Elimimian has interest in the Roughriders

Solomon Elimimian has been released by the B.C. Lions, but he may not be out of work for long.

Elimimian told The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye on Wednesday that teams already have contacted Elimimian’s agent with hopes of signing the 32-year-old CFL linebacker. One of the teams reportedly interested in him is the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I’ve talked to a lot of players who played with Saskatchewan … and the biggest thing they always tell me is the energy, the fans (and) the support,” Elimimian told Nye. “That’s something that I see every time I come to the games (in Regina).

“At the end of the day, it’s a process and we’ll let things sort themselves out.”

During a media conference Wednesday at Mosaic Stadium, Roughriders vice-president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day declined to comment on the team’s potential interest in Elimimian. O’Day noted Elimimian’s release hadn’t officially appeared on the CFL’s transaction wire, so O’Day couldn’t discuss the player.

Elimimian was named the CFL’s most outstanding player in 2014 and its top defensive player in 2014 and ’16. The Lions’ all-time leading tackler, Elimimian also is a four-time all-star.

But he was a victim of the CFL’s salary cap in Vancouver. The Lions shelled out big bucks to sign quarterback Mike Reilly in free agency, making a big-ticket player like Elimimian expendable.

As a result, the 6-foot-0, 225-pound product of the University of Hawaii is on the market instead of preparing for another season with the Lions.

“It was definitely a special time and it’s time to move on,” Elimimian said of his tenure with the Lions. “At the end of the day, I’m a little disappointed by the process and how it was handled so close to training camp, but that’s that.

“You’ve just got to move forward, put your best foot forward and the show goes on.”

Other linebackers

Saskatchewan lost Sam Eguavoen in the off-season to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, so the Roughriders are in the market for a replacement.

O’Day said the team currently isn’t interested in Jeff Knox Jr., a former member of the Green and White who finished the 2018 season with the Toronto Argonauts after failing to stick in the NFL.

O’Day suggested there may very well be a replacement for Eguavoen currently on the Roughriders’ roster, pointing to the likes of newcomers Dyshawn Davis and Deon King.

“A lot of times, if you’re not provided with an opportunity, you don’t become Sam Eguavoen,” O’Day said. “That’s the thing you have to balance when you’re shaping your roster is, ‘Do you feel they can do it? What’s the probability of them doing it?’ And then also (you’re) looking at the potential for guys who have already proven they can do it.”

Punting the pigskin

O’Day said the Roughriders want to be better in the punting game in 2019, but he admitted Josh Bartel’s numbers last season were as much a product of the team’s strategy as anything.

Even so, Saskatchewan has shown interest in Regina product Jon Ryan this off-season. The 37-year-old Ryan, who had NFL stints with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks after starring for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, punted for the Roughriders at a tryout camp in Florida.

“We’ve talked to him (and) we’ve talked to his agent,” O’Day said of Ryan, a former member of the Sheldon-Williams Spartans and University of Regina Rams. “I would say that those conversations are ongoing.

“Just like any other conversation, if there’s an opportunity there, then it has to be mutual for both sides. There is a small discrepancy in the salaries from one league to the other, so it is a little bit of a change financially that has to get worked through.”

Preparing for training camp

The CFL and its players’ association currently are in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, but it’s unclear if the players will report when training camps open May 19.

The status of the talks is not the Roughriders’ problem.

“For us, it’s business as usual,” O’Day said. “We’re just planning like a normal training camp but also with the ability to be flexible.

“We’re prepared for the outcomes and that’s really not something that’s in our control. All we can do is do our job and be prepared for training camp so that’s what we’re doing.”

O’Day noted the team is looking to bring a fifth quarterback to camp to join Zach Collaros, Cody Fajardo, David Watford and Isaac Harker. But O’Day noted it’s unlikely that the fifth QB will be a veteran; instead, it’s likely to be a young pivot off the team’s negotiation list.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Jamie Nye