REGINA — Anyone who took in the contest between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks on Friday night could easily see defensive lineman Malik Carney was having himself one heck of a game.
Of course, with eight sacks, it was more than apparent the entire defensive line had something going — but in the end, it was Carney who drew the Canadian Football League’s attention, as he was named to the Honour Roll for Week 8.
The awards are decided by Pro Football Focus, which reviews game footage and uses a host of data points to compile an overall score out of 100 for each player. The top performers each week are named to the CFL Honour Roll. Carney recorded an 88.7 grade from Saskatchewan’s 21-18 victory, finishing top among defensive players in Week 8.
“I’m usually not really thinking about that type of stuff, but I’m honoured to be selected for that, it’s a privilege,” Carney told voice of the Riders Dave Thomas.
Carney played 37 defensive snaps while recording four tackles, two sacks for a loss of 14 yards and an 85.5 rating on 31 pass rush snaps. Here’s one of his highlights against Edmonton:
The Wireless Age player of the game from Week 8, Malik Carney!! pic.twitter.com/A9YZVdwEFt
— Saskatchewan Roughriders (@sskroughriders) July 30, 2025
Carney’s success naturally came from the constant pressure the Riders were getting on Fajardo, and that’s something he felt was a product of their work as a unit since the beginning of training camp.
“It was nothing new to us, continue to be relentless in our rushes, being physical and working together,” he said. “We’re definitely building chemistry and as we move forward week by week, day by day, you can see that that chemistry is getting stronger and stronger. The performance showed itself.”
A major part of that is finding ways to throw the opposing offensive line off its game, with simple signals between one another a trick of the trade.
“Everything that we worked on that week prior, [we] come up with signals to numb the offensive line from hearing our calls and getting a beat on what we’re doing,” Carney said. “So silent communication is definitely where we’re at with it.”
It’s the second time this season Carney has been named to the Honour Roll. He had an even better outing during Saskatchewan’s 39-32 win over the Toronto Argonauts back on June 20, recording a 90.3 grade.
Fellow defensive lineman Caleb Sanders hit 90.5 in that same game while quarterback Trevor Harris has the highest PFF rating across the board this season, racking up a 93.0 during their 33-27 win over the B.C. Lions in Week 7.
The key now will be to continue that ongoing success — the Riders have the best record in the CFL at 6-1 and are heading into what promises to be a difficult match-up when the team travels to Montreal to face the 5-2 Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night.
“Absolutely, most definitely,” Carney replied when asked if repeating their effort against the Elks was the goal. “That’s what we’re preaching, consistency. As long as we continue to do our job and just be who we are everything will work out for itself.”
The Riders Broadcast Network will have all the action on Saturday, with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates on the pre-game show at 2 p.m. followed by Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder with the game call at 5 p.m.
