There was a time, long ago, when players’ contracts would be signed in ink — fountain pen, even — and returned to the rights-holding football team via the postal service.
Now, what was once an extended process can begin and end in a matter of minutes.
On Tuesday at 11:01 a.m., Saskatchewan Roughriders Director of Football Operations Jordan Greenly e-mailed contracts to both players who had agreed to terms during the free-agency communication window (Feb. 2-9).
Quarterback Tommy Stevens responded with an electronically signed contract that arrived at 11:14.
Five minutes later, the e-signature of offensive lineman Philippe Gagnon adorned a document that landed in Greenly’s Inbox.
It all would have unfolded in silence if not for an accessory Greenly reserves for the purpose of celebrating all deals that are formally consummated.
HONNNNNK!
The final blast of Greenly’s airhorn reverberated throughout the Roughriders’ football-operations area at 11:19.
At the time, Jeremy O’Day (Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager) and Kyle Carson (Assistant GM) were inside the war room, which is Player Personnel Central for events such as the CFL Draft and the opening of the communication window.
Greenly was near his office, a few first downs away, when Gagnon’s contract was returned. Within seconds, everyone on that level of Mosaic Stadium knew the deal was sealed, without a word being uttered.
That was it, basically.
Most of the heavy lifting had been done early in the communication period. For a full week, all nine CFL teams were able to negotiate with players who were poised to become free agents on Tuesday at 11 a.m., Saskatchewan time.
Across the league, tentative deals were reached with veteran CFLers. All that remained was for the paperwork — which is now free of paper, given the times in which we live — to be completed.
That took all of 18 minutes, start to finish, on Tuesday morning.
“Sometimes you get the contracts back quickly,” O’Day said. “Sometimes the player is working out, so there might be a bit of a delay.”
Outside the teams’ quarters, the routine typically calls for a player’s agent to review a contract, one more time. This is almost always a formality.
“Once the agent reads it and approves it, he’ll usually send the player a text that says, ‘Good to go,’ ” O’Day said.
“Technology has changed so much. Players can sign right from their phone now. How quickly we get the contract back often depends on how busy the agent is. Some of the agents will get 10 or 20 contracts right at 11 o’clock, so it can take a while to review all of them.”
It was a different exercise when O’Day signed his first CFL contract — on May 27, 1997.
The Toronto Argonauts secured the services of the former Edinboro University standout after selecting him in the second round of the 1997 Supplemental Draft.
“They faxed the contract to the school where I was student-teaching,” O’Day recalled.
O’Day went on to spend two seasons with Toronto before signing (via fax) with Saskatchewan as a free agent on Feb. 26, 1999.
He anchored the Roughriders’ offensive line while starting at centre for most of the next 11 seasons, whereupon he remained with the organization and became involved in football operations.
When O’Day was named the GM on Jan. 18, 2019, Day 1 of the free-agency period coincided with the commencement of contract negotiations.
“The window has been in use since 2020,” the CFL explained on its website, “and was created as a way to curb tampering and allow pending free agents to explore and better understand their options ahead of the market’s official opening.”
While the window is open, teams can re-sign their own prospective free agents, as was the case last week when returner Mario Alford, defensive tackle Micah Johnson, receiver Mitch Picton and cornerback Marcus Sayles reached new deals with the Green and White.
But the formal changing of teams cannot take place until Day 1 of free agency.
“We went through most of this last week, so we’ve started to move on to the Draft (preparations) and negotiation-list players,” O’Day said. “We still have agents reach out as well.”
Keep in mind, too, that there is still a considerable pool of unsigned free agents.
Last year, offensive lineman Ryan Sceviour signed with Saskatchewan three days after free agency opened. Receiver Derel Walker was an early-March signing in 2023.
So the phones are still ringing, and Inboxes are still dinging, as the Roughriders continue to explore free-agent options that could improve the roster.
The priority for this year, however, was to embrace continuity and keep intact the nucleus of an emerging team that finished in second place, earned a home playoff game, and advanced to the Western Final last season.
The Roughriders had been much more active on the free-agent market in 2023 and 2024, with the stated goal of building a team that would ultimately require tweaking — and therefore a minimum of free-agent activity — by the time a day such as Tuesday arrived.
That objective being attained, the next step was to publicly announce the two latest signings.
With that purpose in mind, Director of Communications Arielle Zerr entered the war room on Tuesday at 11:34 a.m.
Media releases regarding Stevens and Gagnon were soon double-checked and disseminated.
And the airhorn, at least for the moment, was tucked away.
