Paul McRoberts to make CFL debut

Paul McRoberts is finally getting his shot.

After spending all of 2019 and the first two games of 2021 CFL season on the Riders practice roster, McRoberts will be the team’s starting slotback against the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.

“People might look at it as pressure on me but I’m no taking it like that. I feel like this is what I was made to do and I’m going to have fun with it. I’m going to fit right in and play off (the other receiver’s) energy. They’ve been killing it so we’re not going to skip a beat,” McRoberts said.

The opportunity comes under unfortunate circumstances. The Roughriders will be without their star wide receiver with Shaq Evans suffering a broken foot in the team’s 30-8 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“It’s a huge loss. I know it’s a bummer for him. He’s a great leader, he’s a great athlete,” McRoberts said. “I know he would love to be out there with us and those guys and continuing to play but injuries happen and that’s one thing we can’t control.

“He’s been pushing me and been making sure we’re all ready … you hate to see that.”

And McRoberts said he can’t go out and replace what Evans brings to the offence. Evans had a breakout year in 2019 with 1,334 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

“You can’t replace any of these guys. We all are different but at the same time, we’re all trying to accomplish the same goal and same page as far as being locked in. We came together from the beginning and said let’s be ready for this type of moment – when someone goes down, we need the same type of energy.”

McRoberts came into the season saying he was tired of being on the practice roster and this season would be a defining one for his career.

He admits it was disappointing to get told he would be heading back there again after another strong training camp.

“It’s not what you really want to hear but at the end of the day, you just keep pushing and we all knew one day it was going to happen. Hard work is easy to me as I said once before. Working hard is all I know – I have a mom back at home still working hard,” McRoberts said.

Quarterback Cody Fajardo said that he’s excited to see McRoberts get his chance.

“I think he’s done a great job. Probably the best-case scenario in training camp was when (slotback Jordan Williams-Lambert) hurt his hand and Paul had to step up and take a lot of meaningful reps,” Fajardo said. “I know everything he can do in practice – he hits his marks and catches pretty much everything I’ve thrown and he has some of the best hands I’ve seen in all of football – and so the last part of the puzzle is go out there and perform well.”

But Fajardo knows the team will feel the loss of Evans out there.

“Sometimes I call him our flint – he ignites our offense when we’re kind of in a lull. Losing a guy like that is extremely tough but I’ve got a lot of confidence in our receiver room,” Fajardo said.

McRoberts is hoping to find the same success as his fellow receivers recently, with slotback Brayden Lenius catching his first touchdown pass on Aug. 6 and then wide receiver Mitch Picton catching his first one just eight days later.

“I couldn’t stop smiling (after Picton caught his touchdown). The moment was special to me just knowing Picton had been on the same path as me,” McRoberts said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’m not going to be overly excited but I’m ready.”

The Green Zone pregame show gets underway at 3 p.m.

Notes

Fullback Albert Awachie will not play. Alexander Dupuis, who was signed to a contract on Wednesday, will start in his place … Canadian receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker, linebacker DeMarquis Gates and defensive end Matthew Thomas will make their CFL active roster debuts.