Remember when the Roughriders traded Darian Durant?

So how many Saskatchewan Roughriders fans are looking forward to the 2017 season?

Thank the football gods for a new stadium because other than that, there's not a whole lot to get excited about in Riderville.

There was more talent at Weston Dressler's wedding in North Dakota last weekend than what the Riders currently have under contract, and Darian Durant wasn't even the best man.

Curiously,Chris Jones wasn't invited.

It hasbeen nearly a week since the Ridersboss dropped the bombshell of the trade that sent the face of the franchise to Montreal in exchange for two draft picks.

Perhaps Regina wasn't big enough for the egos of Jones and Durant to co-exist.

It has happened here a few times before just search "Burris-Shivers,""Joseph-Tillman" or"Austin-Ford."

It would be easier to understand the unloading of Durant if only Jones had a solid plan to share.

"We're going to leave no stone unturned. We're going to continue to look until we do find a quarterback," said Jones early last Friday morning, before most reporters in attendance were fully awake and could comprehend what he was saying.

That's not a plan. That's a hope and a prayer.

Usually you look for the next one when the first one is still here.

If signing Matt Nichols in free agency was your plan, that ship sailed. The Winnipeg Blue Bombersre-signed their quarterback this week before Nichols could hit the open market next month.

• Quarterback Matt Nichols re-signed through 2019 by Winnipeg Blue Bombers

If acquiring Travis Lulay or James Franklin through a trade is the plan, good luck with that. They are coveted where they are and will cost you a lot more than two draft picks.

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to see a Riders media conference to announce the signing of Johnny Manziel code of conduct be damned.

Jones should know as well as anyonequarterbacks win Grey Cups in the CFL. Name the last team to win a championship without a top level QB leading the way.

They take a long time to developand they usually developbehind a veteran showing them the ropes.

Everybody knew Bo Levi Mitchell would be the guy in Calgary, but not before he simmered for a while on the back burner.

Who's on deck?

The Roughriders have five quarterbacks on their roster: Mitchell Gale, Jake Waters, G.J. Kinne, Brandon Bridge and Bryan Bennett.

Based on what we've seen from each, it's hard enough imagining any of them under centre the day they open the new stadium, nevermind being the guy who takes the reins intothe future.

Thus the importance of having Durant around for at least another season, but Jones felt it was too steep a price to pay.

Durant was a member of the exclusive Grey Cup club and the Riders gave him away or at least his rights for a pair of faceless draft picks.

A second rounder this year and a fourth rounder next year.

"In about four weeks he's on the streets as a free agent so we felt getting two draft picks was pretty significant," said Jones.

It would be significant if the Riders organization had a proven track record of knowing what to do with draft picks.

If you want to go back a couple draft years, of the Riders last 14 selections, only four are currently on the roster.

Even when they had the luxury of having the first overall pick last year, the reviews were not good.

Josiah St. John not only held out through training camp but he couldn't hold onto a starting spot on a terrible offensive line, and then he sulked because they made him play guard instead of tackle.

But he's young with plenty of room to mature.

Trying to make sense of it all

As for Durant, we get it.

The Riders and Durant were far apart in contract talks.

But gaps tend to narrow the closer you get to deadlines, unless one of the parties doesn't try too hard to make it happen.

If Durant left on his own terms on Feb. 14, he would have come off as the bad guy.

By Jones's description, Durant was a moderately successful quarterback, and one never got the feeling from Jones during his first season with the Ridersthat Durant was his man.

But doing it this way, Jones could forever be scorned as the guy who traded Durant, a quarterback who years from now will be held in much higher regard in Saskatchewan.

You seein sports, after star athletes retiretheir accomplishments like fishing talesgrow larger and eventually become legends.

Fans will remember Durant as the quarterback who led the Riders to three Grey Cup appearances in five years, winning one.

The late great Ron Lancaster did that too, and he is regarded as Rider royalty.

Lancaster was booed in his last game as a Rider, yet I dare you to say anything negative about the Little General today.

Durant's last appearance in a Ridersjersey was the night they retired old Mosaic Stadium, and the fans gave him an ovation as loud as ever heard, louder than what they gave George Reed just seconds earlier.

If Durant was granted the same longevity in a Riders uniform, he was on pace to easily surpass Lancaster's 46,710 passing yards.

Durant is already at 28,500 in half the seasons played.

Yes, Durant only won four games in 2016, but even Bo Levi would have struggled behind that offensive line with a constant rotation of receivers and running backs.

True, he was coming off twoinjury-plagued seasons and at 34 his best years are likely behind him.

But people saidthat about Smilin' Hank too.

Forty-one-year-old Henry Burris won a Grey Cup a couple months ago, didn't he?

Years from now, fans will talk about the day the Riders traded Durant and all they got in return was a couple draft picks.

They will shake their heads in disbelief.