The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed former Toronto Argonaut Dominique Dorsey, an ex-Rider and the CFL's 2008 outstanding special teams player.
Photograph by: Peter J. Thompson, National Post files
REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn't exactly dive head-first into the CFL free-agent waters, but they were holding their breath on Dominique Dorsey.
Saskatchewan landed one of the big fish on the open market Wednesday by signing the versatile tailback/return man, an ex-Rider who was named the CFL's outstanding special teams player in 2008.
GM Brendan Taman and head coach/vice-president of football operations Ken Miller have focused primarily on signing their own players since the free-agent frenzy began Tuesday, but they made an exception for Dorsey.
"He's a pretty special player," offered Taman. "We felt if we were going to go into the market (for another team's free agent) we needed a special player to do it. Obviously we weren't going to be able to do it with a lot of them ... but if you can get lucky with a home run, so to speak, we felt Dominique would be that guy. When Kenny sat down (and looked at the free-agent list), I think his words to me were, 'Get him!' We were able to do it, which really made us smile quite a bit."
Dorsey broke in the CFL in 2005 with the Riders, who traded him to Winnipeg prior to the 2007 campaign. He was cut by the Bombers in training camp but quickly landed on his feet with the Toronto Argonauts, where Dorsey developed into one of the league's premier return men. The 5-foot-7, 173-pound dynamo spent most of last season with the NFL's Washington Redskins before rejoining Toronto late in the campaign.
The Riders' return game was a sore spot last season until the team brought in Jason Armstead, whose future is now uncertain.
"Jason is obviously still a member of our team," said Taman. "He did a good job for us last year. We'll evaluate that as we go forward."
Dorsey's signing also led to speculation that he might become the starting tailback if the Riders are unable to re-sign free agent Wes Cates. However, Taman suggested that Dorsey is viewed more as a multi-purpose performer in the mould of Corey Holmes or Pinball Clemons.
"He's under-rated as a running back," explained Taman. "His return game is very special and the more he brings to the table the better. He's under-rated as a blocker. He's not a big physical specimen, as everybody knows, but he's one of the stronger guys you'll see. We can probably line him up maybe even in the slot kind of thing like other teams have done with certain guys in previous eras. He has good hands and he can catch the ball well. Hopefully it just gives our offensive staff another weapon to use with the rest of the guys we've already got."
As for Cates, there were reports Wednesday that he had come to terms with the Argos, but that was news to Taman, who had been in contact with Cates' agent that morning.
"We're still in the talking stages," he said. "We obviously have a lot of work to do to get a deal done but we're in the mix, I guess you could say. I don't feel we're done and we're out of it."
If Cates does sign with Toronto, the Riders could shift their focus to the Argos' own free-agent tailback, Jamal Robertson, who went to camp with Saskatchewan in 2008. That said, the Riders are pleased with their own in-house options — Dorsey, Hugh Charles and Stu Foord.
"We could probably go out today and play with that group of guys," added Taman. "We'd love to have Wes back, obviously. If we can get that all sorted out, that would be the intention of it. I just look at it, for example, if we're playing one week and Wes has a sprained ankle and he can't go, can we line up with these three guys (Foord, Dorsey and Charles)? Sure we could. Would we want to do it for 18 games? We'd have to wait and see on that one. But this (signing of Dorsey) isn't reflective of our disdain for Wes. By no means. It's just trying to get a good guy to add to the group of guys we already have."
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