With the Grey Cup done and dusted, let the Riders' off-season begin

By all accounts, Saskatchewan hosted another successful Grey Cup.  

It was tarnished only by the host team's inability to play in it, or even get a sniff. 

Thousands of tickets hit the resale market, as many Rider supporters were just turned off by football altogether.

An Argos' championship will largely go unnoticed by Torontonians, or at least forgotten by Wednesday. 

Saskatchewan, however, will stew over 2022 until at least spring when training camp kicks off again. 

One good thing came out of the Grey Cup, a Riders' fan will tell you — at least the Bombers didn't win it. Seeing a blue and gold celebration on the Mosaic Stadium turf would have been too much to take. 

Now that the hoopla of Grey Cup week have passed, the Roughriders can get down to business — or at least be free to make some announcements — to right all the wrongs from a disastrous season, with the goal of getting back to the Grey Cup game themselves some season soon.

With their jobs secured, Roughriders general manager Jeremy O'Day and head coach Craig Dickenson can focus on recruiting the right players and personnel.

First on the to-do list will be to sign an offensive co-ordinator after having sacked Jason Maas. Sacked is a fitting way to put it, as his quarterbacks experienced a lot of them in '22.

Unless the Riders have already filled the position and are just waiting for the right time to send out the release, names out there will include Paul LaPolice, Khari Jones and maybe, perhaps, Stampeders' quarterbacks' coach Marc Mueller.

Wouldn't he be a nice fit? The former Regina Rams' quarterback and grandson of the late great Ron Lancaster?

There have also been rumblings that the Riders will promote from within and appoint their running backs coach Kelly Jeffrey.

Whoever the new OC is, he will be faced with the daunting task of rebuilding an offence that truly sucked. Sorry for the language, but that's the only way to describe it.

The team finished with a 6-12 record, out of the playoffs in a season where it should have been obvious that it was kind of important to make the home-field Grey Cup game.

They greatly disappointed. There was no replay of the magic of 2013.

Roster changes will start at quarterback, as Cody Fajardo's confidence is likely shattered beyond repair.

The QB who led the Riders to back-to-back western finals spent the better part of 2022 on his backside. He was personally sacked 61 times out of a team total 77.

Fajardo was unceremoniously benched as the starter in week 17. Inserting Mason Fine did not provide the desired spark.

Fajardo believed he deserved better from the organization, and made it known he has likely played his last game as a Rider and will try his luck in free agency, so the Riders will have to go shopping in free agency.

If they are interested in Bo Levi Mitchell, that pursuit got a little more difficult after the Tiger-Cats acquired his rights from the Stampeders.

Did you really think Calgary's John Hufnagel would trade those rights to a division rival?

By acquiring Mitchell's rights, Hamilton gave themselves a three-month head start to deal exclusively with Bo, who becomes a free agent in February.

The off-season promises to be a game of quarterback musical chairs. 

Will Cody Fajardo stay or will he go?

Will McLeod Bethel-Thompson retire or not?

Will the Argos go with Chad Kelly or make a move for Bo Levi Mitchell?

Will Bo sign with Hamilton, or was he so impressed by Rider fans swooning all over him in Regina that he's thinking Saskatchewan maybe would not be a bad place to play?

Don't forget the chain reaction that will be created if Nathan Rourke goes to the NFL. If not, what happens with Vernon Adams?

Here in Saskatchewan it may be easier to rebuild a porous offensive line than to recruit a franchise quarterback.

At least the off-season will not be dull. Is it ever?