Trevor Harris is once again officially a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Canadian Football League team signed the veteran quarterback to a one-year contract for the upcoming season. He’ll be back behind centre when the new season kicks off in 2025.
The signing takes care of the biggest question for the team heading into the off-season, with Harris actually feeling it was a foregone conclusion at the end of the 2024 campaign.
“Based on the exit meetings that I had and how I felt toward the end of the season, I think it was pretty much a no-brainer. I feel like I'm playing some of the best football of my career. I think some of the best football that I'm going to play is right in front of me," Harris said.
"That's a credit to this organization, to (offensive coordinator) Marc Mueller, (head coach Corey) Mace, the teammates I have and the budding stars that we have in the receiving room with Sam Emulis and (Kian Schaffer-Baker) and KeeSean (Johnson) and Dohnte Meyers and Jerreth Sterns and (Shawn) Bane. We've got guys up front that really excite me in terms of what the next year could look like with this club… I knew that I felt like I had multiple years left in the tank. I was like ‘this is where I want to be.'"
Getting the deal done in December as opposed to waiting until the new year to figure things out was a positive for Harris, especially knowing that the Riders were more than interested in keeping him around.
“The big relief to me was this team didn't have to think very long who they wanted to be their guy. That means a lot to me personally,” Harris said. “I don't like to talk about myself personally very often, but that means a lot to me, knowing that they knew that they didn't need to fish around and see what else is out there. They knew that they wanted me to be their guy. So that was something that meant a lot to me and I think it sets a direction for your team.”
Asked what the next step was now that he’s signed, Harris left nothing to doubt: win the Grey Cup. He also expanded on what he thought it would take to get that job done from his perspective.
“That's something that I've already started putting my mind together, started brainstorming,” Harris said, adding that he was able to evaluate his own game and find areas to tinker with in the off-season and going forward. Add that to the familiarity with the team and systems, and that’s already a head start heading into 2025.
“This is my first time since 2018 going into an offseason where I'm with the same coordinator in the same system,” Harris said. “That's a tremendous advantage that I'm going to be able to hit the ground running. We can talk about 301-level ball stuff in an offseason as opposed to trying to introduce me to what each formation means.”
That comes with higher expectations and bigger goals, Harris wasn’t taking a light approach to what he hopes to see from the team next season.
“Going undefeated at home is something that I think is important for us to provide the fan base what they deserve,” he said. “I know that they're going to be packing the stands, making it difficult for teams, and getting that home playoff game in the West Final as opposed to the West Semi is going to be a big thing in our mind.
“We have a ton of guys back. I think it's time if you're somebody that's been a Rider fan your whole life, I think it's time to start getting those expectations and that hope metre a little bit higher in terms of what to expect from this team.”
Of course, Harris is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, and he spoke at length about how important it will be to have a team filled with skilled veterans returning.
“I think really what it starts with is the knitting together of the brotherhood,” he said. “To me, the best teams are the closest teams and as long as we can start there knowing that we're building something special together and knitting together the brotherhood, that's where it starts. Then we can start building on the schematic things, the bigger goals, the process of each week, and those sorts of things.”
Interestingly enough, Harris knows what it’s like to see a team stick together and what can happen if they do -- after a tough, injury-filled season with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2017, he saw management keep all the pieces together in the off-season, with the end result being a Grey Cup appearance in 2018.
“This team has that feel to me and I think we were ahead of schedule in terms of how long people thought we were going to take to build something special,” he said. “I think the continuity, there's more to that than what people realize. It's how can we keep this group together. When you start getting things together for a long period of time, that's when I feel like the best teams start to perform and even overperform.”
As for the deal itself, Harris felt it was equally fair to the team and himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. In 2024, Harris started 11 games for the Riders and led the league with a 108.4 quarterback rating. He completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 3,264 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
“I think it's a correct deal for both sides,” he said. “I think it allows a team to build the proper team but also it compensates myself as a starting quarterback and somebody that has played a long time in this league. I thought it was a fair deal, but depending on where you'd slot me in the quarterback rankings, that would be in the eye of the beholder.”
Harris also touched on signing for a single season, pointing out that if he can’t perform at the needed level in a year's time, the Roughriders will deserve to move on.
“I want to make sure that this organization is in the best hands it possibly can in the quarterback position,” he said. “And if I'm not that in a year, I shouldn't be here and I don't want to be here, because I want what's best for this organization and they deserve the top-of-the-line quarterback play.”
Now, with the business side of things taken care of, it’s on to the rest of the off-season and getting ready to live up to all the expectations.
“It's a privilege and an honour to be able to put on the green and white, and to be the quarterback for this franchise is something I will never, ever, ever take for granted,” he said.”It’s a Christmas present to me that I get to be back in front of this fan base… and the fact that they've chosen me again, it means a great deal.”
