.

“We’ve secured a fair number of our free agents,” he said. “I don’t think [I’m] ever really super comfortable with the roster at this time of the year, but [we’re] heading in the right direction.”

“It’s a challenging time when you have that many free agents to try to retain as many guys as you want but we feel pretty good about where we’re at,” O’Day added.

Key pieces still pending

Some key pieces still without contracts include running back A.J. Ouellette, linebackers A.J. Allen and C.J. Reavis as well as defensive lineman Malik Carney.

O’Day says talks with each player continue but with the opening of the communication window for other teams to make their pitch means anything could happen.

“Other teams can talk to them and they may have a different value for a player than you do. That’s pro football,” he explained. “Other teams are going to recruit them and probably tell them everything they want to hear.”

Given the window’s opening, O’Day says it can be both a positive and negative. Going on to say sometimes players do not receive offers they believed they could get.

“It’s just another tool for both the team and the player if they can’t reach an agreement,” the general manager said. “They can utilize the window to come back and say, ‘You know, this is what the market is, and are you willing to do that?’ And if not, you have to make decisions.”

O’Day on KeeSean Johnson

Despite being asked often about the several players without contracts, O’Day did speak to one player he has been able to recently sign: KeeSean Johnson.

The Riders announced Wednesday Johnson had inked a two-year extension following his first career 1,000-yard receiving season.

“I do kind of laugh, last year going into the season, everyone was worried about our receiving corps, and now it’s, ‘Holy cow, you’re not going to get your receiving corps back,” O’Day chuckled. “KeeSean, Dohnte [Meyers], Joe Robustelli all got more opportunities to play.”

“Always wanted to bring [Johnson] back, to be honest with you. But we just had to go through some of the other parts before we knew if we were going to be able to meet his demands. KeeSean probably could have got a bit more [on the open market] and I think he understood that, but he made it be known that he wanted to be back,” he added.

The contract extension keeps Johnson in Green and White through the 2027 season.

Quarterback depth

Some Roughrider signings could also spell the end of one quarterback’s tenure in Green and White.

So far this offseason, pivots Trevor Harris, Tommy Stevens and Jack Coan have each signed extensions. Saskatchewan also added former Sun Belt Conference player of the year Jordan McCloud to their quarterback room.

That is four quarterbacks already on the roster with 2025 number two Jake Maier still without a contract.

O’Day wouldn’t comment specifically to Maier’s contract talks but did hint he will not be returning.

“You can read into it,” he said. “I thought [Jake] was excellent and did a great job for us. Last year, the best opportunity for him was with us. Things can change, so you can read into it. But in fairness to the player involved, I won’t comment.”

Maier started two games for Saskatchewan in 2025, appearing in five total. In those games, he went 56 of 87 passing for 617 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Fields returning to Riders’ secondary on 2-year extension

Meanwhile, the Roughriders announcing Friday defensive back Damarcus Fields has signed a two-year extension.

Since joining the team in 2024, Fields has played all 36 regular season games, including 18 games and two post-season appearances as a CFL rookie in 2024.

He posted career-highs in 2025 in defensive tackles (57), special teams tackles (11), interceptions (two) and team-leading eight pass knockdowns over 18 regular season games. He also ranked third on the team in defensive plays. He started both the Western Final and the 112^th Grey Cup, earning five defensive tackles and one special teams tackle.

Prior to the Roughriders, the Texas Tech alum signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 NFL Draft.

He went on to play two regular season games for the Saints that season. He joined the Washington Commanders’ practice roster in October of 2022 and remained with Washington through August of 2023.