REGINA -- Darian Durant is all in on Mark Kilam and Buck Pierce becoming Canadian Football League head coaches.
Durant joined the 620 CKRM SportsCage crew during his weekly Double Talk segment and had nothing but praise for the two long-time CFL veterans taking over bench boss duties with their respective teams -- Kilam the Edmonton Elks and Pierce the B.C. Lions.
The legendary Saskatchewan Roughriders QB pointed to the Elks wanting to change the mentality of their team as a major reason for hiring the longtime special teams coordinator and assistant head coach.
“When you hire a guy whose background is mostly in special teams, it really tells you that you've been having problems with managing games,” Durant said.
“If you look at Edmonton's schedule last year they lost six games by four points or less. I'm sure you can point to some of those games as missed clock management or a third down gamble that you maybe shouldn’t have done at the time. Whenever you bring in a special teams guy, that says to me that you're going to be physical.”
Should those changes take hold, Durant believes the Elks could become a much more difficult team to play against.
“This hire speaks volumes to the direction that Edmonton wants to go in and how they want to change the background of that team and be a lot tougher,” he said.
As has been mentioned in almost every conversation about Kilam becoming a head coach, he’s extremely popular with the players he works with, and that could also work to Edmonton’s benefit.
“Whenever the guys love you, you can be a destination for free agents,” Durant said. “The players trust you. They trust what you're trying to instill and what you want to bring to that city. Whenever you can get some free agents in there and have a coach that they love, it's a big advantage.”
When it comes to Piece taking over the Lions, Durant feels one of the biggest surprises was the Blue Bombers offensive coordinator had not been hired somewhere sooner, especially with the amount of success he had with his former team.
“I definitely think this is a great hire by B.C.,” he said. “Buck Pierce is an awesome coach. You look at what he did with Matt Nichols and then Chris Streveler and of course, Zach Collaros winning MOP a couple of times.
“He has a proven track record of being able to settle quarterbacks down and make guys play who many people write off or may not believe in,” Durant continued. “He goes into a situation with an established quarterback [Nathan Rourke] and they have some weapons out in B.C., it's a tailor-made situation for Buck Pierce.”
One other major decision made around the CFL, the Montreal Alouettes chose Davis Alexander over former Riders QB Cody Fajardo as the team's starter entering 2025. Fajardo has a $200,000 roster bonus due January 15, , which provides a deadline for the team to either renegotiate his contract, trade or release the 2023 Grey Cup MVP.
Durant pointed out that with the rest of the CFL having their starting quarterback spots initially set at this point, it’ll be difficult for the 32-year-old to find a No. 1 role at that position.
“If I'm him, I look at a team that doesn't have a guy coming back as the solidified starter. There's an opportunity that I could go in and compete and turn some heads,” Durant said. “Or you look for a situation where a guy is historically injured. There are some situations that may not be favourable to him. And he, being the competitor that he is, may not just jump out of the box for."
You can check out the whole chat , and be sure to keep an eye on SportsCage.com and listen to 620 CKRM Rider Radio for regular updates on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
