There is no debate about who the franchise quarterback will be for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2024, but the search for their next one is already underway.
Speaking to the media this week, general manager Jeremy O’Day acknowledged that establishing a long-term plan behind veteran Trevor Harris would be one of the team’s focuses this offseason.
“That’s part of the conversation we had when we interviewed the coaches, is how does it look moving forward?” O’Day revealed. “Unanimously everyone feels good with Trevor but the reality is, you can only play for so long and you need to have a good quarterback for a long period of time. That is something that’s on our minds but we hope that that succession plan doesn’t doesn’t have to happen this year.”
New Riders’ head coach Corey Mace and offensive coordinator Marc Mueller have been adamant in their commitment to Harris, promising to “build a rocketship” around their incumbent starter. However, the 11-year veteran, who is set to turn 38 years old in May, is coming off a tibial plateau fracture that limited him to just five games in his first season with the team.
Saskatchewan struggled to keep pace in the West Division without their star quarterback and ultimately missed the playoffs. Third-year backup Mason Fine made four starts in relief, completing 94-of-136 passes (69.1 percent) for 1,043 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions before losing his job to third-stringer Jake Dolegala. The 27-year-old logged the remaining nine starts, completing 216-of-333 attempts (64.8 percent) for 2,641 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Both Dolegala and Fine are slated to become free agents next month and will command raises from their rookie deals if they stay with the organization. According to O’Day, the jury is still out on whether either player is the succession plan the organization is searching for.
“You have to have that next guy in place and so we’re very aware of that. We’re evaluating that. Do we have a guy that’s in-house? Do we see other guys that are potentially free agents that could be franchise guys? Those are the things that we’re going through now,” he said.
“We’re still a little bit in the evaluation phase of who do we think would be the best candidate for the offence that we’re going to run and how does Marc [Mueller] feel about the guys that we have in-house that are pending free agents versus other guys that potentially may become free agents.”
If neither internal option makes the grade, then the Riders could dip their toes into the open market in search of their next quarterback. Known commodities potentially available include NFL returnee Chris Streveler, Elks’ castoff Taylor Cornelius, and Ticats’ playoff starter Matthew Shiltz, but a much larger swing could also be possible.
According to Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ general manager Kyle Walters, backup Dru Brown is not expected to be back with that franchise as he searches for a starting job elsewhere in the league. If he isn’t satisfied with the one projected opening in Ottawa, then landing behind the CFL’s oldest quarterback in Harris could be a natural fit.
O’Day would not answer questions about Brown directly while he remains under contract with Winnipeg but did admit landing the quarterback being dubbed “the next one” by fans and media makes for a nice hypothetical.
“That would be a very attractive scenario,” he grinned. “That’s the idea is you’d like to have the succession plan in place. And again, hopefully, Trevor has a great year and we can talk about that at the end of this season but we also have to be prepared for the future.”
Brown has completed 102-of-153 pass attempts (66.6 percent) for 1,484 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions in three seasons with Winnipeg. At 26 years old, he is expected to be a hot commodity in free agency despite the small amount of open quarterback positions.
The Riders recently renegotiated Harris’ contract to provide some additional cap space, which could help them pay for his eventual replacement. The Waldo, Oh. native is nearing 30,000 career passing yards in the CFL but threw for just 1,274 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions in his first season in Regina. He has previously stated that he intends to play into his forties.
CFL free agency is slated to open on February 13 at noon ET. Saskatchewan will begin their 2024 season on Saturday, June 8 when they travel to Edmonton to face the Elks.
