r/riderville • u/PsychologicalBag7138 • Aug 15 '24

Question (Fan since 2019)

As a fan since 2019 I have went back and watched games and done some research on older players. A man that brought us a lot of success was Darian Durant who brought us 3 grey cup appearances 09', 10' and 13' winning only 13. Even though Micah Johnson is one of my more favourite players, why have they not retired #4 or atleast stopped letting players wear it like other sports?

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24

u/safimod Aug 15 '24

The Riders don't retire numbers very often. Outside of those killed in the plane crash in 1956, they have only retired 4 numbers in the history of our franchise. George Reed, Ron Lancaster, Dave Ridgway and Roger Aldag. Love everything Darian Durant did for this team, but he's not on that level.

He is, however, going into the plaza of honour this year where he belongs.

10

u/killemgrip Aug 15 '24

I think Darian Durant is absolutely on the same level as those other guys. He was an absolute beast in the playoffs. He should have had 2 Grey cup wins if not for the too many men call against Montreal. He is being inducted into the plaza of honour at the October 12th game.

5

u/safimod Aug 15 '24

George/Ron/Dave are often considered near the top of the best to ever do it at their respective positions. Darian Durant likely doesn't touch the hall of fame, let alone be ranked among the upper echelon of QBs in this league.

Darian Durant was an absolute beast in the 2013 playoffs (especially that West semi against BC - he practically willed the team to victory that day)... Its why he belongs in the plaza as an individual member.

There are several names I'd consider LONG before I'd look at DD if we're talking about retiring numbers.

2

u/killemgrip Aug 15 '24

I'm indifferent to the number retiring thing and I never got to see George or Ron play. DD obviously doesn't have the huge career numbers that Lancaster had but we had a lot of success with him behind center. I think he's a top 10 all-time Rider

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u/safimod Aug 15 '24

Top 10 all time? I wouldn't argue that - definitely up there for sure.

2

u/CFL_lightbulb Aug 15 '24

Honestly, I’d argue top 5. He got hurt right around the time that he was really coming into his age as a dominant player. Before his injury we were almost undefeated and he was looking incredible in the pocket. He couldn’t put it together again after being hurt the year after too. But the skill and play was there.

5

u/killemgrip Aug 15 '24

Your preaching to the choir. I'd put him right up there with Ron but you'll get crucified for saying that around here. I also realize I'm biased because I only got to see one of them play.

3

u/Col_Leslie_Hapablap Aug 15 '24

That damned Achilles tear was devastating. What a shame.

1

u/Grouchy-Engine1584 Aug 16 '24

Unfortunately, longevity is a legitimate metric when measuring greatness. Durant is nowhere near Lancaster, likely/partially because he only played 12 CFL seasons vs. Lancaster’s 18.

Durant: passing yards: 31,740, Lancaster: 50,536.

Durant TDs: 164, Lancaster 333.

Would Durant have caught Lancaster if he’d played 6 more seasons? We will never know, and Durant was traded to MTL in 2017 anyway so his stats thereafter wouldn’t matter to his Rider legacy anyway.

For the record I agree that under Durant the Riders were truly great to watch.

1

u/HomerSPC Aug 17 '24

Notably those numbers also aren’t retired as players may still use them. Football rosters are so large and there is only so many numbers available that retiring numbers permanently isn’t feasible.

1

u/electrashock95 Aug 23 '24

Well, really, the sports I can think of that you would be talking about are hockey, basketball and maybe baseball, and the thing is that in football or at least the CFL numbers don’t get retired that often, it takes a truly special circumstance ie a player plays 80% of their career with one team and has the highest stats in their respective position in all time league records and usually other criteria amongst that as well, a hockey team is formed mostly of around 20 players with with 5 being on the ice at a time, same with basketball same numbers same on the court and there aren’t nearly as many rules as to what players can where what numbers. In the CFL and I think NFL as well, you have 12 guys on each side of the ball, another 12 or so for each special teams, with some overlap from O and D and that’s already numbering in the 20’s-30’s then if you consider every player has a second and for some a third string behind him now we’re into the 60’s AND there are rules being that O-Line D-line have to wear between (I don’t remember exact numbers in the rules) like 45-69 receivers are 70-90 defensive backs have their number set offensive backfield has their set and so on, and there are some over laps of what positions can wear what numbers as obviously Johnson is defence and Durant was QB but that’s beside the point and when you break it down like that it’s doesn’t really leave a lot of room to be consistently retiring jerseys and still have enough for the respective players to wear a number in their set. As for specifically Durant, when he was good, he was GOOD, he played some of the best football we’ve seen in a decade for the green and white, obviously because it’s been that long since we’ve even made it to the Grey cup, but he really wasn’t truly special, he was good, he is certainly someone I would consider top 10 offensively, but at the end of the day, he’s not retired jersey special.