After watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders lose four straight games and six of their last eight to put their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, SportsCage regular Arash Madani can’t find any silver linings.
“They’re just not very good,” he said on Tuesday’s show. “The talent just isn’t there. It’s a bad roster.”
Sure, the Riders have had plenty of injuries and continue to endure them. But that’s not an excuse for a 2-6 record over their last eight games, Madani said.
“A GM told me this a long time ago, and I’ll never forget it,” he said. “He asked me, ‘Do you know what the difference is between an injured player and a junk player? He used a different word.’ I said no. He said, ‘Neither is of any use to me. Nothing is the difference between an injured player and a crap player because neither is of any use to me.’
“The Riders are not a good football team. Full stop.”
Host Barney Shynkaruk then asked Madani if the season is salvageable. Madani was blunt before likening the Riders’ plight to another popular and successful Canadian sports team that took a major tumble this season.
“No,” he said. “I guess it depends on what salvageable means. Really, they’re not a threat in the West.
“I honestly think the best comp for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ situation is actually just thinking back to a year ago. The Riders are the Toronto Blue Jays. They hit lightning in a bottle in 2025. It all started to work for them at the end of the season. They start making a run and things start to happen. They played sound, fundamental baseball/football. The Riders didn’t turn the ball over. The Blue Jays didn’t make mental mistakes. The only difference was the Blue Jays didn’t finish in games 6 or 7 of the World Series; the Riders did.
“And then what happened? We all hung around thinking, believing that because of what happened last year, (it was) going to repeat itself this year. And I was one of them. Now they’re getting Schaffer-Baker back. Now they’re getting Tevaughn Campbell back. OK, A.J. (Ouellette) is into the mix. No.”
Speaking of Campbell, he struggled in his return to the lineup after missing eight games with a broken forearm. He was burned a couple times for touchdowns, the first one when he bit on a short route and was beaten over the top.
“I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt on the touchdown because that’s a revamped Riders secondary. There were guys that were lost all over the place,” Madani said. “This is what happens. The margin of error for a championship team and a group that’s going to get people fired is so small.
“This is a Riders team that, in a lot of ways, a lot of things went their way – on the health side, on the communications side, and on bounces and breaks. It’s not happening this year.”
Madani was informed that listeners were texting into the SportsCage wanting quarterback Trevor Harris to be replaced. That didn’t sit well with him.
“If you watch the Riders play, on the list of Trevor Harris being the reason, the problem, the issue, it’s not even in the top 10,” Madani said. “Two, what’s your solution? OK, run Trevor out of town. Guess what team’s been looking to replace Trevor Harris for the last 10 years. How’s that working out for the Ottawa Redblacks right now?
“It’s actually a scary predicament for the Riders. I don’t think he will, but if Trevor just decides, ‘I’m done’ … Now what? Ask Hamilton how that’s been going for them.”
That’s a future problem.
The Riders have two games left in their regular season. They’ve got a rematch with No. 1 Montreal and then close things out with No. 2 Edmonton. They need a win to even have a chance to make the playoffs.
But that’s almost irrelevant considering the Riders would have to go through Montreal, Edmonton, and B.C. in defence of a Grey Cup title.
“The Riders are not within striking distance of them,” Madani said. “Whether they get in, or whether they don’t … it’s a different class between those three and the Riders.”
Watch the full segment below.
