Jeremy O’Day explains Saskatchewan Roughriders decision to bring back Brett Lauther

Photo: Tanner Piper/Piper Sports Photography/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders traded a fifth-round pick in the 2027 CFL Draft to the Ottawa Redblacks on Wednesday to acquire a player they cast aside in February: kicker Brett Lauther.

The move certainly made sense at the time. Last year, the veteran made 39-of-54 field goal attempts, which ranked last in the CFL at 72.2 percent. He also missed a 39-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the Grey Cup.

General manager and vice-president of football operations Jeremy O’Day doesn’t regret moving on from Lauther this past winter, reminding the media that he doesn’t have a crystal ball.

“We make decisions in real time based on the information that we have, and at the time I thought it was the right decision,” O’Day told the media in Regina on Wednesday.

“You could also look at it as maybe it was a good thing for Brett, too, to get into a different environment and have an opportunity to see from a different angle, and maybe change some things up. Credit to him being a pro and battling back.

“Pro sports are tough — you can have a bad year and something like this happens, then you get on with another team and do really well, so credit to how he’s done, and excited to have him back in the building, and hopefully he continues to play well.”

Lauther has completely turned things around in 2026. Over 12 regular-season games in Ottawa, he made 32-of-34 field goal attempts to rank third in the CFL at 94.1 percent (min. 20 attempts). He’s also gone 22-of-23 on his convert attempts.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan continued to struggle at kicker as rookie Alex Hale made 24-of-32 field goal attempts (75.0 percent) and 32-of-35 convert attempts (91.4 percent) before being demoted to the practice roster. Dawson Hodge has since gone five-for-five, though he’s yet to attempt a field goal over 33 yards.

O’Day indicated that the team discussed the possibility of bringing Lauther back to Saskatchewan a couple of weeks ago. He also suggested the team had previous discussions with the Redblacks regarding Lauther’s availability.

“Trades are difficult in CFL, it’s a late deadline. Most of the time, teams are still in the playoff run, and so it’s a matter of being in the right situation. There’s conversation, but it’s very hard to get a trade done,” said O’Day.

“Earlier in the year, we were looking at kicker and had those discussions then, and then kind of circled back in the last couple days, worked through it back and forth a little bit, and got it done.”

Head coach Corey Mace indicated that Lauther could play as early as this week, though he declined to give a definitive answer either way. He also made it clear that the veteran kicker doesn’t hold any ill-will towards the Roughriders for cutting him back in February.

“I think it’s exciting for us, exciting for both parties. This place means a lot to Brett and certainly his family, a lot of years spent here, won a lot of games here,” said Mace.

“It‘s a culmination of both things — we’re happy to have him back, he’s happy to come. Hopefully, he continues what he’s been doing this year.”

Like O’Day, it doesn’t appear Mace regrets moving on from Lauther back in February. However, he certainly seems pleased to have the veteran back in the building as Saskatchewan continues to make a playoff push. The team currently sits third in the West Division standings at 8-6, and can clinch a postseason berth as early as this week.

“You’ve seen guys play on multiple teams throughout their careers, and some guys have unbelievable years after they leave a team, and don’t get an opportunity to go back somewhere that they spent their whole careers,” said Mace.

“We’re just in a situation that he’s had an unbelievable year this year, and I think this is part of the driving force why we continued to stick with him because we knew what he was capable of. Things turned out the way they did, and things turned out the way that they are now, so I think both parties are happy.”

The Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-6) will host the Calgary Stampeders (7-8) on Friday, October 2 with kickoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EDT. The Roughriders are coming off a loss to B.C. that bumped them to third place in the West Division, while the Stampeders completed their two-game sweep of Ottawa.

The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 620 CKRM in Regina and 770 CHQR in Calgary.