Saskatchewan has entered the Trevor Harris era after deciding against re-signing former face of the franchise Cody Fajardo.
Harris inked a two-year contract with the Riders on the opening day of free agency that could pay him over $1 million over the span of the contract. He will make exactly $500,000 in hard money in 2023 with a raise to $525,000 in the second year of the deal.
“He’s been in the league a long time, so I always had respect for him. When you get a chance to actually visit with him personally and get to know him a little bit, you realize there’s a lot of high-character stuff with him. He’s a family man, he’s a team guy, he’s a hard worker — he’s constantly trying to improve and evolve his game,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said.
Securing a signature and commitment from Harris brought “good energy” to the Riders during free agency, according to Dickenson. General manager Jeremy O’Day stated Harris became the team’s “best recruiter” and helped with a remake on offence, which included adding receivers Jake Wieneke, Shawn Bane Jr., Derel Walker and Juwan Brescacin.
“He’s got great leadership qualities, he’s all about the team. He’s got a million ideas of how he’s going to try to help build the team camaraderie and how he’s going to bring the group together,” O’Day said.
“When you make that many changes on offence you’ve got to come together quick. You got guys that haven’t played together, so he’s all about that which is great. The on-field stuff’s going to take care of itself but it’s the off-field stuff that he’s been doing.”
Saskatchewan’s O-line took lots of public blame for a disappointing 6-12 season in 2022, costing the Roughriders a shot at the playoffs and a home Grey Cup. That unit surrendered a CFL-worst 77 sacks — 24 more than any other group — en route to posting the lowest offensive yardage total in the league.
O’Day brought in some new talent along the offensive line, Peter Godber is the odds-on favourite to take over for Dan Clark at centre and snap to Harris. While versatile Canadian Philip Blake could end up protecting his blindside or filling in another starting spot.
“That’s always good that you got guys that are pulling in the right direction,” O’Day said, “and selling the program that we all love.”
