BRADENTON, Fla. — Jordan Williams-Lambert believes his four-day audition for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders went well.
He wishes it went better.
“It was OK; I’m hard on myself,” the 23-year-old receiver said Wednesday after the Roughriders’ mini-camp wrapped up at IMG Academy. “It could be a good practice, but I always think I could do more.
“It’s never perfect. You can look at the film and you can nitpick or you can say you did certain things well, but at the end of the day, you can always do better.”
Williams-Lambert was one of 30 players who participated in the mini-camp, but he actually spent two other days with the Roughriders. He arrived Saturday and took part in a free-agent camp before being invited to move on to mini-camp. There, he got to work with the Roughriders’ four quarterbacks.
“I think the extra reps helped me with understanding the offence and getting my legs under me and just getting in camp mode and football mode,” Williams-Lambert said. “In the off-season, you train but you don’t really get the competition side of it.”
After graduating from Ball State University, Williams-Lambert signed with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2016. The 6-foot-3, 228-pound Chicago product spent the ’16 season on the Saints’ practice roster, but was released with an injury settlement last August.
Rather than ending his pursuit of a pro football career, Williams-Lambert kept working out and looking for a chance to continue.
“The whole time leading up to this (camp), I was training because I knew I would get another opportunity to impress people and show what I can do,” said Williams-Lambert, who attended a Roughriders free-agent camp in Akron, Ohio.
“When I got on the field (at mini-camp), I just wanted to do what I could do to prove that I should be out here. I really wanted to prove that I’m the best out here. That’s my opinion and that’s how I’m working — to be the best.”
Williams-Lambert was one of 30 players who participated in the two-day camp. According to head coach-GM Chris Jones, between 12 and 15 of the attendees will move on to main camp.
“I thought that there were a lot of talented guys down here,” Jones said when asked to assess mini-camp. “Our personnel department did a good job of bringing the right guys down. I thought our quarterbacks in both camps did really well. It was a great group.”
Williams-Lambert was one of the top receivers during mini-camp, using his size and smooth style to great effect. If he gets invited to main camp in Saskatoon, he’ll face an uphill battle to crack a roster that’s loaded with talented receivers.
But the rookie isn’t fazed by the prospect of having to go up against proven international receivers like Duron Carter, Bakari Grant, Chad Owens and Naaman Roosevelt.
“I focus on me,” Williams-Lambert said. “If I do what I’ve got to do and make sure I’m the best I can be, then it doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I have to do and I’ll set myself apart.”
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Jones was impressed with the progress shown by the prospects from day to day of mini-camp.
“Offensively, they got their waggles down a little bit better (Wednesday) and got some people open that weren’t open (Tuesday),” he said. “The legs were going a little bit (Wednesday) but we got 65 or 66 plays of (pass skeleton) with a limited number of people.”
That said, there still were some issues that had to be addressed by the players — and, by extension, the coaches and other team officials.
“It’s our last opportunity to evaluate them (before deciding who will move on to training camp),” Jones said. “It took them a little bit to get going but once they got going, I thought it was a good solid day.”
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The Roughriders announced they had signed one player and released three others Wednesday.
Receiver Donta Armstrong was signed and participated on Day 2 of mini-camp. Armstrong, 23, is a 5-foot-10, 160-pound product of the University of West Alabama.
Released were national running back Johnny Augustine, national receiver Brett Blaszko and international receiver Jacoby Ford.
Ford, a former NFL receiver and returner who joined the Roughriders’ practice roster late last season, was on the field for Day 1 of mini-camp but left after sustaining a leg injury.
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Jones wore his traditional black long-sleeved shirt 
during the workouts in Florida, but the right sleeve this time bore the logo of the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos.
On April 6, the Broncos’ bus collided with a semi-trailer truck while the team was headed to Nipawin for a playoff game. The crash took the lives of 16 people, including 10 players.
“That was certainly a tragedy that happened,” Jones said. “I can’t even imagine as a parent, waking up and hearing that type of news. Having to deal with that, it just kind of makes a pit in my stomach.”
