REGINA — CFL teams always hope their elite players will manage to avoid the injury bug for a whole season, but sometimes that just isn’t going to happen — and the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been especially hard hit this week.
The team’s depth chart and roster for their Week 9 game against the Edmonton Elks revealed that both running back A.J. Ouellette and defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. have been moved to the six-game injured list with knee injuries and as a result won’t be available for the foreseeable future.
As a result, Quali Conley will get the start at running back, with Jonathan Edouard starting in place of Milligan. James Burgess Jr. will make his CFL debut at DB backing up Edouard.
Regina product Ryder Varga will make his much-anticipated Roughriders debut at linebacker and spoke to the media earlier this week about finally getting the chance to hit the field.
“It means everything, I haven’t played since September last year and it feels like forever ago since I got hurt, and to do it for the hometown team is exciting,” said Varga, who took the first part of the season to recover from a knee injury. “It’s surreal, you always think about it as a kid, I’d be at the old Mosaic watching games and stuff and now I get to do it.”
Defensive lineman Derick Roberson will make his CFL debut in place of Jaylen Pate, who moves to the practice roster.
After going through an almost unbelievable spate of injuries last season, the offensive line has had some luck on their side through the first eight weeks of the 2026 campaign, but will see a change this week.
Left guard Zach Fry has moved to the one-game injured with a knee injury and will be replaced by Daniel Johnson, who has spent most of the season as the sixth man on the offensive line. Erik Andersen comes off the practice roster as the back-up.
One other personnel change sees defensive lineman Liam Hoskins move to the practice roster.
Receiver Sam Emilus will be a game-time decision as he attempts to quickly recover from a foot injury, and defensive back Nelson Lokombo will miss one more game as he recovers from an ankle injury.
