By Greg Urbanoski

Riderville

A Month From Free Agency has Riders and CFL teams Fine Tuning

Jan 20, 2025 | 9:59 AM

“The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pattison Media and this site.”

The CFL finally got around to putting out their schedule as teams including the Riders are making their last touches on their rosters before embarking on free agency.

The Riders start their schedule on May 24 when they go to Stony Mountain to play the Blue Bombers. In a cost saving measure, the first Rider preseason game is May 30th, also against Winnipeg.

Add to these three regular season games against the Bombers (August 31, September 6, and October 17), and out of the Riders 20 regular season and preseason games, they play the Bombers five times or 25 per cent of all games played. If the idea is to continue to whip up rivalry fever, this is not the way to go although the good news is three of the five games are at Stony Mountain so Rider fans will not have to endure the braying that passes for informed football conversation from Bomber fans.

Here is the Rider regular season schedule: book your vacations accordingly!

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• May 24 (Saturday) – Saskatchewan at Winnipeg (2 pm)
• May 30 (Saturday) – Winnipeg at Saskatchewan (7 pm)
• June 5 (Thursday) – Ottawa at Saskatchewan (7 pm)
• June 14 (Saturday) – Riders at Hamilton (5 pm)
• June 20 (Friday) – Riders at Toronto (5:30 pm)
• June 28 (|Saturday) – BC at Saskatchewan (5 pm)
• July 11 (Friday) – Calgary at Saskatchewan (7 pm)
• July 19 (Saturday) – Saskatchewan at BC (5 pm)
• July 25 (Friday) – Edmonton at Saskatchewan (7 pm)
• August 2 (Saturday) – Saskatchewan at Montreal (5 pm)
• August 16 (Saturday) – Hamilton at Saskatchewan (1 pm)
• August 23 (Saturday) – Saskatchewan at Calgary (5 pm)
• August 31 (Sunday) – Winnipeg at Saskatchewan (2 pm)
• September 6 (|Saturday) – Saskatchewan at Winnipeg (2 pm)
• September 13 (Saturday) – Montreal at Saskatchewan (5 pm)
• September 27 (Saturday) – Saskatchewan at Edmonton (5 pm)
• October 3 (Friday) – Saskatchewan at Ottawa (5:30)
• October 10 (Friday) – Toronto at Saskatchewan (7 pm)
• October 17 (Friday) – Saskatchewan at Ottawa (6 pm)
• October 25 (Saturday) – BC at Saskatchewan (5 pm)

With the schedule out CFL teams have been putting final changes on their coaching staffs.

In Edmonton Mark Kilam the head coach unveiled the rest of his staff.

Jordan Maksymic is the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach; J.C. Sherritt is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Demetrious Maxie is the special teams coordinator and defensive line coach; Stephen Sorrells the offensive line coach and run game coordinator; Jason Tucker is the receivers coach; Aaron Grymes is the defensive back coach; Trysten Dice is the running back coach and offensive assistant; Des Catellier is the special teams assistant and Danny Nesbitt is the defensive quality coach.

Edmonton has signed offensive lineman Mateo Ivey, defensive lineman Jonathon Kongbo, running back Javon Leake and signed wide receiver Tre Odums-Dukes formerly of the Calgary Stampeders.

BC with their new head coach Buck Pierce unveiled their new coaching staff. Pierce is the head coach and offensive coordinator; Mike Benevedes is the defensive coordinator; Cory McDiamid is the offensive coordinator; Kevin Bourgoin is the receiver coach; Paul Charbonneau is the offensive line coach; Ryan Philips is the defensive secondary coach; Randy Melvin is defensive line coach; Glen Young is the linebacker coach and Derek Oswalt is the assistant coach.

BC dropped running back William Stanback and picked up running back James Butler, formerly of the BC Lions. They extended the contracts of defensive back Garry Peters, full back, and long snapper Riley Pickett. They picked up in a trade with Toronto offensive lineman Dejon Allen and got defensive lineman Tibo Debaille and kicker Sean Whyte

Stony Mountain Blue Bombers who lost Ted Goveia who left to become the general manager of the Hamilton Tiger Cats from his former job as the head of Canadian scouting for the Bombers, hired three new replacements – Jim Jauch, son of former CFL coach Ray Jauch, Eric DesLauriers, and Brock Sunderland. DesLauriers is a former CFL player who has been working for Montreal and Sunderland was a former GM of Edmonton from 2017-2021

The Bombers re-upped defensive back Evan Helm for a one-year deal; extended Shayne Gauthier, defensive back Kyrie |Wilson, defensive lineman Willie Jefferson and defensive back Jamal Parker. They also signed former Elk receiver Dillon Mitchell, an understanding the Bombers may be losing either Kenny Lawlor or Dalton Schoen to free agency.

Ottawa named former Toronto co-defensive coordinator William Fields as their new defensive coordinator and brought in former BC Lion and Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell as their new special teams’ coordinator.

On the player front Ottawa traded the negotiation rights to defensive lineman Andre |Carter and a conditional fifth round draft pick to Toronto in exchange for running back Daniel Odeboboye.

Ottawa extended the contracts of quarterback Dru Brown; defensive lineman Cleyon Long, defensive lineman Michael Wakefield, defensive lineman Michael |Wakefield, offensive lineman Pino Boyd, offensive lineman Dariusz Bladek and defensive Lorenzo Mauldin IV. They also added running back William Stanback formerly of Montreal and BC who was released by the Lions. Justin McGinnis the former Rider receiver who signed with BC is expected to resign prior to free agency.

There are interesting things going on in Toronto who in the BC trade for offensive lineman Dejon Allen, got linebacker and former University of Regina Ram Ryder Varga and a second-round draft pick in 2026. Quarterback coach Mark Miller is being interviewed for the job of offensive coordinator for the Bombers.

The Argos trade with Calgary which brought back Canadian linebacker Cameron Judge appears to indicate the Argos are looking to revamp their Canadian ratio and Varga, who the Riders should look at next year in free agency, is likely to be the back up to Judge if not an actual starter.

The Argos signed defensive back Tavarius McFadden, and wide receiver Davarius Daniels as Toronto is freeing up salary cap room for a run-in free agency.

Montreal signed quarterback McLeod Bethel Thompson to a one-year contract to as a mentor and back up to Davis Alexander. They also signed running back Walter Fletcher, quarterback Caleb Evans (for third down duties) and kicker David Cote.

Finally, we come to the Riders.

The Riders signed quarterback Jake Maier to a year contract that will allow both sides to see if there is a fit and provides the Riders with an experienced back up who may come in handy if quarterback Trevor Harris goes down to injury.

They also extended linebacker Jameer Thurman to a two-year contract, defensive lineman Malik Carney, linebacker AJ Allen, defensive back Jayden Dalke, offensive lineman Noah Zerr, defensive lineman Rondell Bothroyd and offensive lineman Brandon Kemp.

The Riders released offensive lineman Eric Reid to pursue NFL opportunities and he signed with Minnesota. The Riders also extended Jordan and Justin Herdman-Reed to contracts.

The next month will be interesting as teams make decisions on who they want from their roster and who will be going to test the free agent market. However, you slice it, it will be an interesting season for CFL fans.