Five years, one missed game: Roughriders’ Evan Johnson returns to practice field

It is an event when Evan Johnson sits out a snap, let alone a game. 

The Regina-born guard was on the field for all but one play from scrimmage over his first two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, spanning 16 games (playoffs included) in 2021 and 18 last year. 

The one play he missed: A kneel-down situation to conclude a June 23, 2022 CFL road game against the Montreal Alouettes. 

Johnson proceeded to be an every-down player on offence for the Roughriders’ first 11 games of the 2023 season. 

His durability was such that a foot injury, suffered Sept. 3 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, would not take him off the field during a home game that Saskatchewan ultimately won 32-30 in overtime. 

But then the decision was made to sit him out of Saskatchewan’s next contest — Saturday’s 51-6 loss in Winnipeg. 

“I hadn’t missed a game since 2018, so it was definitely a little bit of foreign territory for me,” said the former University of Saskatchewan Huskies standout, who spent his first three CFL seasons with the Ottawa REDBLACKS before signing with the Roughriders as a free agent on Feb. 9, 2021. 

“It was tough to kind of get pulled and not be able to go and get on the bus (to the airport). I said ‘good luck’ to everyone and watched from home.” 

As much as Johnson savoured time spent with his wife (Dallis) and two sons (two-year-old Maverick and newly arrived Levi), it was a novel experience to follow a Roughriders game on TV as a proud member of the team. 

“I was able to really closely watch the first three quarters,” he said. “Then the kids woke up and I had a little bit more going on in the house. 

“There’s no way I was going to be missing that game, even though I wasn’t playing in it.” 

And there wasn’t any way he would miss a play in the Roughriders’ previous game, considering the predicament that was created when right offensive tackle Colin Kelly suffered a serious knee injury near halftime. 

Kelly’s injury necessitated the elevation of the Roughriders’ sixth offensive lineman, Logan Bandy, to a front-line role for the remainder of the game — plus overtime. 

“It was the Labour Day Classic,” Johnson said. “Obviously, it’s a game that everyone on the team — especially us hometown guys — gets really excited for. 

“There was no way I was going to get pulled out of the game of my own free will, so I was able to stay in the game, kind of grind through that, and finish the game. We were able to win the game, more importantly.” 

How painful was it to play on an injured foot that subsequently warranted a one-game respite? 

“I wasn’t having a great time out there, I’ll tell you that,” the always-easygoing Johnson said with a laugh. 

“When push comes to shove, I was banged up, but still able to play. No one’s really healthy out here, so as long as I had my two feet and I was able to block the guy in front of me, we were good to go.” 

Now the same can likely be said of Johnson’s status for Friday’s game against the Edmonton Elks (7:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). 

“Hopefully he came out of practice (on Tuesday) healthy,” Head Coach Craig Dickenson said. “We want to take it slow with him, but it would be huge if we can get him back on the field.”