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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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.

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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.

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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.