Vanstone's 5 takeaways from Jeremy O'Day's media session

11/25/2024 04:04 PM

Jeremy O'Day met with the media on Thursday to review the Saskatchewan Roughriders' 2024 season and look to the future.

The CFL team's vice-president of football operations and general manager discussed a year in which the Roughriders finished in second place and won a home playoff game before facing a Winnipeg Blue Bombers squad that ultimately represented the West Division in the Grey Cup.

Here are five takeaways from O'Day's session with reporters:

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"AN ASCENDING TEAM"

"There's one goal when you go into every season — to win a championship," O'Day said. "When you don't reach that goal, it's disappointing.

"But I thought we took a lot of positive steps as a football team, for sure."

The Roughriders posted a 9-8-1 record after going 6-12-0 and missing the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons.

"Some of the things that we wanted to accomplish and improve going into the season, I thought that we were successful in doing that," O'Day said.

"Every football season is going to be different. It's kind of like a book. There are going to be all sorts of different chapters."

While closing the book on 2024, O'Day alluded to early-season records of 4-0-0 and 5-1-0 under first-year Head Coach Corey Mace, a string of injuries that affected the team for most of the season, and a four-game winning streak that allowed the Roughriders to secure hosting privileges for the Western Semi-Final.

"We're happy that we got the home playoff game," O'Day said. "We feel like the more home playoff games you get, the more chances you have to be successful and win Grey Cups.

"It wasn't the goal that we were after, but it was a step within that grand plan of winning a championship that we wanted to get. We're happy that we got it in front of our home fans and won that game.

"Ultimately, we came up short, and we're going to use it as a building block. I truly feel like this is an ascending team. I feel like we've got young players who are becoming really good players.

"I feel like we've done a decent job with putting ourselves in position going into the off-season. I feel like there's some momentum and that our players are excited about 2025."

QUARTERBACKING QUERY

O'Day was asked about the status of quarterback Trevor Harris, who is a pending free agent.

"We haven't made a decision on any of the players yet as far as who's coming back and who we want back," said the Riders' GM, noting that meetings are happening this week to discuss the roster and the coaches' evaluations.

"That doesn't mean that we do want him back or we don't want him back. But I will say that Trevor is everything that you see on a regular basis — when he speaks, when he's in the huddle, when he's in the locker room, when he's home with his family.

"He's a true leader. There's not enough weight that we can put on what he does for the organization, as someone who came here only two years ago.

"There's the impact that he has on younger players, his work ethic, his preparation. Most people wouldn't see the amount of time that he spends communicating with Marc (Mueller, Offensive Co-ordinator).

"He's a tremendous person. I thought it was just awesome how he persevered going through an injury this year. Playing at that level after coming back from an injury is very impressive. To be a division all-star after missing six games is quite impressive, especially at the quarterback position.

"We love Trevor. Those are obviously discussions that we'll have moving forward, but there's nothing to report right now."

SALARY-CAP CHALLENGE

The number of injuries was impactful as the Roughriders strived to deal with the active-roster flux and adhere to the salary cap.

"A lot of the tough part of the salary cap is trying to predict how many players you're going to have on an injured list — not necessarily long-term injured, but more short-term injured," O'Day said, "so we'll be close.

"Some of it was out of our control as far as whether we're going to be over it or right to it. It has a lot to do with how many guys are on the one-game injured list."

Salaries of players who are on the one-game list count against the cap. Anyone placed on the six-game list is cap-exempt for that period.

"We had a lot of injuries that were outside of the six weeks," O'Day noted. "They were three- or four-week injuries. When you have that many guys on the one-game list, it stresses your cap."

LINE CHANGES

The offensive line was especially hard-hit by injuries. Over the course of the season, there were 12 different starters over five spots.

"We had our share of injuries up front," O'Day said. "It's not a position where you really want to move guys around much, but we had to move them quite a bit.

"It's really a credit to our Offensive Line Coach, Edwin Harrison, who just did a great job of preparing these guys. One week they're on the practice roster and the next week they're starting."

Logan Ferland started at three different positions — centre, right guard and right tackle — en route to being named the West Division's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman.

Ferland and several other key veterans are under contract for next season.

That list also includes defensive halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. (the West's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2024), All-CFL cover linebacker C.J. Reavis, two-time 1,000-yard receiver Samuel Emilus, pass-catching cohorts Kian Schaffer-Baker and Shawn Bane Jr., kicker Brett Lauther, running back A.J. Ouellette, offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, punter Adam Korsak and long snapper Jorgen Hus.

FREE-AGENCY PHILOSOPHY

"I don't think it's a successful situation when you're having to be super-active in free agency," O'Day said. "That's just my own opinion.

"I feel like players grow when they play together for a number of years. If you can get the continuity of really good players who are playing a number of years together, I think they just grow.

"It's just like anything. It grows kind of organically where the longer they're together, the bigger bond they have."