Free agency is looming in the Canadian Football League, with time running out for teams to retain their free agents before they hit the open market.
Recently, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have focused on the offensive side of the ball. Last week, running back Frankie Hickson signed a one-year contract extension.
There were a couple of big signings, as the Roughriders announced they signed offensive linemen Logan Ferland and Philip Blake to contracts.
Earlier this week, the football club continued to fill up their quarterback room, agreeing to terms on a two-year deal with quarterback Mason Fine.
The new man in charge of the green and white offence Marc Mueller, joined the Sportscage with Michael Ball to discuss the Roughriders offence.
Since taking over as offensive coordinator last month, Mueller says he has spent time reviewing the film of the team’s quarterbacks, including action from practice.
He is looking forward to working with the starting quarterback, Trevor Harris.
“Trevor is incredibly smart, he understands what’s going on before the play, he can truly just stand there and react as a quarterback.” Mueller added, “he’s really good in the pocket, great feet, he’s going to put the ball in the right spot, wherever he needs to be, he’ll get it there.”
At the beginning of the offseason, Harris was the only quarterback in Saskatchewan, but the team has since signed Fine and Antonio Pipkin, who joined the club midway through the 2023 season.
Fine started four games for the Roughriders last year and was the starter for the final two games in the 2022 season. Mueller feels it’s important to have a backup quarterback with the starting experience that the 26-year-old possesses.
“Hopefully the best is in front of him,” said the Roughriders offensive coordinator, “It’s hard to find guys who can compete that have started a whole bunch of games in the CFL and luckily Mason has started six.”
After taking over from Harris at quarterback when he sustained his season-ending knee injury, Fine played in five games with 1,018 passing yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions.
The North Texas product suffered a hamstring injury during the Roughriders loss in Montreal on August 11. Jake Dolegala replaced Fine as the starting quarterback. Dolegala can become a free agent next month.
Mueller will be the third offensive coordinator for Saskatchewan over the past three seasons, with Jason Maas in charge of the offence in 2022 and Kelly Jeffrey holding the position in 2023. Mueller believes it is difficult to learn different types of offences in two separate years.
“To be able to call a play and function is tougher than what people think.”
According to Mueller, the re-signing of Hickson will benefit the Roughriders. He noted that the running back was well-prepared for the Canadian game, having been under the tutelage of Kent Austin, his offensive coordinator at Liberty University.
“He’s good in the pass game and in the run game, he’s good at pass blocking which is a large part of our game.”
Saskatchewan’s running backs coach, Anthony Vitale, is the lone positional coach retained by the Roughriders coaching staff, moving over after coaching the offensive line in 2023.
Mueller is happy to have Vitale back in Saskatchewan, noting along with offensive line coach Edwin Harrison that the coaching staff can’t have enough guys with guys with a blocking background.
Former Stampeders wide receiver and coach Marquay McDaniel joined the Roughriders coaching staff as the receivers coach. Mueller is familiar with McDaniel as a player and a coach from their time together in Calgary and is eager to work with him in Saskatchewan.
“He’s detailed,” said Mueller, “he brings a tough demeanour and he’ll the guys to the highest standard, and I’m really excited he decided to get back into coaching.”
Since he was appointed the Roughriders offensive coordinator last month, Mueller says there has been a lot of communication within the organization about being on the same page ahead of free agency.
“It’s always good to have these conservations, because the more conservations you have with each other, the more comfortable you are, the more you started working together.”
CFL Free Agency begins on February 13 at 11:00, Saskatchewan time.
