Ball is in Jones’ hands after Durant departure
Contract negotiations between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and quarterback Darian Durant weren’t even moderately successful.
An irresolvable impasse led to Friday morning’s jarring news that the playing rights to Durant had been dealt to the Montreal Alou- ettes, who will now endeavour to sign the 34-year-old passer before he can become a CFL free agent on Feb. 14.
The face of the franchise was unloaded for faceless compensation — a fourth-round draft pick in 2017 and a conditional second-rounder in 2018.
With Durant out of the equation, the Roughriders’ highest-profile employee is head coach, general manager and vice-president of football operations Chris Jones. It’s all on him now. Somehow, somewhere, Jones has to find and/or develop a startingcalibre quarterback — and do so expeditiously. By trading a member of Roughriders royalty, Jones has left himself and the organization with scant wiggle room. Plan B must be a success in Year 2 of the Jones regime. Failing that, will there be a Year 3?
The Roughriders are believed to have offered Durant a guaranteed base salary of $300,000 and up to another $100,000 in performancebased incentives.
Postmedia’s Murray McCormick also reported Durant wanted the entire $400,000 to be guaranteed.
The preference here would have been for the Roughriders to com- mit to an additional $100,000 and ensure that a veteran quarterback — a legendary one at that — was in place, but that price tag was deemed to be excessive.
“We won five ball games last year with Darian,” Jones said, “so that’s a reality.”