Dressler still calls Regina home
Regina is more than the city where Weston Dressler began his CFL career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It’s also home.
Dressler, his wife, Tegan, and their 2½ month old son Cooper all live in the Queen City, even though the veteran slotback is heading into his third season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“Tegan is from Regina and I met her there,’’ Dressler said recently during CFL Week in Winnipeg. “Her family is there and we bought our house there in 2014. It’s my home base.’’
Dressler spent eight seasons with the Roughriders before being released for financial reasons on Jan. 16, 2016. The 32-year-old native of Bismarck, N.D., lived in Regina full time for six of those eight seasons. “My main reason to stay (in Regina) was I was able to train with the team and to work out at the gym,’’ Dressler said. “It also helps to be close to my family in Bismarck, which is only six hours away, and Winnipeg is only six hours away, too.’’
Dressler wasn’t on the market long after being released by the Riders. He signed with the Blue Bombers on Jan. 26, 2016, and recently agreed to a one-year contract extension.
He has contractual ties to the Blue Bombers, but has pondered remaining in Regina when he retires from football.
“We’re going to see what opportunities are out there for work when I’m done with football,’’ Dressler said. “We’ll also see what’s best for the both of us and our family at that time.’’
Dressler had a sample of what the future might hold during the 2017 season when injuries limited him to 10 games. He remained connected to the team by working with the receivers while rehabbing.
“It’s not set in stone that I want to be a coach or I need to be a coach, but it’s definitely something that I would look at,’’ he said. “Just as a veteran player who has been around a while, it’s part of the job to help the younger guys learn the game. That’s especially true with the younger American players coming into the game who don’t know the rules yet.’’
Dressler remembers some of the Roughriders stepping up for him when he first joined the CFL in 2008. The team featured veteran receivers like Andy Fantuz, Matt Dominguez and D.J. Flick, who helped Dressler with the ins and outs of the professional game.
However, it was Canadian Rob Bagg who had the biggest impact on Dressler’s development.
“We just became friends immediately,’’ said Dressler, who was named the CFL’s most outstanding rookie in 2008. “As a Canadian, I felt comfortable asking him all of those dumb questions and he answered them all. I remember watching games in the pre-season with him and Rob just talking about the game. I was able to get all of that information constantly from him.’’
Dressler’s third season with the Blue Bombers marks a reunion with quarterback Darian Durant, who signed with Winnipeg on Jan. 21 after spending one season with the Montreal Alouettes. Durant and Dressler were teammates on the Riders from 2008 through the 2015 season.
The Roughriders, meanwhile, announced the signing of international defensive back John Ojo to a two-year contract on Monday.
Ojo spent the 2015 season with the Edmonton Eskimos. In 2015, he was a named a CFL all-star after starting 18 regular-season games, registering 43 defensive tackles, five interceptions and eight special-teams tackles. Ojo returned one pick 57 yards for a touchdown. Ojo also shared in Edmonton’s 26-20 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks in the 2015 Grey Cup game.
Ojo (six-foot-three, 210 pounds) missed all of the 2016 CFL season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in training camp. In 2017, Ojo signed and was waived by the NFL’s New York Jets.