Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
As the Riders season began, who was going to catch the ball was one of the biggest questions facing Saskatchewan.
Now, as the curtain closes on the 2016 season, the Riders questions about receivers is more to do with trying to figure out which ones are the best to continue on with.
The talent is plentiful.
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Ricky Collins Jr. caught over 700 yards and two touchdowns in 14 games this season (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
Yes after the team lost the top two receivers from 2015, Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith as well as former 1,000-yard guy Chris Getzlaf, the Riders relied on their ability to find talent.
The ability to find that talent was why President Craig Reynolds hired Chris Jones and spent the extra money to bring John Murphy over from Calgary to be Jones’ right hand man and player personnel guru.
When it comes to the receiving corps, they checked off that box.
Lucky for them Naaman Roosevelt was already a Roughrider and is a great player to build a receiving corps around. The Riders didn’t have a 1,000-yard receiver in 2015 but got one in the first 11 games of the season. The news of Roosevelt’s extension was met with jubilation in Saskatchewan as Roosevelt has all the makings of the next great one in Saskatchewan.
Head Coach Chris Jones said he’s got the best of his former stars in Edmonton, Adarius Bowman and Derel Walker. He’s got the ability to get open like Bowman and the strong hands to catch almost anything like Walker.
Roosevelt is a keeper.
After Roosevelt is a group of receivers who all are showing flashes to be something to look forward to after being recruited by the new regime.
Ricky Collins Jr. is over 700-yards in 14 games. Caleb Holley over 600 in 10.
Both players clearly have the 1,000-yard potential.
To a lesser extent, the Riders saw Armanti Edwards top 200-yards in his three games this season plus the additions of Jeff Fuller and Phil Bates are the big targets Chris Jones was looking for the entire off-season.
Let’s not forget about return man Joe Craig, who has a receiving background as well.
Then you have other receivers on the roster that had some time in the season finale to try to impress the Riders to bring them into camp again next season.
The other thing the Riders have been able to do with these receivers is move them around. Holley, Collins and Edwards have been able to line up on the outside as well as play at slot. Sadly, injuries have impacted much of the evaluation for these players with both Collins missing time, Edwards battling injuries throughout the season and Jeff Fuller get nicked in his first game.
Now you’re looking at a depth chart in Saskatchewan among the international receivers that has a tremendously bright future going into 2017 and will come with some rather big decisions by Jones to bring all back to compete because there will not be enough roster spots for all of them.
On the Canadian side of things, there was little doubt Rob Bagg would have another decent season but Shamawd Chambers has disappointed. Chambers injuries and lack of production has allowed Nic Demski to become a bigger part of the offence in his second pro season.
Demski has been a popular target of late and is also utilized out of the backfield as a running back, which brings him back to his roots as a running back in high school and college.
However, it’s the one depth spot in the receiving corps that is still in question.
But the search continues.
Chris Jones and the Riders will be holding more free agent camps the week following their final game of the season, in search of the next great receiver.
And while the question of ‘who is going to catch the ball’ is no longer that big of a concern for Rider Nation going into the 2017 off-season.
The question of ‘who is going to throw the football’ is becoming increasingly louder.
Roosevelt claimed Darian Durant is ‘my quarterback’ this week.
But is he the Riders beyond 2016?
The sooner that question gets answered, Rider Nation can get increasingly excited about a passing attack to compete with some of the best in the league.
