If the Saskatchewan Roughriders are looking to bolster their defensive line, as TSN reporter Farhan Lalji believes they may potentially need to, a recently-released veteran could be on their radar.
Speaking to host Barney Shynkaruk on SportsCage radio Friday, Lalji proposed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calgary Stampeders and the Riders as three potential landing spots for national defensive lineman Christian Covington.
A veteran of nine NFL seasons, Covington was released Friday by the B.C. Lions after two years with his hometown team.
“Defensively they lost pieces of that pass rush. They lost A.J. Allen behind it,” Lalji said of the Riders, explaining what he’ll be watching for through the team’s training camp.
“Just what that defensive line rotation looks like, because I think there are some questions about where the pressure is going to come from. You lose Malik Carney to Edmonton and just can they consistently generate a pass rush, and who are going to be the players that emerge to do that?”
Covington played 102 regular season games in the NFL with the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers before coming to the CFL with B.C. in 2024, where he was credited with seven sacks and two forced fumbles over 29 regular season games.
“We talked about Saskatchewan and potentially having some depth questions along the defensive line. And honestly … this year’s draft was so bad for defensive linemen,” said Lalji. “There just was nothing there and especially interior guys. It was so, so thin because of the couple of guys that went to the NFL, the other couple of guys that weren’t eligible or deferred to next year.
“There was a few circumstances around it. But in the end if you’re a team trying to improve your D-line depth with this draft, it won’t happen.”
Lalji also expressed interest in the final construct of Saskatchewan’s offensive line.
“I know that the offensive line a year ago at Grey Cup wound up playing just one Canadian starter and I know that’s going to change,” he said. “I think the plan is for them to at least have two but even with the Americans there were some injuries along the way so there could be some potential changes there.”
That said, Lalji still expects the Riders to be strong contenders for the Grey Cup again in 2026.
“So many other areas of that team are just without question, you know what you’re going to get, they’re going to be so good,” he continued.
“You know what you’re going to get form Trevor Harris. The receiving corps even with some attrition I think they managed to keep so many key pieces as far as their main starters are concerned. And even in the back end they have more guys coming back than guys that they’ve lost, but both sides of the line of scrimmage, and primarily defensively, where’s the pressure going to come from?”
