Saskatchewan Roughriders kicker Tyler Crapigna won’t play at all in 2018.

“What ya’ll don’t know about Tyler is he’s battling with a little something that he is going to have to get worked on,” head coach Chris Jones said Sunday. “He was going to wait and get it worked on after the season, so he kind of put the team in front of his personal own good. It’s going to be a long, long rehab. It’s got something to do with his legs. He’ll have surgery.”

Crapigna made was the Riders primary field goal kicker in 2016 and 2017 after taking over the role late in 2015 when he was acquired in a trade deadline deal for national running back Jerome Messam who is now a teammate. Crapigna has played in 36 games for Saskatchewan making 76-of-88 three-point attempts (86.4 per cent) with a long of 53 yards and converted 74-of-78 extra point attempts.

With Crapigna out for the season, Brett Lauther, who hasn’t kicked a regular season field goal since 2013 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, enters the 2018 season as the Riders kicker. He went 6-of-10 with a long of 40 yards with the Ticats five years ago. And in the pre-season, Lauther made 5-of-5 with a long of 55 yards, clearly impressing special teams coach Craig Dickenson.

“We found out that Lauther could come in and be a kicker for us and be a guy that we could depend on,” Jones said. “He’ll give Tyler a year to recover. He’s got a strong leg, got lots of pop.”