Durant has said his goodbyes in Rider Nation

Darian Durant is moving out — and moving on.

The former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback has been in Regina to participate in CFL Week festivities, but he also has used his time in the city to pack up his belongings and prepare to move to Montreal.

The Roughriders traded the 34-year-old to the Montreal Alouettes on Jan. 13.

“(Packing) had some good moments, some bad moments, some sad moments — a little bit of everything,” Durant said Wednesday during a media scrum at the Queensbury Centre.

“The toughest part is just seeing all the Rider gear — the sweats, the hoodies, the T-shirts, different things like that — and having to pack that up and knowing that, for the short term, I can’t put that on anymore.”

Durant was with the Roughriders for 11 seasons, the vast majority of which were spent as the team’s starting quarterback.

He was a third-stringer in 2007 when Saskatchewan won the Grey Cup and was the starter when the Roughriders went to the CFL final in 2009, 2010 and 2013.

In that latter year, he helped Saskatchewan win the fourth Grey Cup in franchise history with a 45-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Mosaic Stadium.

This off-season, after contract negotiations between Durant and the Roughriders broke off, Saskatchewan traded Durant to Montreal for a pair of draft picks.

The pivot said Wednesday that he didn’t take the outcome personally, but he was stung by some comments that head coach/GM Chris Jones made in the media.

“It could have just been a simple, ‘We want to go in another direction. Thank you for everything. Goodbye,’ ’’ Durant said. “I would have much rather had that go down.”

After the deal was made, Durant turned to close friends (and former Roughriders) John Chick and Weston Dressler for advice on joining a different team.

“It’s something that I’ve never experienced,” Durant said, “so they just told me about change and how you have to leave that behind you and move on.”

Dressler, who signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after being released by Saskatchewan in January of 2016, said Wednesday that CFL Week will be cathartic for Durant.

The quarterback put on a Montreal jersey for the first time on Wednesday and Dressler was confident that would help Durant deal with his emotions.

That’s because Dressler used a CFL event last year in a similar way.

“The first time I put on the Blue Bombers uniform was at the photo shoot last year in Toronto and it was a step in the process,” the slotback said. “It’s like, ‘OK, it’s not that bad.’ It’ll help him. He’s going through everything as a member of the Alouettes right now.

“The biggest thing that helped me was getting in the locker room and getting to know my new teammates. That’s when you start to feel comfortable and get back into football.”

Durant spent much of Wednesday with some of his new teammates, including receivers S.J. Green and Nik Lewis, tailback Tyrell Sutton and linebacker Bear Woods.

Lewis noted that Durant will have to get comfortable in the Als’ dressing room before taking on a leadership role, but that shouldn’t take long.

Lewis knows whereof he speaks, having gone through a similar situation himself; he joined Montreal in 2015 after spending 11 seasons with the Calgary Stampeders.

“When you get later in your career and you’ve had success in one place, you look forward to that new beginning because it’s almost like everything starts over,” Lewis said. “Everything is going to be different than he had here. But it’s about taking it all in, enjoying the experience and understanding that, through time, everything’s going to work itself out.”

Durant is looking forward to working with Als offensive co-ordinator Anthony Calvillo — the quarterback who guided Montreal to Grey Cup victories over Saskatchewan in 2009 and ’10 — and to working with veteran receivers like Green, Lewis and Ernest Jackson.

Ironically, Montreal’s first regular-season game in 2017 is June 22 at home against the Roughriders. The Als visit Saskatchewan on Oct. 27 — long after the Roughriders’ first game in new Mosaic Stadium.

Durant noted he was sad that he won’t get to open the new facility as a member of the Roughriders, but he was pleased that the organization, the fans and the players had a new home.

But Durant has a new home himself, and he’s looking forward to starting over in Montreal.

He has said his goodbyes to people he knows in Regina — “That’s the toughest part (of the move),” he admitted – and he has put away his Roughriders gear in hopes of keeping it out of sight, out of mind.

“I’ve pretty much put that chapter behind me,” he said. “I’ve been an Alouette for a couple of months now. I’ve wrapped myself around it, I’m happy about it and I’m ready to go.”