CFL Camp Countdown: Riders’ offseason attrition is partly the price of their success

For the fourth-straight year, we'll be running a CFL Camp Countdown series breaking down each team's prospects for the season ahead of training camp. First up this time around are the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the defending Grey Cup champions. This is based off a conference call Tuesday with Riders' general manager/vice-president of football operations Brendan Taman and head coach Corey Chamblin.

While the Roughriders ended last season on top of the world, thumping Hamilton 45-23 to win the Grey Cup at home, the offseason has brought them back to earth. The club's faced perhaps the most substantial attrition of any CFL team, losing two offensive stars (Kory Sheets and Weston Dressler) to the NFL and also losing four defensive starters, their backup quarterback and seven other players. Taman said some losses are to be expected every year, but this offseason has marked a more prominent turnover than usual for Saskatchewan.

"Every year you're subject to losing guys," he said. "You have this to a degree every year. Obviously, we have more starters and more names this year."

Taman said the Riders' impressive 2013 season likely played a role in that, increasing interest from NFL teams and other CFL teams in their players.

"I think the success we had did create more incentives for other teams to look at our guys."

He also cited players looking for more prominent roles as a factor, including running back/kick returner Jock Sanders (who went to Calgary).

"A lot of our guys we lost, well, not a lot, but some, they wanted bigger roles."

Taman said some other players wanted to return to teams they'd previously been with, including defensive tackle Jermaine McElveen and linebacker Diamond Ferri, who both went back to the Alouettes.

"Jermaine, Diamond, their old team in Montreal, there's obviously some familiarity there," he said.

One factor that makes the Riders' losses perhaps look worse is that they didn't bring in many big-name replacements of their own. Taman said that was by design, as the team planned to be quiet in free agency this year and focus on finding new talent at U.S. free-agent camps rather than bringing in established CFL players.

"We haven't hit free agency as hard as we have in the past," he said.

The attrition may not be quite over yet, either. Canadian linebacker Mike McCullough, who started at middle linebacker in the team's Grey Cup victory, is still deciding whether to retire or come back. Taman said the team's fine with giving him some more time.

"We want to make sure he's comfortable with whatever he decides doing."

Veteran import slotback Geroy Simon, the league's all-time leading receiver, may not be back either. Saskatchewan acquired him last offseason, and while he didn't record huge stats during the regular season, he came up big in the Grey Cup with three catches for 67 yards. Taman said contract talks with Simon are ongoing (a subject explored by Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press here), and "He's got as good a chance of not being back as he will be back."

Perhaps the most crucial position to watch at Saskatchewan's camp will be running back, with Sheets (the team's most important player and the Grey Cup MVP) and Sanders (his primary backup and the team's main punt and kick returner) both gone. Right now, the team has four American running backs with impressive college resumes (USC product Curtis McNeal, Florida State's Jermaine Thomas, Oklahoma State's Keith Toston and Fresno State's Clifton Smith), but little to no CFL experience (Smith spent last year with Calgary but didn't play much on offence, mostly serving as a returner; the other three are all CFL rookies). Taman said it was a similar situation when the team first found Sheets, though.

"He sort of came out of the blue and developed," Taman said. "We're hoping one of these guys can do the same."

Chamblin said he believes in the running backs the Riders have, especially after watching them during the team's early-April minicamp in Florida.

"I'm very confident one of the guys we had in that camp can step up and do things."

Running back will be a crucial position for Saskatchewan this year. The Riders ran the ball more than any other team last year during the regular season (423 attempts; Calgary was second with 414, then B.C. with 360), looking like a throwback CFL offence in the process. Over an 18-game schedule, that averages out to 23.5 attempts per game, which would make them a team that's ran more than any average team since 1980. A lot of that was thought to be thanks to the singular talent they had in Sheets, who set an all-time rushing record for a three-game stretch, broke the team's slump when he returned from injury and set a Grey Cup rushing record en route to claiming the championship game's Most Valuable Player award. However, Chamblin said he and offensive coordinator George Cortez plan to run just as much this season despite Sheets' absence.

"George, he loves to run the ball," Chamblin said. "As long as our o-line stays intact and does the things they do, I expect us to run the ball well and maintain that 50-50 mix."

Another big offensive loss is Dressler, the import slotback who was so effective for Saskatchewan from 2008-2013. Dressler showed off tremendous versatility, excelling on short patterns, long patterns, and even as a returner. Chamblin said the team won't try to replace everything he contributed with one player, but rather with several.

"I don't think there's one guy that can replace Dressler," he said. "We have enough guys brought in that we can make up some of the losses there."

One player who could step up to replace some of Dressler's catches is Canadian wide receiver Rob Bagg, who battled back from a couple of season-ending injuries to post a strong 2013.

"Rob Bagg's one of my favourite players," Chamblin said. "With the loss of a couple players on offence, he may see a couple more balls."

That may be the overarching theme for Saskatchewan heading into camp. All the offseason attrition ensures that it won't be many of the same guys making huge contributions this year, but that also opens up space for current players to take on bigger roles, and for new players to step in and make their own names known. How successfully they fill the gaps may determine the Riders' success this year.