You could say Chad Owens' time as a Rider has gotten off on the wrong foot. Or in his case, an injured foot. On the eve of their season opener in Montreal, the Roughriders unveiled Chad Owens will start the season on the six game injured list after tweaking the same foot he fractured as a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last year. Riders Head Coach, GM, and VP of Football Operations Chris Jones told reporters at practice Wednesday that X-Rays showed (his foot) was about 98 percent but when Owens went out the other day, he felt a little bit of a twinch on it and so we just don't want to do any further damage. He's got one more roll with this thing so we want to make sure when we put him out there he is (feeling) a hundred." It's a dissapointing result for Owens, who was asked by reporters several times about his recent injury history when he was signed by Saskatchewan in February. His response then was "I expect to be ready and at the top of my game. This is to everybody, don't be surprised, because I won't be." Owens was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2012 after 1328 receiving yards.
Joining Owens on the six game injured list is National DB Tevaughn Campbell. Seven players were put on the one game injured list, WR Rob Bagg, RB Kienan Lafrance, DE Jonathan Newsome, LB Derrick Moncrief, LB Samuel Eguavoen, OL Dillon Guy, and K Quinn Van Gylswyk. Bagg re-aggrivated an ankle injury at practice this week meaning Nic Demski will get the start in his place at wide receiver. With two linebackers out, Erick Dargan and Sam Williams will start at outside linebacker alongside middle LB Henoc Muamba. Kickoff is 5:00pm Saskatchewan time, and can be seen on TSN.
