"Bright days are always ahead": Roughriders look to 2027 after tough loss

Jermarcus Hardrick tried to be as inconspicuous as a 6-foot-4, 315-pound star player can possibly be.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ right tackle found an unoccupied spot in an end zone at BC Place Stadium and gathered his emotions following Saturday’s 33-26 CFL playoff loss to the B.C. Lions.

“I had zero thought in my mind that we were losing that game,” Hardrick recounted a day later, during the Roughriders’ locker-room clean-out at Mosaic Stadium.

“I didn’t see that happening and I was just in disbelief. I’m still in disbelief. I was watching the highlights last night and not even believing it.

“I was just hurt. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I didn’t want to go in the locker room. I didn’t want to cry in front of everybody.

“I didn’t see anybody, so I ran down there by myself.”

This from a selfless player who, while fielding accolades, typically says, “I didn’t do it by myself.”

Named the league’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman during last year’s run to a championship, the 36-year-old Hardrick was a Divisional All-CFL selection once more this past season.

“I’m looking forward to getting better,” said Hardrick, a pending free agent. “My kids and wife want me to keep playing. I want to keep playing. I hope I can work things out.

“You’ll be p---ed off this off-season. Good things come when you’re p---ed off. I’m sorry to say that, but it’s time to get better.

“It’s time to get back hungry. It’s time to do whatever we have to do to get back to the promised land.

“(The) 2027 (off-season) is here. I would love to do it here. So let’s do it.”

Hardrick’s disbelief was shared by the Roughriders’ starting quarterback.

“One-hundred per cent,” Trevor Harris said on Sunday. “I woke up several times last night — a couple of times thinking about (particular) plays. A couple of times, it was, ‘That was just a dream we lost, right? There’s no way we lost.’

“Beat me over the head for saying this, but I think if we played B.C. again, we’d win. I honestly do. If we played them nine more times, I think we’d win all nine.

“The fact of the matter is they won yesterday. They beat us three times in a row (including the regular season). At that point, you have to take a step back, look, and see how you, as a team and as a group, can get better and rectify those situations.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to do that the rest of this season, but that’s where your mind goes as a competitor.”

Especially for a consummate competitor such as the Roughriders’ starting middle linebacker.

“We’re in the locker room and it won’t be the same,” Jameer Thurman lamented. “Everybody won’t be here next year. That’s one of the hardest parts of football — clearing out the locker at the end of the season, especially after all the work that we put in and the amount of time and hours with all the guys.”

That feeling, as unpalatable as it is, can serve as fuel leading into the following season.

“When you don’t reach your ultimate goal, it can be used as fuel, but we had expectations for ourselves,” Thurman said. “We didn’t do the job we were supposed to do in the regular season. We had to go on the road for the playoffs instead of playing at home with our fans as an advantage.

“We didn’t execute yesterday and now we’re here.”

Wondering what might have been, if not for a play here, a play there …

“Like I told my fiancee, this is the worst day in the industry,” said short-yardage specialist Tommy Stevens, who spent his first three CFL seasons with the Calgary Stampeders before joining the Roughriders in 2025.

“Last year was the first year I’d ever been part of a playoff win, let alone the Grey Cup. The worst you feel on this day speaks to how the people in this room feel about each other.

“It sucks, but ultimately we’re going to turn the page and get ready for next year. That starts today.”

And it starts up top.

“It’s led by Corey Mace,” Harris said of the Roughriders’ Head Coach. “Bright days are always ahead when you’ve got that man at the helm.

“Jeremy O’Day does a tremendous job. Kyle Carson and Larry Dean do a tremendous job of not only bringing in good players, but good people. They do their homework and research, so when you see the Saskatchewan Roughriders sign Player X, that’s a good person. I don’t know that you can say that about pro sports all the time.

“You can rest your head on your pillow every night knowing the leadership here is solid. There’s tremendous leadership.

“The Saskatchewan Roughriders are going to be Grey Cup contenders every year that those people are in charge. I’d die on that hill, too.”