Ex-Michigan QB helps Saskatchewan stay unbeaten in first CFL start

Shea Patterson made his first start in the Canadian Football League on Thursday, and helped keep the Saskatchewan Roughriders unbeaten.

Saskatchewan improved to 4-0 on the season with a 30-23 win over the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, where the former Michigan quarterback turned in a productive game. Patterson completed 15 of his 21 pass attempts for 192 yards and a touchdown and rushed four times for 18 yards and a touchdown.

Patterson, who has spent the last two seasons in Saskatchewan, has worked his way up the Roughriders’ depth chart in recent months. He emerged as veteran Trevor Harris’ backup out of camp and was called on Thursday to spell the injured quarterback.

Afterward, Patterson was awarded a game ball by his teammates, who celebrated his performance in the locker room.

“There was a lot of emotions going into it, a lot of emotions through it, and a lot of emotions coming out of it,” Patterson, who’s bounced around football in recent years, told reporters after the game. “I’m just very excited and happy. I’m fortunate enough to be part of a great team. We’ve got a lot of good men in that locker room. I think that was a testament to how we handled adversity.”

Patterson’s touchdown pass came on a short pass over the middle to former UMass and Louisiana Tech receiver Samuel Emilus, who took it 34 yards for the score. It was his first touchdown pass in the CFL, and first since his short-lived tenure in the United States Football League in 2022.

He added a score on a nine-yard run in the third quarter, his third rushing touchdown of the season. Patterson had largely been used in short-yardage situations before Thursday. Saskatchewan is now 4-0 for the first time since 2013 and atop the CFL’s West Division standings.

Patterson, who starred at Michigan in 2018 and 2019, is hoping to use the outing to help revitalize his professional football career. He went undrafted out of college and only lasted briefly in the NFL, then bounced around the CFL in 2021. The former all-Big Ten quarterback was drafted No. 1 overall by the USFL’s Michigan Panthers in 2022 but was cut midway through the season.

Since then, he’s been toiling in the CFL, waiting on an opportunity in Saskatchewan. It finally came on Thursday and he delivered. The Roughriders’ next game is 7 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at British Columbia, and will air in the United States on CBS Sports Network.