Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

The Saskatchewan Roughriders apparently aren’t interested in signing receiver/returner Jason Armstead, who was released Friday by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Tiger-Cats apparently released Armstead after he declined a contract extension in favour of playing out his option. An extension would have meant a pay cut for Armstead, who was traded to the Tiger-Cats on August 19 by the Roughriders for running back/returner Corey Holmes and slotback Chris Getzlaf.

Armstead, who Tiger-Cats general manager Bob O’Billovich told the Hamilton Spectator was among the Tabbies’ highest paid players, would have been eligible to become a free agent in February of 2009. Armstead spent 11/2 seasons with the Riders before being traded.

“You never say never, especially with a good football player like Jason,” Riders general manager Eric Tillman said Sunday. “Jason’s a very likeable young man and a talented player, but at this point bringing him back would be a long shot, especially with his salary expectations.”

Tillman said there aren’t any hard feelings remaining from Armstead’s reaction to being traded from the eventual Grey Cup champions to the basement-dwelling Tiger-Cats. There was some debate as to whether Armstead had requested a trade. Tillman met with Armstead and his father and they told him that Armstead was looking for more touches as a receiver and would look to play elsewhere in 2008

“They may or may not have used the word trade, but they did say this: ‘Jason felt it was better to be elsewhere in 2008,’ ” Tillman said. “I promised we would be fair to them. The trade just happened much earlier than any of us anticipated. There are no hard feelings at all. This is a business, where emotions and strong personalities sometimes lead to conflict.”

The trade allowed the Riders to pick up Holmes, one of the team’s most popular players. Holmes was released in the offseason in an apparent cost-cutting move.

The Riders are to open main camp on Sunday. Tillman is pleased with the team’s depth at receiver despite some reports that may contradict that optimism.

“Every offseason — especially when the supposed experts do their reviews — the focus is always on the players with name recognition,” Tillman said. “I call it the fantasy football mentality. But we expect our receiving corps in training camp to be one of the deepest and most talented in the league, even if they aren’t big names.

Read More…