The Saskatchewan Roughriders weren’t doing backflips when left tackle Trevor Reid signed with the Minnesota Vikings, but the Green and White understand the financial upside.
Reid drew NFL interest after starting all 18 regular season games during his first year in the CFL last season. He earned the Riders’ Most Outstanding Rookie award for protecting the blindsides of Trevor Harris and Shea Patterson.
“Coming into camp last year, no one really knew who Trevor Reid was. It is disappointing when you have a guy that came in and started every game for us… 24 years old, super athletic and the future is great for him,” general manager Jeremy O’Day said.
“We did an excellent job with our scouting at that position. It’s been such a tough position for us the last number of years, with injuries and the amount of guys we’ve gone through. I guess the fortunate part of last year with having so many injuries and playing so many tackles, we actually have a number of them that are on our roster.”
The six-foot-five, 307-pound Reid suffered a knee injury in the West Semi-Final. Logan Ferland initially went to left tackle but he and Trevon Tate switched sides. Tate started the West Final at left tackle with Ferland at right tackle. Jacob Brammer started two games at right tackle, while Nick Jones started one. That was after Jermarcus Hardrick suffered a quad injury in Week 6.
“Gift and a curse. Definitely was a gift to have a guy of Trevor’s calibre. Being such a young guy coming out of college, he had a learning curve as far as getting comfortable with the CFL game. To this day, I still think he’s one of the most athletic offensive linemen that I’ve ever been around since being up in the CFL. He’s getting his opportunity,” head coach Corey Mace said.
“Then also the gift of the curse of being decimated with injuries at that position at the offensive line. We had guys cross-training different positions all season. We’ve got a multitude of guys who we believe can play at that left tackle position. We’re really happy for Trevor. Excited for somebody else to go ahead and take that spot.”
Mace believes Saskatchewan’s personnel department, led by O’Day along with assistant general managers Kyle Carson and Paul Jones, football operations director Jordan Greenly, and player personnel coordinator Larry Dean, can identify quality athletes to compete at the tackle positions. That was the same group who collaborated to find and sign Reid.
“We feel like we probably have a guy that could fill that position,” O’Day said. “We do feel like we’ve got some guys that could compete for that position.”
Expect Trevon Tate to be the favourite to start at left tackle. He’s re-signed with the Riders for the 2025 CFL season and started at that spot in the West Final last year.
