O’Day says more signings could be on the way for Riders

Jeremy O’Day is going to take full advantage of his spending money in free agency.

“I spend to the (salary cap) every year. If I didn’t spend to the cap, I would be doing our team a disservice and I wouldn’t be putting us in a position to be successful,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager said Tuesday.

The Riders made three signings official on Tuesday after free agency began at 11 a.m.: Middle linebacker Darnell Sankey, strong-side linebacker Derrick Moncrief and guard Josiah St. John all signed contracts with Saskatchewan.

The negotiation window opened on Jan. 30, which allowed the team to start talking to possible free-agent acquisitions.

Some more signings appear to be on the way.

“We will have some more. I don’t know if there will be major signings coming up. It’s hard to tell and it depends on how some situations get ironed out,” O’Day said. “We’re still working. We didn’t shut it down or anything like that. It has been a busy couple of weeks.”

While Duke Williams wasn’t signed Tuesday, the Riders did lock up the slotback over the weekend for a reported annual salary of $260,000. O’Day said it was important to get that done so he knows how much money he has to spend on other players.

“It’s a big deal. I don’t want to say you become impatient but, at some point, we have to make a decision. It’s a part of the negotiation process and it’s not anyone’s fault. Once you get inside the window where other people can talk to him, everyone’s going to give them their sales pitch as to why they should go play for their team,” O’Day said.

“It’s a puzzle piece you have to figure out.”

But there are a few players who won’t be suiting up for Saskatchewan as of now.

Punter Jon Ryan won’t be getting a contract offer from the team. The 40-year-old punter suffered a broken foot in 2021 that ended his season early.

“Coach (Craig Dickenson) talked to Jon and informed him we were going to go younger in that position and that is where it stands,” O’Day said.

O’Day also said he had conversations with guard Brendon LaBatte, who sat out the 2021 season.

“I have talked to him a couple of times on the phone and it is still an ongoing thing. I think we will give Brendon that respect of taking some time through this process to see what exactly he plans to do,” O’Day said. “We had conversations and agreed to take a bit of time and think about it.”

The Riders did lose some key members of their team Tuesday as well. Defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy went to the B.C. Lions, defensive back Ed Gainey is now an Edmonton Elk and reports are defensive tackle Micah Johnson will be a Hamilton Tiger-Cat.

“Just like every year, there is going to be change on a team. Decisions are made on a lot of different reasons. Age, salary, performance — all of those things are included in that conversation,” O’Day said.

“Some decisions are hard to make. It’s not me sitting in a room by myself making the decision. It’s a group effort and we make those decisions based on what we think is going to put us in the best position to win. Sometimes it’s not always a fan-favourite decision but it’s what we get paid to do.

“Those are difficult decisions because they are guys who went to battle for us on the field and they have been really good players for us and it’s just part of the decision you have to do.”

But when O’Day looks at his roster, he said he feels good about where the team is for 2022.

“We’ve addressed some of the areas we wanted to address,” O’Day said. “I can’t reiterate enough: Today is about the free-agency period and bringing players like Derrick onto our team. But I hope we don’t forget about all the players we signed throughout the month of December, players that are critical to our team and a huge part of it.”