{"id":451130,"date":"2026-02-08T10:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T10:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/451130\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T10:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T10:50:33","slug":"darian-durant-didnt-talk-to-andy-fantuz-for-years-after-he-left-saskatchewan-roughriders-in-cfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/451130\/","title":{"rendered":"Darian Durant didn’t talk to Andy Fantuz for years after he left Saskatchewan Roughriders in CFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n

Darian Durant felt some type of way when Andy Fantuz decided to leave the Saskatchewan Roughriders and sign with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats during CFL free agency in February 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t talk for years. He\u2019ll tell you, we didn\u2019t talk for years. I was so pissed, it was years \u2014 I would say at least four years. Even after the Grey Cup, we played Hamilton in 2013, I didn\u2019t say a word to him during the week,\u201d Durant said on The SportsCage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my best friend. I\u2019ve never told anyone this story, and it\u2019s crazy, but I didn\u2019t talk to Andy for years \u2014 I was that pissed off at him. When it happened, I was in my 20s, then as I got into my early 30s, I started understanding the business more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fantuz signed a lucrative four-year contract with the Ticats reportedly worth $740,000 in hard money<\/a>, which broke down to $185,000 per season plus an additional $5,000 for being named to the active roster in 14 regular-season games. The Chatham, Ont., native played his U Sports football at Western University for the Mustangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Andy left,\u00a0I was pissed. I thought that what we started in 2006, we hadn\u2019t accomplished a Grey Cup yet \u2014 we had lost twice. I felt like he was a guy I wanted to play with forever.\u00a0He was one of my best friends personally. On the field, we had such good chemistry that I didn\u2019t want to see him leave,\u201d Durant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking at it from a selfish perspective, not understanding that being in Ontario, he was home, he has a family, they were going to pay him well. I was looking at things from a personal perspective. As I got older, more mature, and you see guys being able to get the type of money that\u00a0they never thought they could get\u2026 guys are making strides in their personal careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant and Fantuz won a CFL championship on the same team in 2007. The former was a backup QB behind Kerry Joseph, while the latter was a National pass catcher who recorded 56 receptions for 978 yards with seven touchdowns in 17 regular-season games. No. 83 added 16 catches for 263 yards with two majors in three postseason games, including a 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter during the 95th Grey Cup to help him earn the Most Valuable Canadian award after posting four grabs for 70 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost guys want to be in situations where they\u2019re happy. If Saskatchewan didn\u2019t want to compensate some guys to where they felt\u00a0like they deserved, then if another team does, you\u2019re happy for them,\u201d Durant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has different goals. Sometimes it\u2019s about playing time, sometimes it\u2019s about money, but you\u2019re always happy to see good friends of yours\u00a0and good teammates get a pay raise, be able to take care of their families\u00a0and be happy because that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fantuz spent six seasons with Saskatchewan and six in Hamilton<\/a>. The six-foot-four, 221-pound target registered 637 receptions for 8,363 yards with 44 touchdowns in 148 regular-season CFL games. He notched 76 catches for 992 yards plus six majors in 18 playoff games.<\/p>\n

His best season came in 2010, with Durant throwing him the football.<\/p>\n

That year, Fantuz produced a single-season career-high 1,380 receiving yards in 18 regular-season games. He averaged 15.9 yards per catch on 87 receptions and scored six touchdowns. For those efforts, the third overall pick in the 2006 CFL Draft earned the three-down league\u2019s Most Outstanding Canadian award and reached all-star status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I finally got out of my feelings, sat down and had a conversation with him, he explained to me what it meant to him\u00a0to be back in Ontario by his family. Then I knew that Saskatchewan may not have wanted\u00a0to compensate him in a way that Hamilton did,\u2019 Durant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe looking at the situation,\u00a0whatever deal [Brendan] Taman offered Andy, I thought was amazing. But after he told me what Hamilton gave him, it was a no-brainer.\u00a0I got out of my feelings really quick. Ever since that falling out, we\u2019ve always been in contact since then. I wish it never happened, but that\u2019s the emotional part of the game.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders. Darian Durant felt some type of way when Andy Fantuz decided to leave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[51979,51980,54690,19,649,51982,54691,5,54692,54693,54694,2613,3854],"class_list":["post-451130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-andy-fantuz","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-cfl","tag-darian-durant","tag-hockey","tag-regina","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116034629862714940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}