The mystery behind Saskatchewan Roughriders' Trevor Harris' new contract numbers has been solved.
"This deal is going to rank him fifth among starting CFL quarterbacks across the league," 3DowNation insider Justin Dunk told SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk.
According to Dunk, Nathan Rourke, Chad Kelly, Zach Collaros, and Vernon Adams Jr. rank above Harris for financial compensation in 2025.
"He gets $160,000 in signing bonus money, which, as an American resident, he gets a better tax rate on. That's going to help him out," Dunk said. "You look at the deal from an overall perspective, $399,700 in what in CFL terms we call hard money. That's not guaranteed money, but you're likely to get that money."
"Which I think was fair because if you're the Riders and Jeremy O'Day sitting on one side of the table, you can say: 'Hey, the last couple of seasons, you've missed some games, you haven't played the full 18, we want you to earn some of this money.'"
During the last two seasons with the Riders, Harris sustained injuries that made him unable to play the full season. During the 2023 year, Harris suffered a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee against the Calgary Stampeders in Week 6, ending his season.
This past year, Harris suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee during a Week 3 match-up against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, which Saskatchewan won 36-20. That Injury put Harris on the six-game injured list and he would returned in Week 11 against the Montreal Alouettes. Harris would finish the 2024 regular season starting 11 games.
His new contract is different from what he signed with the Riders in the 2022 offseason.
"His previous two years with the Riders, all of his money was hard money," Dunk explained. "If he got hurt, the Riders were still paying that money."
According to Dunk, Harris' total salary in 2024 was $491,000, whereas in 2023, he made $500,000. After Harris signed his contract extension, Rider Nation has turned their attention to what happens at the backup QB spot. Shea Patterson, as of this publishing, is a pending free agent.
"I get the sense from talking to people around the league that the Riders are going to play it patient at the quarterback position and see who might shake free at free agency," Dunk said.
While CFL free agency does not start until February, Dunk already has sourced information for who the Riders could go after to be behind Harris.
"I think Jake Maier is the ideal guy here," Dunk said. "From his perspective too, Maier can step in behind a guy like Trevor Harris, who's on a one-year contract."
"I look at this and it almost makes too much sense, which usually in the CFL means it doesn't happen, Jake Maier goes there as the backup quarterback."
Maier spent the 2024 season as the Calgary Stampeders' starting quarterback. He dressed for 18 games, starting 15, while throwing for 3,841 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions.
