Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
Chris Jones said numerous times this off-season that free-agent-to-be Willie Jefferson would be back with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2018.
On Sunday, that expectation became reality. The Roughriders announced they had signed Jefferson, who could have hit the open market on Feb. 13, to a contract extension.
The move had long been expected — on Saturday, the 27-year-old defensive end even hinted at it by tweeting “2018 It’s a go” with a watermelon emoji — but nothing was official until Sunday.
“Willie is an important part of our team culture and has developed into a leader on and off the field,” Jones, the Roughriders’ vice-president of football operations, general manager and head coach, said in a statement.
“He is a versatile player with a rare combination of size and speed. At 27 years old, he has lots of good football ahead of him.”
The move comes two days after the Roughriders acquired defensive end Charleston Hughes from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in exchange for quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.
Hughes (11 sacks in 2017) and Jefferson (eight) give Saskatchewan a proven pair of pass-rushing ends. The Roughriders are looking to improve on a 2017 season in which they finished eighth in the league with 27 sacks.
Jefferson was a West Division and CFL all-star in 2017, his first full season in Saskatchewan.
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound product of Stephen F. Austin University led the CFL with 37 quarterback pressures and added 45 tackles, six pass knockdowns, two tackles for losses and one blocked punt (which he recovered and returned for a touchdown).
He added three tackles, a sack and an interception in Saskatchewan’s two playoff games.
In 58 career regular-season CFL games, the resident of Beaumont, Texas, has registered 93 tackles, 21 sacks, 20 pass knockdowns and four forced fumbles.
Jefferson broke into the CFL in 2014 with the Edmonton Eskimos, whose head coach at the time was Jones.
After two seasons with Edmonton, Jefferson signed with the NFL’s Washington Redskins in 2016. Following his release by Washington, he signed with the Roughriders in September of 2016.
Jefferson’s re-signing drops Saskatchewan’s number of pending free agents to 11. That group comprises defensive linemen A.C. Leonard, Ese Mrabure and Eddie Steele, offensive linemen Bruce Campbell and Dan Clark, running backs Spencer Moore and Greg Morris, receivers Devon Bailey and Nic Demski, linebacker Otha Foster III and kicker Quinn van Gylswyk.
That figure had fallen to 12 on Saturday when the Roughriders announced they had released cornerback Kacy Rodgers II so that he could pursue an NFL contract.
Rodgers, a 25-year-old product of Dallas, played 25 games over his two regular seasons with Saskatchewan. In 2017, he had 42 tackles, four knockdowns, two forced fumbles and one interception through 15 regular-season games. He added 12 tackles over the Roughriders’ two playoff games.
Saskatchewan also revealed Saturday that it had released defensive back/linebacker Erick Dargan. The 25-year-old from Pittsburg, Calif., had 29 tackles, four special-teams stops and two fumble recoveries in nine regular-season games as a CFL rookie last season.
