Roughriders sign former Stampeders DT Mike Rose

Article content

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have added another new face to the defensive line.

Article content

Article content

On Saturday, the CFL club announced the signing of American defensive tackle Mike Rose. Rose was a free agent after being released by the Calgary Stampeders last week following eight seasons with the team.

In his career with the Stampeders, the 32-year-old Rose has racked up 143 tackles, 36 sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions in 86 regular season games. He’s been named a CFL all-star three times (2021-23) and a West Division all-star four times (2021-24).

Article content

Last season, the 6-foot-1, 270-pounder had 19 tackles, an interception returned 83 yards for a touchdown and a team-leading six sacks in 18 games. In 2023, he had a career-high 11 sacks, which led all CFL interior defensive linemen.

After joining the Stampeders in 2017 following a college career at North Carolina State, Rose played one regular season game in 2018 and was on the injured list when the Stampeders won the Grey Cup alongside current Roughriders head coach Corey Mace, who was Calgary’s defensive line coach at the time.

Last week during his media availability prior to the CFL’s free agent negotiation window opening on Sunday, Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day was asked about the possibity of signing Rose.

“Anytime there’s a good football player that’s released from another team, we will always do our due diligence and have conversations of whether we’ll have interest in that player or not,” said O’Day. “Lot of respect for Mike Rose as a player. He’s had a lot of success in our league. He’s been a multiple time all-star (and) has a little bit of history with our head coach as well.

Article content

“Part of our job is to make sure that when there’s a player that’s released that we have discussions and conversations of whether that player would potentially bring value to our team.

“We do that with pretty much every player that’s released.”

Rose joins a Saskatchewan defensive line that features Malik Carney, Shane Ray, Charbel Dabire, Caleb Sanders, Habakkuk Baldonado, Eric Black, Rondell Bothroyd, Alex Gubner, Lake Korte-Moore and Benoit Marion.

Micah Johnson, Bryan Cox Jr., Miles Brown, Anthony Lanier II and Christian Albright remain pending free agents and will hit the open market on Feb. 11 if they remain unsigned.

[email protected]

The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content