Recent struggles suggest the Saskatchewan Roughriders should drop their obsession with having a mostly Canadian offensive line.
“It’s certainly something we’re having discussions about,” general manager Jeremy O’Day told the media when asked about making a shift. “We feel like we have the flexibility, ratio-wise, to go with three Americans if we want to.”
In true CFL fashion, the Roughriders announced the signing of three-time CFL all-star centre Sean McEwen after we all got to talk to the GM. He along with Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman finalist Logan Ferland and fellow free agent addition Philippe Gagnon could make up a traditional three-Canadian-front, with Zack Fry and Noah Zerr as backups.
However, in this era of Moneyball and analytics galore, there is a ton of raw data to suggest teams should no longer “hide the Canadians” on their offensive line, as Johnny Manziel once said on a podcast. The loss of stud tackle Trevor Reid to the Minnesota Vikings might provide pause to the idea of a three-import front but the American talent pool is deep.
Since the end of the pandemic-shortened schedule of 2021, the Riders have had mostly poor results with their offensive line — especially when it comes to building a Canadian foundation for it.
2022 started with great promise at 4-1, only to have it all go up in smoke, piling up losses and quarterback sacks at an alarming rate. By the time the prairie dust had settled, the Riders were 6-12, embarrassed to be out of the playoffs in a Grey Cup hosting year. In the process, they gave up a franchise-record 77 sacks, which led to one-time resident rockstar Cody Fajardo, along with nearly his entire offensive coaching staff, getting kicked out of the band.
In 2023, we were told Trevor Harris would get the ball out quickly, without all of Cody’s unnecessary dance moves. The offensive line was upgraded too, chasing centre Peter Godber in free agency to take over from the aged-out Dan Clark and poaching Philip Blake from the Grey Cup champion Argos. All that wouldn’t save Harris from a season-ending knee injury and the team ended with seven straight losses as sacks galore piled up again. Another disastrous 6-12 stink-bomb blew head coach Craig Dickenson and all but two of his assistant coaches right out of the ‘306’.
2024 once again brought a free agency splash on offence, this time adding star running back A.J. Ouellette to take pressure off and a major American investment up front in the form of all-star right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick. But injuries piled up yet again, beginning with the aging and expensive Hardrick, and the Riders fell into another tailspin that included a seven-game winless skid. Things got so bad that defensive tackle Micah Johnson even had to switch sides — and numbers — to play O-line on a couple of occasions.
It was the third straight year of employing three Canadians on the inside and two American tackles on an offensive line that ultimately failed every time. But staring down the barrel of a third-straight late-season collapse, the team made a switch. Down the stretch, Trevor Reid and Trevon Tate would take the usual American outside tackle spots while fellow American Nick Jones would start at right guard.
This unconventional move might have been the smartest one the team has made in O’Day’s time as GM. After a tight Banjo Bowl loss, they rattled off four straight victories with Tate, Reid, and either Jones or Jacob Brammer up front. Logan Ferland, seemingly the only Canadian O-linemen that the Riders can count on these days, handled the snaps at centre, with fellow Canuck Zack Fry helping at left guard. It eventually led to a playoff victory over the B.C. Lions in the West Semi-Final.
In seven games where the Riders employed this three-American strategy, they gave up an average of just 1.7 sacks per game. That’s compared with two sacks per game the rest of the season — which didn’t change at all when backup Shea Patterson was in — and nearly three sacks per game from the year before. They also ran the ball better too, averaging 105.42 yards per game instead of the 80.75 they mustered the rest of the year.
This is all raw data that doesn’t measure intangibles or tell the whole story by any means but at the same time, the numbers don’t lie. In this case, they paint an intriguing picture.
With a healthy Peter Godber in tow and Trevor Reid injured, the Roughriders wanted extra Americans at other positions and reverted back to the three-Canadian model for the West Final with Ferland playing right tackle. In hindsight, the results might have been predictable: two sacks given up and just 77 yards along the ground despite having two import running backs dressed.
It’s not like the Roughriders haven’t tried to bulk up their Canadian depth along the offensive line in recent years. 2020 first-round draft pick Mattland Riley had to wait out the pandemic-cancelled season and eventually retired after one game played, which is hardly their fault. Logan Bandy was a fifth-round pick who showed promise moving from tackle to centre very early in his career but also retired at just 24. 2022 third-rounder Diego Alatorre lasted just a single year on the practice squad before being cast aside.
They got very little mileage from adding the aging and oft-injured Philip Blake in free agency, which cost them dearly. The signing of former all-star Ryan Sceviour also didn’t pan out as many imagined.
To make matters worse, this year’s CFL draft class for Canadian offensive linemen is being called ‘weak’ by at least one draft analyst. That isn’t such a big deal if the Riders simply hang their hat on their much more impressive track record of drafting and developing Canadians at skilled positions. Even with Ajou Ajou’s departure to the NFL, Saskatchewan boasts enough big play potential to start a trio of ratio-breaking pass-catchers in Kian Schaffer-Baker, Sam Emilus and Dhel Duncan-Busby, with Tommy Nield and Mitch Picton as insurance.
Or maybe the Riders could look to other positions in the draft to bulk up their Canadian depth. They did, after all, just sign University of Regina Ram alum and Canadian corner Tevaughn Campbell, who might have enough gas left in the tank to help the Riders’ secondary after six years in the NFL.
Still, O’Day sounds unconvinced he’ll want to change anything. The signing of McEwen and Gagnon to go along with Ferland signals a mostly Canadian offensive line is still in the works.
“Ideally, if you have three really good Canadians inside, it helps you with your ratio and you can utilize your ratio somewhere else,” O’Day said.
He might be right but a good chunk of the cold, hard data tells us he’s wrong.
Will the fourth time be the charm for the Riders’ mission to finally construct an offensive line that survives the haul of an 18-game season? It’s still too early to tell. But thinking outside the box just might be the answer to turn that into a YES.
