'Always have a plan': Riders' GM Jeremy O'Day heading into free agency with options

The Canadian Football League’s (CFL) free agency period will officially open on Feb. 13, which means teams will be allowed to sign and talk to players who have not already signed extensions with their respective clubs.

“We’re open about talking about areas that we’re going to attack but I think that if you look to the roster and the players that we’ve signed back, you can kind of predict some of the areas that you know we would be looking at through free agency,” Jeremy O’Day, Roughriders general manager and vice president of football operations said.

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“We always have a plan, you actually have two or three plans, sometimes more. If you get ‘this player’ in free agency or you’re able to attain him in free agency then what that means in other areas if you don’t get a player you were kind of earmarking or putting in the puzzle there. Then you have to shift to a different plan.”

The team has made some moves ahead of free agency when it comes to signing some of their bigger stars. On Thursday it was announced that receiver Shawn Bane Jr. had signed a two-year contract extension with the club. Bane played all 18 games in 2023 where he made 93 receptions which ranks him 8th all-time in Roughrider history.

“I’m happy to get Shawn back. Just had a great year for us. Everything that we had hoped for last year when we signed him in free agency,” O’Day said.

On Tuesday the team also announced the extension of American defensive lineman, Anthony Lanier II. Lanier played 14 games last season where he recorded 19 tackles, five sacks, and two tackles for loss.

“We’re excited for Anthony to work with coach Mace and our defensive line coach. Obviously, we’ve done a lot of evaluation on our own free agents and it’s nice to go through those with the new staff to get their opinions on the players,” O’Day said.

The team has also made some moves at the quarterback position. It was announced in late January that they decided to re-sign backup Mason Fine instead of Jake Dolegala. Fine signed a two-year extension.

“We spent a lot of time watching film on our quarterbacks from last year. Obviously with two, actually all three of them, that were becoming free agents in the off-season we had to make sure that we evaluated them. With our new head coach and new offensive coordinator. Through that process we decided that we wanted to go with Mason. For us it was just the fit with Marc’s offence and how comfortable he would be with the quarterback,” O’Day explained.

However, there is a very noticeable player the Riders have yet to re-sign and that is their number one running back from last season, Jamal Morrow.

“We’ve had discussions with his representation and right now there’s nothing that’s in the works,” O’Day said.

The running back position group as a whole heading into free agency has some big names available across the league.

“That’s a market that seems like there’s going to be quite a few that are going to be hitting the window. We’ll see where that goes. Is it surprising? I think that if you look at it, there’s different reasons for each guy maybe hitting the window. Whether it’s salary, whether it’s a team looking to make a change at the position,” O’Day said.

CFL free agency begins at noon EST on Feb. 13.