Glen Suitor says if it’s not a short-lived retirement for Mitch Picton, he could still see a CFL team making the ask at some point in 2026.
Speaking with host Barney Shynkaruk on SportsCage radio Thursday, the TSN analyst and former Roughriders defensive back listed Picton among the players currently not on a Canadian Football League roster that he could see potentially making a return this year.
Picton announced his retirement May 1 after appearing in 64 games at receiver for his hometown Roughriders over six seasons from 2019-25.
“Stay in shape. You never know,” Suitor said. “You lose two, three Canadian receivers, Picton knows the team, knows the offence, everything.”
To Suitor’s eye that puts Picton in a similar category with recent retirees like receiver Davaris Daniels, defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy and linebacker Adam Bighill, but also with veteran free agent quarterbacks like Jeremiah Masoli and Chris Streveler.
“If you know the league and a team loses a few quarterbacks, they look at these guys and say at least they could be the bridge until so-and-so comes back because they know the game, and they’ll know the system,” said Suitor. “‘We can just kind of plug it in. If there’s terminology issues we’ll change it to help you, and away we go.’”
Then there are younger players taking their shots with NFL teams like defensive lineman Jaylon Hutchings (Minnesota Vikings), receiver Damien Alford (New Orleans Saints) and defensive back Robert Carter Jr. (Indianapolis Colts).
Hutchings (eight sacks and 39 defensive tackles) and Alford (20 catches for 407 yards and five touchdowns) spent the 2025 CFL season with the Calgary Stampeders, while Carter Jr. (five interceptions) suited up for the B.C. Lions.
“Depending on how that goes for them they could be impact players coming back,” said Suitor.
Replay relief
Suitor also briefly discussed his support for the CFL’s changing approach to replay in 2026.
“Replay has become a little bit more and more intrusive when it comes to on-field, real-time penalty calling. For instance we saw in Regina last year a penalty was not called on the field for (a) horse collar (tackle) and the replay centre called the penalty from Toronto after the fact. They are trying to eliminate that altogether. There’s a few circumstances that it could happen like roughing the passer but other than that, thank goodness,” he said.
