Rent reduced for Riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
5h ago
Council retroactively slashed $1.33 million in rent owed by the Roughriders.
No wonder the Saskatchewan Roughriders pushed aside John Murphy, their assistant vice-president of football operations and player personnel.
He’s reportedly being replaced by Paul Jones, who is credited with discovering Elrid Payton and Fred Stamps and enough CFL all-stars to earn a reputation as the league’s best talent evaluator. Justin Dunk of 3DownNation reported that Jones will soon be hired by the Roughriders, who are realigning their staff to abide by the CFL’s new administrative cap.
Jones has been scouting players for 30-plus years in various roles with three organizations, the Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos. Jones’ contract with the Eskimos has apparently expired, so he’s being wooed by Saskatchewan’s boss, Chris Jones, no relation, who last worked with Paul Jones when Edmonton won the 2015 Grey Cup.
In three seasons, Chris Jones has rebuilt Saskatchewan’s defence but evidently can’t put together a receiving corps, offensive line and quarterback capable of challenging for a championship. After alienating and dumping Darian Durant, having moderate success with Kevin Glenn and getting derailed by Zach Collaros’ injuries, Chris Jones seems ready to put someone new in charge of the quarterback search.