QB choices are going to make or break the Roughriders

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders surely knew the risks this season of starting Trevor Harris, a 38-year-old quarterback who missed the team’s final 13 games of their previous CFL campaign because of major surgery on his right knee.

Harris lasted about 2 1/2 games.

According to Riders head coach Corey Mace, Harris will be placed on the six-game injury list with sprained medial collateral ligaments in his left knee, suffered while being sacked during the second quarter of a 36-20 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on June 23.

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“The good news is it’s not a season-ender,” said Mace, who was optimistic Harris would be healthy enough to be reinstated before missing six games.

The other good news is Harris didn’t re-injure the same knee, which he said last season had healed sufficiently that he could have played in the playoffs. Except Saskatchewan missed the 2023 postseason with a 6-12 record.

Harris’ work ethic and recuperative skills notwithstanding, the Roughriders showed some concern about his durability. General manager Jeremy O’Day marginally reduced his quarterback’s team-high salary during the offseason upon deciding he was going to be welcomed back as their leader in 2024.

There evidently wasn’t anyone else worth pursuing or promoting.

We’re about to find out rather quickly if the Roughriders made the right decisions about their quarterbacks.

Shea Patterson is now the starter, likely through July, as the 3-0 Roughriders wend through the primary gauntlet of their schedule with games against the Toronto Argonauts, B.C. Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes.

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“The kid does everything right,” Mace said about Patterson. “His vehicle is here sometimes before mine (at the Riders’ facility), which is crazy. I’m so excited for the kid and the team’s excited to rally around him.”

Patterson, who replaced Harris and turned in a so-so relief performance against Hamilton, gets his first CFL start Thursday against the Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium and is looking to improve upon his recent appearance.

“That was nowhere near my expectation at all,” said Patterson, a second-year Rider who spent time with the B.C. Lions, Montreal Alouettes and two USFL teams since playing collegiately at Michigan and Ole Miss.

“You know, it was a weird situation to go in. I was just trying to go in and manage the game and not do anything too crazy.”

During that game, Harris had returned to the sideline with his left knee in a brace, threw some warmup passes on the sideline and tried to convince Mace to let him go back onto the field. Mace has instead wisely chosen to be cautious with Harris’ health.

Unlike Harris, Patterson is capable of running with the football — a risk the Roughriders may want to avoid — and his passing accuracy has improved noticeably during his time with the team. Patterson earned the backup role after a strong preseason performance convinced Saskatchewan’s first-year coaching staff it could dump Mason Fine, a three-year veteran who had recently been given a two-year contract extension despite having minimal success with the Roughriders.

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Fine and Jake Dolegala shared starting duties last season following Harris’ injury. Neither quarterback was inspirational as the Roughriders lost their final seven games, leading to the dismissal of head coach Craig Dickenson and his staff.

Upon their offseason hirings, Mace and offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller professed support for Harris and decided Fine was a “better fit” for their offence, so they let Dolegala join B.C. as a free agent and assessed their quarterback situation through training camp and two preseason games. Fine was unimpressive.

On the same day they dumped Fine, the Roughriders also released journeyman QB Antonio Pipkin, who barely played in the preseason. Rookie Jack Coan, a Notre Dame product who quickly learned the offence, became the third-stringer and is now Patterson’s backup, despite never taking a regular-season snap.

It was tough to argue with their logic: Harris was the veteran leader, Patterson looked to be the up-and-coming backup and Coan showed promise. With an opening on their active roster, the Roughriders on Sunday signed Eric Barriere, a stellar quarterback from Eastern Washington who was cut by Winnipeg after struggling mightily in a preseason game against Saskatchewan.

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Asked if he considered recalling Fine, Mace replied: “I think we understand who he is, but we want some new blood from that standpoint and to see if we can make something.”

It’s not the situation the Roughriders wanted to be in, but it’s one that seemed inevitable.

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