Top wide receiver should stick to playing offence
The Saskatchewan Roughriders should restrict Duron Carter’s responsibilities to his accustomed role — no two ways about it.
Carter is one of the CFL’s elite receivers, as evidenced by a 231yard game he enjoyed last week, and the Roughriders are about to face the league’s best defence.
Complicating matters, Naaman Roosevelt — who, like Carter, has exceeded 1,000 receiving yards this season — is to miss Friday’s game against the host Calgary Stampeders due to a head injury.
The importance of Carter to the Roughriders’ offence should be elevated now that Roosevelt is shelved. But, if head coach/ GM Chris Jones is to be believed, Carter’s duties will be expanded and he will become a rare twoway player. He took repetitions at cornerback (Carterback?) with the first-team defence Wednesday.
“He is going to be playing a lot of football,” predicted Jones, who said his hand is forced due to a paucity of healthy defensive backs. (How about using Elie Bouka?)
The Carter-to-corner plan, should it come to fruition, is fraught with peril.
The Roughriders, after all, are preparing to face Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell — the league’s reigning most-outstanding-player recipient.
“Don’t do it Duron,” Mitchell warned via Twitter on Wednesday. “You’ll get 25 balls thrown at you.”
A sensational receiver such as Carter would ordinarily welcome a busy night. But like this?
The way this wacky week has been going, who knows what to expect anymore?
L’Affaire Carter has taken various twists and turns since Monday, when he was in a fight with teammate Sam Williams during practice.
It was initially speculated Carter and fellow receiver Bakari Grant, who reportedly played the role of peacemaker, were booked on flights out of town.
Carter and Grant are poised to board an aircraft — departing for Calgary on Thursday.
The following evening, unless Jones is revelling in the art of deception, Carter will play a role in both teams’ aerial games.
The sentiment here is Jones should deploy Carter in a conventional manner, especially in light of one much-retweeted social media post emanating from Calgary.
Bo knows better.