Brett is back! Roughriders land Lauther in deadline deal

For the first time in 19 years, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have reacquired a player in a trade.

Welcome back, Brett Lauther!

Ideally, Lauther’s storyline will rival that of another one of the most accomplished special teamers in Roughriders history.

On Aug. 20, 2007, the Green and White obtained Corey Holmes — a Roughrider when he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2002 and 2005 — from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Barely three months after the deal, Holmes helped Saskatchewan post a 23-19 Grey Cup victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

One of the first people to touch the trophy after that game was then-Roughriders centre Jeremy O’Day.

Now the team’s Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager, O’Day consummated Wednesday’s trade-deadline transaction with the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Ottawa received a fifth-round selection in the 2027 CFL Canadian Draft.

“We feel very strongly about having Canadian picks and we like to make our picks, so those are hard to give up,” O’Day said on Wednesday. “I think an important part of building a team is through the draft, so you have to evaluate that. We’ve had some success in the later rounds and we don’t take those for granted.

“But ultimately, we looked at it as the ability to acquire a player who is playing at a high level.”

Lauther, the Roughriders’ full-time kicker from 2018 to 2025, was released by the team on Feb. 2 after making 72.2 per cent of his field-goal attempts for last year’s Grey Cup champions.

The 35-year-old product of Truro, N.S. rebounded with a flourish after signing with Ottawa on April 17. This season, he has made 32 of 34 attempts — an accuracy rate of 94.1 per cent.

“We’re happy to have him back,” Head Coach Corey Mace said. “He’s happy to come back and hopefully he continues what he has been doing this year.”

Alex Hale was the first to handle the placekicking in Lauther’s absence, hitting 24 of 32 field-goal attempts over the Roughriders’ first 11 games before the team turned to Dawson Hodge. Hodge is 5-for-5 over the past two games, with a long kick of 33 yards.

“He has gone out there and he has made all of his kicks,” Mace said of Hodge. “There are some things that he wants to get better at and things that I think we would agree with. He’ll continue to do those things.

“I think Dawson’s got a bright future in this league, but we have an opportunity to bring somebody back as we push later (into the season) with the elements.

“(Lauther is) somebody with big-game experience going down the stretch who is right now the best in the business — somebody (Hodge) can certainly learn from if called upon, even this week. We still have all the trust and the faith in him if we have to go that route.”

The Roughriders (8-6) are preparing for Friday’s home date with the Calgary Stampeders (7-8). A victory would clinch a playoff berth for Saskatchewan.

Hodge and Hale both practised with the Roughriders on Wednesday. Hale is on the practice roster.

Lauther is expected to rejoin the Roughriders in time for Thursday’s pre-game walk-through.

His resume includes 114 regular-season games and one Grey Cup championship as a Roughrider.

With Saskatchewan, he has made 295 regular-season field goals while sporting the best accuracy rate (81.9 per cent) of anyone in franchise history with at least 100 attempts.

Lauther becomes the 15^th player to rejoin the Roughriders via a trade, following Holmes (2007), Wally Dempsey (1971), Bill Baker (1977), Lewis Cook (1977), Steve Dennis (1979), Lawrie Skolrood (1979), Ken McEachern (1984), Bryan Illerbrun (1986), Vince Goldsmith (1988), Tom Burgess (1994), Shawn Daniels (1994), Bruce Boyko (1996), Mike Saunders (1997) and Scott Gordon (2006).

Gordon and Holmes were both sent to Hamilton in an April 12, 2006 blockbuster that enabled Saskatchewan to secure the first overall selection in a dispersal draft that was held after the Ottawa Renegades folded.

The Roughriders used the No. 1 pick to select Kerry Joseph, who quarterbacked the team to its 2007 Grey Cup victory. He was also named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player that season.

Saskatchewan’s roster for the 2007 Grey Cup Game also included Gordon, who had been reacquired from Hamilton for a conditional draft pick on Sept. 20, 2006.

When the Roughriders won it all in 2007, the third-string quarterback was Darian Durant. As part of the franchise-changing 2006 deal with Hamilton, the teams exchanged negotiation-list quarterbacks. Saskatchewan received the rights to Durant in return for those of Reggie Ball.

Joseph (2007) and Durant (2013) were both starting quarterbacks for Grey Cup-winning Roughriders teams.

Lauther was on Hamilton’s practice roster when Saskatchewan won the 2013 Grey Cup Game.

He subsequently had tryouts with the Roughriders in 2015 and 2017 before becoming entrenched as the kicker in 2018. That year, he made 54 of 60 field-goal attempts — establishing a personal-best success rate (90 per cent) that he is on target to top in 2026.

INJURY UPDATE

Defensive lineman Derick Roberson and returner James Letcher Jr. will not play on Friday against Calgary. Roberson has a sore knee. Letcher Jr. has a shoulder injury.

Quarterback Trevor Harris (illness), offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick (illness), linebacker Josh Woods (ankle), receiver Daniel Wiebe (knee), defensive lineman Benoit Marion (shoulder) and running back Quali Conley (wrist) are listed as available for Friday’s game.

Cornerback Tevaughn Campbell, an all-CFLer in 2025, is categorized as questionable after missing seven games with a forearm injury.