Daniel Wiebe has been a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan his whole life and now he has an opportunity to play for the team.
"I grew up watching the Riders," Wiebe explained to the SportsCage. "It's crazy it all went down this way. It still doesn't quite feel real, so I'm really excited."
The Green and White selected the Saskatoon native in the eighth round with the 69th overall pick in the 2025 CFL Draft.
"They were one of the teams I interviewed with and I felt like that interview went really well for me. I thought it was a good interview, good questions being asked, I felt like I said some good things, so it went well," Wiebe said.
"I hadn't heard from them until the draft and I got the call that I was chosen by them. I've been dreaming of playing with the Riders since I was a kid, I grew up in Saskatchewan."
One of Wiebe's interview answers that impressed the Riders was about his stature.
"I said take a look at Weston Dressler," Wiebe recalled. "Every Saskatchewan Riders fan knows who that is. Every football fan knows who that is."
3DowNation insider Justin Dunk detailed Riders' general manager Jeremy O'Day's reasoning for selecting Wiebe.
"He can fly, he's a guy that's a worker and deserves an opportunity to play," O'Day said. "Local kid, certainly wasn't the No. 1 determining factor, but anytime we can keep Saskatchewan kids here, we're happy to do that."
During the 2025 CFL Combine, Wiebe produced 15 bench press reps with 225 pounds on the bar, ran a 4.52-second 40-yard time, 37-inch vertical, nine-foot and 11-and-three-eights broad jump while posting a 3.95 shuttle time, which was the fastest at the event since 2017.
"I've been doing a lot of meditation and yoga. I got really big into that in the last few years, which greatly helps with everything. I am trying not to be too focused on the outcome," Wiebe detailed his mindset when it came to his combine performance.
"It's easy to get hung up on what can happen, what might happen, but really trying to be in the moment, realizing that all I can do every single day is my best and whatever comes after, that's what's meant for me, so I fully believe that."
Wiebe played his whole post secondary career with the University of Saskatoon Huskies from 2021-2024. Last year, he played in 11 games for the Huskies, registering 66 receptions for 923 yards and nine touchdowns, all career highs.
"I have to keep building on that and really trusting in my abilities, knowing that I was drafted for a reason," Wiebe said.
"There was a reason I was chosen, keep building off that and it's going to be a big learning curve -- I'm 100 percent ready for that. I'm just taking the experience fully and I think that's where a lot of growth is going to come. Realizing it's going to be hard, that's life, but how am I going to bounce back from that and get better every single day? That's where I'm at."
