Getzlaf’s not gloating over Riders’ troubles
Eskimos receiver happily moving forward with his new CFL team
EDMONTON Chris Getzlaf isn’t deriving any extra satisfaction from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ struggles this season.
Getzlaf spent the past eight-plus CFL seasons in Saskatchewan, but the team’s new regime didn’t resign the slotback after he became a free agent in February. He subsequently signed with the Edmonton Eskimos.
On Friday, Getzlaf’s new team will play the Roughriders for the second time in the 2016 regular season. But unlike Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive end John Chick — who was eager to face the Roughriders last Saturday because he’d been released by the team in January for financial reasons — Getzlaf hasn’t been counting the days.
“I don’t think I have the same edge as John did,” Getzlaf said Thursday following the Eskimos’ walk-through at Commonwealth Stadium. “Do I think things could have been handled differently? Yes, of course I do, but it is what it is.”
The Roughriders’ front office is now run by Chris Jones, who was named Saskatchewan’s head coach, general manager and vicepresident of football operations in December. Jones went through the team’s roster with a scythe, cutting players like Chick and Weston Dressler, letting others like Getzlaf go in free agency and signing a bevy of free agents.
But the Roughriders are off to a dreadful start in 2016, with seven losses in their first eight games. They’ve also been fined three times by the CFL and had their $5.1-million salary cap reduced for roster violations.
On Thursday, the Eskimos were saying all the right things about Jones and the Roughriders.
Do I think things could have been handled differently? Yes, of course I do, but it is what it is.
When Eskimos head coach Jason Maas was asked if he looks at rule-breaking acts by other teams, he replied: “Nope. I focus more on what we are doing here and I’ll leave it at that.” Receiver Derel Walker wouldn’t comment on the Roughriders’ transgressions, saying: “Whatever’s going on over there is none of my business.”
Quarterback Mike Reilly echoed that sentiment, telling reporters he hasn’t paid attention to anything outside of his team’s efforts.
“(The Roughriders) are going to do things however they’re going to do them and (Jones) is going to try to put the best product he can on the field,” Reilly said, “but we’re trying to do the same in terms of being worried about ourselves.”
Jones spent the past two seasons as Edmonton’s head coach, turning a team that went 4-14-0 in 2013 into a squad that went 14-4-0 in 2015 and won the Grey Cup.
The Roughriders’ slow start is something new for Jones, but he reiterated Thursday that he’ll stay the course he has followed in all of his coaching stops.
“I’ve leaned on a lot of people to ask about their experience, people that have been coaching a lot longer than I have,” Jones said. “They’ve all said the same thing: ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s a process. Be positive.’ ” EXTRA POINTS: Jones said the Roughriders released receiver John Chiles on Wednesday not because of salary-cap implications, but because they were looking for players “who are going to be in the lineup more than one week at a time.” They also had found other productive receivers, so Chiles was released. Chiles, who had 10 catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns, missed Saskatchewan’s past five games, including the last two as a healthy scratch ... The Toronto Argonauts cut linebacker Keon Raymond on Thursday. Saskatchewan may be interested in Raymond, who played four seasons for Jones with the Calgary Stampeders.