REGINA -- Since Tuesday, 11 members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders have opted out of their CFL contracts to pursue NFL opportunities.

Thus far, none of them have signed agreements with teams south of the border. Brett Lauther is one of the players who decided to try his luck, and he’s using a creative approach to getting noticed. 

“I keep being that annoying guy on social media right now,” laughed the kicker. “I’m just trying to get that shot, and I feel like I’m ready for it.”

Lauther has an agent, but he’s been making his own audition-tapes, filming himself kicking consecutive balls from different distances. 

In one of the videos, Lauther can be heard saying “We’re lined up at 40 yards as you can probably tell or hear in this crazy wind today, from left to right.”

He’s tweeted them out, put them on YouTube, and has even publicly messaged teams who might be in need of a kicker. He responded with a “waving” emoji to the Buffalo Bills after the NFL team announced they’d released kicker Stephen Hauschka over social media. 

“I don’t usually like doing that kind of stuff,” admitted Lauther. 

But the 29-year-old is all too familiar with trying to get noticed by a team, by any means possible. 

“It’s kind of like I’m reverting back to trying to get back in the CFL again, you never know who’s going to see something,” said Lauther.

Before joining the Riders in 2018, Lauther spent six years trying to crack a CFL roster. At the time, he worked at Jack Astors in his home province of Nova Scotia, and kicked on local fields in his spare time. 

“I’m going down the exact same road, I’m going back to the same fields that I was out here, doing the exact same thing just in hopes of getting that shot,” said Lauther. 

In his first season as a starting kicker in the CFL, Lauther lead the league in field goals. That season, and the following one in 2019, he successfully made the longest field goal attempts in the league: 56 yards in 2018, 57 yards in 2019. 

A cancelled CFL season could be a wild plot twist in Lauther's already amazing story. 

“How crappy it's been for everyone it’s almost like it would make me laugh if I did get a shot to play in the NFL,” joked Lauther. “It would kind of add on to the next chapter of what I’m really trying to do.”

The kicker admits it’s a longshot and doesn’t think he’s on any NFL team’s radar yet. 

“Worst case, I get to hopefully come back to the Riders,” said Lauther. “If not, the CFL and just resign, and hopefully there’s a CFL season next year. 

Riders who have requested, and have been released from their CFL contracts:

  • Christian Campbell
  • Cameron Judge
  • Pete Robertson
  • Tevin Mitchel
  • Deshaun Davis
  • Cory Thomas
  • Demetrius Harris
  • Cameron Jefferson
  • DeMarcus Ayers
  • Brett Lauther
  • Jon Ryan