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Despite signing an NFL deal, Kory Sheets is still working an offseason oil job in Saskatchewan

Andrew Bucholtz

Offseason jobs are common for CFL players given the league's relatively-low salaries; some players even have held down alternate jobs during the season. It's much more unusual to see NFL players working in another field during the offseason given that league's higher salaries and expanded organized team activities, but Kory Sheets is proving that some do. The reigning Grey Cup MVPmay have left the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders for the NFL's Oakland Raiders this offseason, but he's still in Saskatchewan for the moment working for a trucking company involved with the oil industry. From CJME 980's Green Zone Football:

“I need to pay bills,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t get a signing bonus so I had to come up here and work.”

Sheets has spent his off-season working with a trucking company out of Carnduff—in the south east corner of the province near the US border—that provides rig-moving services in the oilfield.

“I’m a swamper. What that basically means is I ride with a guy that drives a truck, and whenever he needs help loading and unloading pieces of the oil rigs I get out and help him,” he said. “It’s great. I’m actually having a good time doing it. I get to see things I’ve never seen before and do things I’ve never done.”

Sheets said he had looked for an interim job in the US, but found it hard to find a decent-paying job. Meanwhile, he’s trying to stay in shape for his tryout in Oakland.

“I’ve got to squeeze in training, no matter if I do it late at night or early in the morning. That’s one thing I can’t skip,” he said. “So even though I’m working almost all of the day and most of the morning, if I come home late I hit the gym or hit the treadmill. I’ve got to do something to make sure I stay in shape and am keeping my body right.”

If Sheets winds up making it big in the NFL, this could go down as another Kurt Warneresque story; just replace the grocery bags with oil rigs. It doesn't sound like a bad job, though, and several other Riders have done various oil industry jobs in the offseason before. It's notable that the jobs in Saskatchewan are good enough that American players like Sheets are staying up there to work in the offseason; that might be another selling point the Riders can use when trying to attract talent. For Sheets, this seems like a good move; it brings in some money while he's waiting for the NFL season, and it's physical work that should help keep him in shape. Not every NFLer is going to be working an oil job in Saskatchewan in the offseason, but for this one, it might make sense—and it gives him even a better story if he turns into a south-of-the-border star.