CHRIS JONES ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS AND PAYCUTS

Roughriders Head Coach & GM Chris Jones held his year-end news conference on Tuesday but rather than discussing Sunday’s playoff loss to Winnipeg, Jones dropped the bomb that his staff is facing a rash of layoffs and paycuts for the 2019 season.

Jones addressed reporters Tuesday morning at Mosaic Stadium.

“The hardest thing I’ve been having to deal with the last 24 hours, quite honestly, is the cap that we’ve had on football ops,” Jones said. “When you get knocked out of the playoffs, then you have to go in and welcome your upcoming staff and support people and tell them that they’re going to have to take a 10% paycut.”

This is all part of the coaches salary cap and staff limitation laid out by CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie last spring which limits salaries to $2.7-million and 11 coaches per team.

“That’s where I’ve been for the past 48 hours is trying to get all these numbers. You’ve got a certain amount of people, and the unfortunate reality is that there’s about five or six people who won’t be with your organization anymore,” Jones continued.

“And then rest of them that are here, some of their bonuses and reasons that they came here are being taken away along with a 6-10% paycut.”

When asked during the 23-minute news conference if Offensive Coordinator Stephen McAdaoo will return in 2019, Jones replied “Absolutely”.

RP
@rodpedersen