ROGERS TO 49’ERS, CAHOON/LEWIS IN THE NEWS

CALGARY – CFL receiving yards leader Eric Rogers has signed with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

Rogers confirmed the signing on his Twitter account.

The Calgary Stampeders released Rogers, was scheduled to become a free agent on Feb. 9, earlier Wednesday so he could make the move.

“Eric has an agreement in place with an NFL club and we are granting him his release in order to allow him to sign a contract immediately rather than waiting until February,” Stampeders general manager John Hufnagel said Wednesday in a release. “We wish Eric the best of luck and thank him for his contributions to the Stampeders.”

Rogers led the league last year with 1,448 receiving yards and had 87 receptions and 10 touchdowns. He appeared in two regular-season games in 2014 and was the Stamps’ leading receiver in Calgary’s Grey Cup win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that year.

“I would like to thank everyone who works for the first-class organization that Calgary is,” said Rogers. “The whole coaching staff, especially coach Huff (former coach John Hufnagel), coach Dickie (Dave Dickenson) and (receivers) coach Pete (Costanza) was great as was (former assistant GM) John Murphy.

“I thank all of my teammates from the past two years and have nothing but great memories of my time with them. I also want to thank the fans for their support and the members of the media.”

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PROVO, Utah – Former Montreal Alouettes star Ben Cahoon has been hired as the new BYU receivers coach, coach Kalani Sitake announced Wednesday.

Cahoon played the position at BYU from 1995-97 and coached the Cougars’ receivers from 2011-12.

He played 13 years with Montreal and finished as the league’s all-time receptions leader with 1,017 catches. Cahoon was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian twice and inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2014. He has been out of football the last two and a half years.

Cahoon is the son-in-law of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert. The Utah native spent part of his childhood in Cardston, Alta.

Sitake is continuing to fill out his coaching staff. Steve Kaufusi was named defensive line coach last week and Mike Empey was appointed to coach the offensive line. Nu’u Tafisi was appointed strength and conditioning coach.

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MONTREAL – Slotback Nik Lewis signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes, the CFL club announced Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Lewis, entering his 12th CFL campaign, caught 70 passes for 743 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games for Montreal last season.

“Nik’s presence on the field and in the locker room brought a positive influence to our team,” general manager and head coach Jim Popp said in a statement. “He quickly was accepted as a leader and was leaned on for advice by many.”

Lewis, who won two Grey Cups with the Calgary Stampeders before signing with the Alouettes last season, is 10th in all-time CFL receiving yards with 11,995. He is seventh in career receptions with 875.


(With files from Canadian Press and Associated Press)