Saskatchewan Roughriders’ DL Shane Ray: Corey Mace gave love of football ‘back to me’

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Former first-round NFL draft pick Shane Ray, who signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders earlier this week, credits Corey Mace, the team’s head coach, with rekindling his passion for football.

The two men spent the 2022 season together with the Toronto Argonauts when Mace was the team’s defensive coordinator. The coach challenged Ray, who was in his second year with the team, to lead the defensive line group, a request he initially resisted.

“Coach Mace came in that motherf***er and he demanded a level of leadership from me that I had not had to do before in my career. It’s always been me able to lead through my talent because you put me out there, I’m gonna make the play. It’s easy to follow the guy who’s making the plays. It’s different when you actually have to lead a group of men,” Ray recently told the Raw Room Podcast.

“I’m technically the vet in the room and everything with the most experience. Coach Mace was like, ‘Man, they was f***ing up so bad, bro — the whole D-line was just looking trash.’ Everybody left and he held me back. He was like, ‘These motherf***ers go with you, so whatever you want this D-line to be like, it’s on you.’ Initially, I’m like, ‘Damn, why you putting it on me? These are grown-ass men.’ But there’s gotta be a vet in the room.”

Ray was part of a defensive line that year that included future standouts Jared Brinkman, Brandon Barlow, Dewayne Hendrix, and Robbie Smith. There were also a few veterans, including Ja’Gared Davis and Shawn Oakman, though Ray claims to have been the leader of the group. The team was 4-5 at the midway point of the season but finished strong to go 11-7 and place first in the East Division standings.

“It shaped me, so it started having my gears turn. I started diving more into what it truly means to be a leader and somebody that is a reliable teammate. I started reading Kobe Bryant books — I had a little Kobe thing on my locker that was talking about being a good teammate, do this, do that — just a whole list of things. I just started expanding my role, staying later, having more conversations with coaches and s***,” said Ray.

“Mace, he flourished it. He let me be me, he let me come into the meeting rooms. I got to do my job as well, but when it was slack and s*** was f***ing up, Mace would be like, ‘Nah, Shane, you gotta handle this s***, get them right,’ and that just revitalized me. I felt like I had my purpose back and my meaning back, and I was not only playing ball and having fun and not worried about no extra s***, but having guys that I could pull along with me — guys was looking up to me, like, ‘Yo, how do you do this? Show me.’ To give and receive and be in that mode was a first for me and it just really brought me back because I fell out of love for the game. I couldn’t even watch football, I just felt like it was snatched from me and Mace gave it back to me.”

The Argonauts shocked the CFL world that fall, defeating the reigning back-to-back champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup by a score of 24-23. Ray was inactive for the game after suffering a torn bicep late in the season but garnered fresh NFL interest after registering 13 tackles, six sacks, and two forced fumbles that year.

Ray, who was with the Denver Broncos for four seasons after being taken in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, signed with the Buffalo Bills in 2023. He called his tenure with the team an “incredible experience” but pulled his hamstring in their second preseason game and was subsequently released. He attended training camp with the Tennessee Titans in 2024 but was again cut, leading him to return to the CFL and reunite with Mace.

The 31-year-old native of Kansas City, Mo. indicated that Mace has encouraged him to pursue coaching once his playing career is over.

“He’s the one who’s like, ‘Bro, you know you need to be a coach — I’m telling you, you need to be an NFL coach.’ It’s coaches like that — a coach that is going to be hard on you and set expectations and demands, but also pour it into you as a player. I could text Mace right now, call Mace right now and he’ll answer the phone and have a full conversation with me and fill me with good energy and s*** like that and that’s rare because I don’t think these coaches nowadays are taking the time to truly develop these guys and really pour into these guys.”

Saskatchewan had one of the CFL’s best defensive lines in 2024, but several key players, including Bryan Cox Jr., Micah Johnson, Anthony Lanier II, and Miles Brown, remain pending free agents. However, one thing appears certain: Ray will be expected to take on a leadership role in Riderville.