Training camp: A look at the defence

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ improvement in the win column last season has a lot of its roots in the CFL team’s improvement on defence.

The Roughriders won five more games in the 2017 regular season than they did in 2016, all while making gains on the defensive side of the ball.

Opposing teams ran more offensive plays against Saskatchewan in 2017 than they had in 2016 (1,027 versus 997), but last season they gained fewer yards per play (6.2 against 6.9) and fewer yards per game (352.3 compared to 383.7) than in the previous season.

The Roughriders gave up fewer rushing yards in 2017 (an average of 96.3 yards per game) than they did in 2016 (104.2 average) and fewer passing yards (an average of 271.7 yards per game in 2017 versus 294.3 in 2016).

Saskatchewan also allowed 37 offensive touchdowns last season, down from 52 in 2016. The Green and White surrendered 10 rushing TDs (second-fewest in the CFL) and 27 passing TDs (fourth-fewest) in 2017 after giving up 15 rushing touchdowns and a league-high 37 passing majors in 2016.

Saskatchewan finished third in the CFL in takeaways with 40, 13 more than it had in 2016. The Roughriders were third in the league with a plus-12 giveaway-takeaway ratio, one season after finishing last in the league at minus-15.

A similar showing in 2018 could help the Roughriders attain their goal of improving on last season’s 10-8-0 regular-season record.

Here’s a look at the Roughriders’ defensive personnel entering training camp, which opens Sunday in Saskatoon.

Defensive linemen

One area where the Roughriders’ defence didn’t improve in 2017 was in sacks, so moves were made this off-season to address that.

Saskatchewan finished eighth in the league last season with 27 sacks, down from a league-low 29 the previous campaign.

Charleston Hughes

Defensive end Willie Jefferson led the way in 2017 with eight sacks and a league-best 37 quarterback pressures, but the Roughriders decided in the off-season to give him a pair of new running mates for 2018.

Lining up on the opposite end from Jefferson will be Charleston Hughes, who was acquired from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hughes is the proud (and vocal) owner of 99 career regular-season sacks and the 34-year-old — a three-time CFL sack leader — should be a reliable threat from the other end.

Lining up at defensive tackle will be Zack Evans, who was signed as a free agent from the Ottawa Redblacks. The Regina product had five sacks for Ottawa in 2017 — a total that would have tied him for second on the Roughriders’ defence — and consistently provides a push up the middle.

Converted receiver Tobi Antigha had five sacks as a reserve defensive end last season and the CFL sophomore should benefit in 2018 from a year’s experience — and from having Hughes as a resource.

Tackles Rakim Cox, Makana Henry, Nick James and Eddie Steele return, while ends Chad Geter, Justin Horton and Gary Wilkins are new to the fold.

Wilkins was a star in the Roughriders’ mini-camp in 2017, but a knee injury ended his season before it began.

Tackle Tresor Buama-Mafuta, a 2018 draft pick, also will look to make an impression during camp.

Linebackers

The off-season release of Henoc Muamba will have a ripple effect on the Roughriders’ linebacking corps.

With last season’s starting middle linebacker — and leading tackler — gone for 2018, Saskatchewan plans to move Sam Eguavoen from weak-side linebacker to the middle.

Kevin Francis

With Derrick Moncrief back to man the strong side, moving Eguavoen will open up a spot on the weak side. Head coach-GM Chris Jones already has said that the Roughriders will have one Canadian linebacker on the field at all times in 2018, so there’s a chance a Canuck will start at Will.

Sam Hurl was signed as a free agent this off-season and he joins a Canadian contingent that currently comprises Brandyn Bartlett, Alexandre Chevrier, Kevin Francis, Alexandre Gagne, Dillon Grondin and Cameron Judge.

Bartlett, Francis, Grondin and Judge missed varying amounts of time last season with injuries, while Gagne played one game as a special-teamer. Chevrier was drafted in 2017, but returned to the University of Sherbrooke for his final U Sports season. Hurl, meanwhile, appeared in 18 games for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last season, but he played in the middle.

Micah Teitz, whom the Roughriders selected in the 2018 draft, adds depth to the Canadian linebacking corps.

Internationals Kalen Jackson, Tyrell Robinson and Eric Striker — all of whom are CFL rookies — will try to turn heads at camp to earn roster spots.

Defensive backs

Crezdon Butler

Four-fifths of last season’s starting secondary returns, with only cornerback Kacy Rodgers II (who signed with the NFL’s New York Jets) out of the equation for camp.

Halfbacks Crezdon Butler and Ed Gainey, corner Jovon Johnson and safety Mike Edem are back. Gainey will be looking to build on a 2017 season in which he intercepted a league-best 10 passes, including a club-record four in one game.

Veteran Marc-Olivier Brouillette returns with the goal of unseating Edem as the starting safety, while John Ojo — a CFL all-star in 2015 — will get a look at wide-side corner. Ojo missed the 2016 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon and then had a stint with the NFL’s New York Jets in 2017.

Second-year Roughriders Chris Lyles and Sam Williams also return, as does Duron Carter. The receiver saw action at cornerback during the 2017 campaign and his 43-yard pick-six against the Calgary Stampeders was one of the season’s iconic moments.

Jones has said Carter will play both offence and defence in 2018 and has suggested the receiver-DB will work out at boundary corner with some of the newcomers.

Converted quarterbacks Rudy Johnson and Nick Marshall were retained after fine showings at the Roughriders’ mini-camp in Florida in April. So were fellow internationals Jeremy Cutrer and Orlandus Harris.

Saskatchewan’s DBs recorded 14 of the club’s 19 interceptions last season. They’ll get their chances again in 2018 in Jones’ preferred man-to-man defensive scheme