CFL free agency to get underway Tuesday

The Saskatchewan Roughriders aren’t expecting to be busy on the opening day of CFL free agency Tuesday, but there are still some pieces that could fall into place.

“We have offers to a couple of our guys still that are on the table and we’re waiting for them to decide if they want to come back to our team or not,” Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day said last week. “If those don’t happen, then we can be a little more active than we expect, but overall I can say that we’re not going to be overly active in free agency.”

The Roughriders are heading into the 2021 free-agency period following a cancelled season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Dec. 14, it was announced O’Day and head coach Craig Dickenson had signed contract extensions with the team.

O’Day admitted then the team wouldn’t have the chequebook as wide open as it has been in previous years.

“We will have less money to spend on players’ salaries moving forward and I don’t think that’s a terrible ask from our organization to ask us to do that with the impact the pandemic has had on our organization,” O’Day said then.

“It’s not just the players being impacted. The staff and our coaches have been impacted as well.”

The team has signed 22 out of the 34 players who could have become free agents. That includes receivers Shaq Evans, Kyran Moore and Jordan Williams-Lambert.

The team also is bringing back its entire starting defensive backfield form 2019 — Nick Marshall, L.J. McCray, Ed Gainey and Mike Edem all signed extensions this off-season. Loucheiz Purifoy was already under contract for 2021.

O’Day said players who are coming back did take pay cuts.

“All of our players that have re-signed have come back for a reduction in salary with the exception of a few guys who would be coming off their rookie contracts,” O’Day said before free agency. “A majority of our veteran players have had to take deductions.”

But, like any off-season, there are some players who won’t be back.

Defensive end Charleston Hughes was released after the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement. The 37-year-old quickly signed with the Toronto Argonauts.

Wide receiver Kenny Stafford was also released.

Punter Jon Ryan, kicker Brett Lauther and linebackers Solomon Elimimian and Cam Judge are also without new contracts.

Judge was named the West Division’s most outstanding Canadian in 2019.

Free agency gets underway at 11 a.m.