Riders-Dressler-Aug17

Weston Dressler isn't going anywhere.

The popular slotback signed a four-year contract extension with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, keeping him in green and white for the foreseeable future.

“I'm just happy to be back here,” Dressler told the media on Friday afternoon.  “Thankful that Brendan (Taman) and Jeremy (O'Day) are pretty easy guys to work with and things went pretty smooth.”

With Dressler set to hit free agency on Feb. 10, the Riders are happy to have another key piece of their roster locked up long-term.

“Obviously Weston is pretty important to what we do and the nice thing is that it's a long-term deal, so we don't have to worry about this every year,” said Brendan Taman, general manager and vice-president of football operations with the Riders.  “It was a lot of back-and-forth over the past few days, but in the end it worked out.”

Dressler has spent his entire seven-year CFL career with the Riders and after testing the NFL waters last summer, he realized that Saskatchewan was where he wanted to be going forward.

“I've had some great years here, some great memories built and I look forward to the next few years now and trying to build more memories,” said Dressler.

The 29-year-old Dressler currently sits third in franchise history with 469 receptions and 6,856 yards.  His 44 career receiving touchdowns have him ranked fifth in Riders' history.

Dressler will be able to continue climbing up the team record books with his lengthy deal.

Four years is one of the longer contracts given out in the CFL and Dressler stated that he was the one pushing for the longer term.

“Just wanting to not have to go through this part of it again for a while,” said Dressler on signing the long-term contract.  “That was one thing that we wanted to put in there from my end and they received it pretty well right away.”

The two sides went back-and-forth over length and amount during the negotiation process and were able to really start making progress over the past week, which is when Dressler hinted to quarterback Darian Durant that he might be returning.

Taman said the deal worked for both sides.

“He wanted to basically finish his career here and we were all for it at the end of the day,” said Taman.  “There's considerations to do a deal of that length, but at the end of the day, a deal is a deal and we're quite happy that it's that long and for that term.”

Dressler has made Regina his home during the offseason as well and stated that he really didn't consider hitting the open market next month, which is music to the Riders' ears as Dressler was one of their key targets in this offseason.

“He's very committed to this place, the community, the organization and just everything that comes with being a Roughrider,” said Taman.  “I don't think he was really thinking that I was worried that he'd leave and I told him that he had me scared that he would leave.

“It says a lot about him that he wanted to be here and now I know all the facts, maybe I could have got him a little cheaper,” added Taman with a laugh.

The two-time CFL All-Star will join a receiver group that will head into the 2015 season looking for a bounce back performance after a less than stellar 2014 season.  The addition of Jamal Richardson and a full season of Dressler should help in that area.

“I do like the shape that this team has and the staff that we have in place and I feel like we have a good opportunity going forward.”

The Riders' focus now shifts to offensive lineman Ben Heenan, who remains unsigned with 11 days to go before free agency.  Taman said he has spoken with Heenan this week and remains confident that they can get a deal done.

“He's going to weigh all the information, both down south and probably up here, and then see where he's going to go,” said Taman.  “He's a very hard guy to read and I don't pretend to know what he's going to do, but at the end of the day, we'll see on the tenth what happens.”

Taman would be okay with losing Heenan to the NFL, but doesn't plan on letting him play anywhere else in the CFL.

“We've made it very clear that if he wanted to go down there and he had a chance right now that we would let him go do that, but that hasn't been requested, so again I'm not sure where it's going to go, but we'll see,” said Taman.