If the old adage about Saskatchewan Roughriders backup quarterbacks is true, David Watford is now the most popular man in the province.
The 25-year-old product of Hampton, Va., ascended to No. 2 on the Roughriders’ depth chart when Brandon Bridge moved from backup to starter. Bridge replaced Zach Collaros, who is on the six-game injured list with a concussion suffered June 21 against the Ottawa Redblacks.
Bridge is to start Saturday’s CFL game against the visiting Montreal Alouettes, but Watford is now one play away from being Saskatchewan’s main man behind centre.
“There’s no pressure,” Watford said. “I feel comfortable with the offence, the plays we have in and the schemes. I trust the guys and I feel like they trust me so, God forbid, if anything was to happen to Brandon or whatever the case may be, I’m going to prepare myself to go in and help out in the best way that I can.”
Watford joined the Roughriders’ practice roster late last season, but didn’t see any game action. At training camp this year, he held off Marquise Williams and B.J. Daniels to win the job as Saskatchewan’s third-stringer and then dressed for each of the team’s first two regular-season games.
When Collaros left the contest in Ottawa in the second quarter, Watford moved up to No. 2 — and he since has had more snaps in practice than he did previously. Instead of taking mental reps while Collaros and Bridge ran the first- and second-team offences, Watford has operated the second-string offence.
While that may be different for him, his mentality hasn’t changed.
“My thing is to be me — be free, have fun and keep a smile on my face,” he said. “I don’t want to have any thoughts that put pressure or extra stress on me because it’s football. It’s a game that we play, I’m blessed to play it and it’s fun.
“It’s serious too, but I’m never going to make it overly serious to where I’m putting extra pressure on myself and I can’t think. That takes away from my game and what I can do.”
Watford played quarterback in college, but he was moved to receiver after signing with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. Now he’s getting another opportunity at QB — and he’s thankful to be fulfilling the dream he had as a youngster.
“I was thankful to play receiver too, but playing quarterback meant something different to me because I put so much time and work and effort into it,” Watford said. “To have an opportunity on a professional stage to showcase what I felt I could do means something different to me.
“It means so much more because of all those hours when nobody was watching, when I was out in the backyard throwing a football in a trash can. As a little kid, you’re like, ‘I’m going to make it one day. I’m going to make it one day.’ Now to be able to say, ‘I’m here and I’m continuing on this journey’ is special.”
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The Roughriders had two quarterbacks when they practised on Tuesday. On Thursday, they had four.
Saskatchewan announced the signing of former Auburn University Tigers pivot Jeremy Johnson on Thursday, one day after announcing it had added ex-University of Michigan Wolverines starter Devin Gardner.
QB Jeremy Johnson
Johnson, 23, is a 6-foot-5, 234-pound product of Montgomery, Ala. He played four seasons at Auburn, where he completed 179 of 282 pass attempts for 2,223 yards with 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and rushed 73 times for 210 yards and nine TDs.
Johnson also played cornerback Thursday — and he had an interception return for a TD in one drill.
Gardner, 26, hails from Detroit. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder was 475-for-787 passing for 6,336 yards with 44 TDs and 32 interceptions over his five seasons at Michigan. He also rushed 342 times for 916 yards and 24 majors.
QB Devin Gardner
Gardner is expected to dress for Saturday’s game, so he’s on a crash course to learn the offence.
“If he was to go in the game, I told him he needs to know about five plays,” Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said. “We’ve got to be able to run the football some with him and he’s got to know five passing plays in order to get us through the game if he’s playing this early.”
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Defensive tackle Eddie Steele has lined up at guard all week and he’s expected to play both ways against the Als.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do for the team,” Steele said. “It’s not unfamiliar territory; I started a couple of games (on the Edmonton Eskimos’ O-line) back in 2015.”
The Roughriders appear set to use newly signed Mic’hael Brooks in their rotation at defensive tackle alongside Zack Evans and Makana Henry. Steele could get some time there while also backing up on the O-line.
“I don’t (have a preference),” Steele said. “It’s football and I like playing football. O-line is slowly growing on me, but I’m still wearing the green shirt (of a defensive player) in practice.”
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Cornerback Duron Carter got some work at receiver during Thursday’s practice, so he too could be playing both ways Saturday.
Jones has said Carter will stay at corner until Nick Marshall returns from a hand injury, so Carter’s brief stint with the offence could mean nothing — or it could indicate he’s going to play some receiver against Montreal.
With Carter on D, teams could play different coverages against Saskatchewan’s offence in order to shut down slotback Naaman Roosevelt. That doesn’t concern Jones.
“I hope they double-team Naaman because that’s going to leave one of our other guys open,” he said. “Caleb Holley and all of our other receivers are good options as well. Let ’em roll their coverage and we’ll see what happens.”
