2021 Saskatchewan Roughriders season

2021 Saskatchewan Roughriders season
2021 Saskatchewan Roughriders season
General manager	Jeremy O'Day
Head coach	Craig Dickenson
Home stadium	Mosaic Stadium
Results
Record	9–5
Division place	2nd, West
Playoffs	Lost West Final
Team MOP	Cody Fajardo
Team MODP	Loucheiz Purifoy
Team MOC	Micah Teitz
Team MOOL	Dan Clark
Team MOST	Brett Lauther
Team MOR	Kian Schaffer-Baker
	← 2020; Roughriders seasons; 2022 →;

The 2021 Saskatchewan Roughriders season was the 63rd season for the team in the Canadian Football League. It was the club's 112th year overall, and its 105th season of play. Although the club failed to record a second consecutive first place finish in the West Division, the Roughriders qualified for the post-season for the fourth consecutive season of play on October 30, 2021 following a win over the Montreal Alouettes.^[1] After defeating the Calgary Stampeders in the West Semi-Final, the Roughriders then lost the West Final to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the second consecutive season.^[2] This was the second season under head coach Craig Dickenson and general manager Jeremy O'Day.

An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule.^[3]^[4] On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021.^[5]

Offseason

CFL Global Draft

The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021.^[6]^[7] The Roughriders selected fifth in each round of the snake draft.^[6]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	University/Club Team	Nationality
1	5	Christopher Ezeala	RB	Ingolstadt Dukes	Germany
2	14	Kaare Vedvik	P	Marshall	Norway
3	23	Jon Henry Nell	K	N/A	South Africa
4	32	Sebastien Sagne	REC	Frankfurt Universe	Finland

CFL National Draft

The 2021 CFL Draft took place on May 4, 2021.^[8]^[9] The Roughriders had six selections in the six-round snake draft and had the second pick in odd rounds and the eighth pick in even rounds.^[9]^[10]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	University Team	Hometown
1	2	Nelson Lokombo	DB	Saskatchewan	Abbotsford, BC
2	17	Terrell Jana	WR	Virginia	Vancouver, BC
3	20	Bruno Labelle	TE	Cincinnati	Montreal, QC
4	35	Alain Cimankinda	DL	Guelph	Gatineau, QC
5	38	Logan Bandy	OL	Calgary	Calgary, AB
6	53	Matt Watson	DB	Mount Allison	Brampton, ON

Preseason

Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021.^[5]

Planned schedule

Week	Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	TV	Venue
A	Bye
B	1	Fri, May 28	6:30 p.m. CST	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	NA	IG Field
C	2	Fri, June 5	7:00 p.m. CST	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	NA	Mosaic Stadium

^[11]

Regular season

Standings

West Division view talk edit
Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	PF	PA	Div	Stk
Winnipeg Blue Bombers	14	11	3	0	22	351	187	8–1	L2	Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders	14	9	5	0	18	290	285	5–4	L1	Details
Calgary Stampeders	14	8	6	0	16	315	263	6–4	W3	Details
BC Lions	14	5	9	0	10	313	351	2–7	W1	Details
Edmonton Elks	14	3	11	0	6	246	377	2–7	L1	Details

Schedule

The Roughriders initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 12 and ending on October 23.^[3] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the Canadian Football League delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Roughriders began their 14-game season on August 6, 2021.^[5]

Week	Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
Week	Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Score	Record	TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
1	1	Fri, Aug 6	7:30 p.m. CST	BC Lions	W 33–29	1–0	TSN	Mosaic Stadium	32,975	Recap
2	2	Sat, Aug 14	8:00 p.m. CST	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 30–8	2–0	TSN/ESPNews	Mosaic Stadium	27,076	Recap
3	3	Sat, Aug 21	5:00 p.m. CST	Ottawa Redblacks	W 23–10	3–0	TSN/RDS	Mosaic Stadium	28,559	Recap
4	Bye
5	ǁ 4 ǁ	Sun, Sep 5	4:00 p.m. CST	Winnipeg Blue Bombers	L 8–23	3–1	TSN/ESPNews	Mosaic Stadium	32,975	Recap
6	5	Sat, Sept 11	2:00 p.m. CST	@ Winnipeg Blue Bombers	L 9–33	3–2	TSN	IG Field	33,234	Recap
7	6	Fri, Sept 17	7:45 p.m. CST	Toronto Argonauts	W 30–16	4–2	TSN	Mosaic Stadium	25,883	Recap
8	7	Fri, Sept 24	8:30 p.m. CST	@ BC Lions	W 31–24	5–2	TSN/ESPN2	BC Place	12,500	Recap
9	8	Sat, Oct 2	5:00 p.m. CST	@ Calgary Stampeders	L 17–23	5–3	TSN	McMahon Stadium	25,516	Recap
10	9	Sat, Oct 9	5:00 p.m. CST	Calgary Stampeders	L 19–22	5–4	TSN	Mosaic Stadium	27,964	Recap
11	Bye
12	10	Sat, Oct 23	7:45 p.m. CST	@ Calgary Stampeders	W 20–17	6–4	TSN	McMahon Stadium	21,672	Recap
13	11	Sat, Oct 30	5:00 p.m. CST	@ Montreal Alouettes	W 19–14	7–4	TSN/RDS	Molson Stadium	11,817	Recap
14	12	Fri, Nov 5	7:45 p.m. CST	@ Edmonton Elks	W 19–17	8–4	TSN	Commonwealth Stadium¹	24,115	Recap
15	13	Sat, Nov 13	3:00 p.m. CST	Edmonton Elks	W 29–24	9–4	TSN/RDS	Mosaic Stadium¹	26,056	Recap
16	14	Sat, Nov 20	3:00 p.m. CST	@ Hamilton Tiger-Cats	L 3–24	9–5	TSN/RDS	Tim Hortons Field	22,344	Recap

Notes

^ Saskatchewan was originally scheduled to host the first of their two games against Edmonton, but a COVID-19 outbreak affecting the Elks resulted in the League rescheduling a game originally scheduled for August 26 between Edmonton and Toronto. To help accommodate this change, the venues for the Roughriders' home-and-home series against the Elks have been reversed.

^[12]^[13]^[14]

# Games played with primary home uniforms.

# Games played with white uniforms.

ǁ # ǁ Games played with retro alternate uniforms.

Post-season

Schedule

Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
Game	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Score	Record	TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
West Semi-Final	Sun, Nov 28	3:30 p.m. CST	Calgary Stampeders	W 33–30 (OT)	1–0	TSN/RDS/ESPNews	Mosaic Stadium	24,001	Recap
West Final	Sun, Dec 5	3:00 pm CST	@ Winnipeg Blue Bombers	L 17–21	1–1	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	IG Field	31,160	Recap

^[11]

# Games played with primary home uniforms.

# Games played with white uniforms.

Team

Roster

**Saskatchewan Roughriders roster**
	Quarterbacks 7 Cody Fajardo 8 Mason Fine 16 Isaac Harker Receivers 1 Shaquelle Evans 83 Jake Harty 19 Brayden Lenius 88 Paul McRoberts 81 Mitchell Picton 89 Kian Schaffer-Baker 14 Duke Williams Running backs 27 Kienan LaFrance 25 Jamal Morrow 29 William Powell Fullbacks 41 Albert Awachie 30 Alexandre Dupuis Offensive linemen 68 Brett Boyko RT 67 Dan Clark C 63 Logan Ferland LG 64 Evan Johnson RG 62 Andrew Lauderdale LT 59 Josiah St. John		Defensive linemen 97 Keion Adams 98 Charbel Dabire 31 Christopher Ezeala 28 Kevin Francis 74 Makana Henry 2 Micah Johnson 91 Anthony Lanier 6 A. C. Leonard 93 Pete Robertson 99 Jonathan Woodard Linebackers 52 Nigel Harris 58 Justin Herdman-Reed 45 Deon Lacey 50 Nakas Onyeka Defensive backs 0 Elie Bouka 37 Jeremy Clark 11 Ed Gainey 3 Nick Marshall 32 Rolan Milligan 5 Loucheiz Purifoy 24 Damon Webb Special teams 46 Jorgen Hus LS 12 Brett Lauther K 70 Kaare Vedvik P				1-game Injured list 33 Jacob Dearborn DB 42 DeMarquis Gates LB 82 Terrell Jana WR 61 Cameron Jefferson OL 48 Gary Johnson Jr. LB 39 Alvin Jones Jr. LB 86 Ricardo Louis WR 4 Paxton Lynch QB 92 Garrett Marino DL 18 Justin McInnis WR 51 Michael Pinckney LB 54 Mattland Riley OL 43 Micah Teitz LB 6-game Injured list 95 Freddie Bishop DL 22 Blace Brown DB 38 Christian Campbell DB 10 Larry Dean LB 76 Vincent Dethier DB 15 Mike Edem DB 47 Jonathan Femi-Cole RB 53 Jordan Herdman-Reed LB 21 Nelson Lokombo DB 85 Kyran Moore WR 26 Godfrey Onyeka DB 90 Jordan Reaves DL 9 Jon Ryan P 65 Terran Vaughn OL 96 Tim Williams DL 17 Jordan Williams-Lambert WR		Practice roster 66 Ka'John Armstrong OL 94 Alain Cimankinda DL 95 Nick Coe DL 84 Rashard Davis WR 96 Nick Dheilly DL 20 Marcus Murphy RB 71 Henry Nell K 49 Tyree Robinson DB 42 TeGray Scales LB 72 Ben Scruton P Suspended 63 Logan Bandy OL 31 Kentrell Brice DB 84 Sammie Coates WR 58 Takoby Cofield OL 66 Seantrel Henderson OL 35 A. J. Hendy DB 57 Brendon LaBatte OL 22 Jeremy Langford RB 14 Tony Lippett DB 21 L. J. McCray DB
Italics indicate American player • Bold indicates Global player • 45 Active, 29 Injured, 10 Practice, 10 Suspended Roster updated 2021-12-05 • Depth chart • Transactions Archived 2014-12-05 at the Wayback Machine • More CFL rosters

Coaching staff

**Saskatchewan Roughriders staff**

	Front office President and ceo – Craig Reynolds General manager and vice president of football operations – Jeremy O'Day Assistant general manager – Paul Jones Director of player personnel – Kyle Carson Director of football operations – Ryan Pollock Football operations coordinator – Jordan Greenly U.S. Scout – Ron Selesky Director of athletic therapy – Ivan Gutfriend Manager of equipment – Gordon Gilroy Head coaches Head coach – Craig Dickenson Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Jason Maas Offensive line – Stephen Sorrells Receivers – Travis Moore Running backs – Tim Prinsen Offensive assistant – Josh Lambert			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Jason Shivers Defensive line – Ben Olson Linebackers – Deion Melvin Defensive backs – Richard Kent Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Craig Dickenson Special teams assistant – Kent Maugeri Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning coordinator – Clinton Spencer → Coaching Staff Archived 2011-08-15 at the Wayback Machine → More CFL staffs