With the new year underway and changes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) set to begin. Head coach Craig Dickenson and the Saskatchewan Roughriders are now making their final preparations to their roster before adding some new faces.

Dickenson made his weekly appearance on the SportsCage on Monday with guest hosts Brendan McGuire and Pete Paczko.

Free Agency

With free agency set to begin in just over three weeks, time is running out for teams to retain their players with expiring contracts.

The Riders head coach says they still have some time to retain a few players.

“I think what you’re going to see is a lot of action here in these last week to ten days before free agency and we’re going to sign some guys back.”

But with a 6-12 record in 2022, Dickenson added there needs to be changes from last year’s squad.

“We got to make improvements. We got to look outside of our own building for some of these guys.”

He added. “There’s some guys we’re going to move on from. ”

The Riders head coach noted they have to look at discovering new talents south of the border along with their picks with the CFL Draft in May as ways to stockpile players who can make their lineup.

Free agency in the CFL begins on Tuesday, February 14.

Assistant Coaching Vacancies

Two spots remain vacant on the Roughriders coaching staff, the receivers and defensive line coaches.

Dickenson said they are “down to the wire” on both spots and hope to have both coaches hired by the end of the month.

Saskatchewan is looking to replace Travis Moore at receivers coach as he was relieved of his duties this offseason. He has since moved on to the Ottawa REDBLACKS, where he has joined Bob Dyce’s staff as receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

Ben Olson stepped down as defensive line coach with the Riders this month. He accepted a position with Incarnate Word Cardinals (FCS).