It's a sliver of progress for Darian Durant, but not much.
The Riders pivot did return to practice on Thursday after missing Wednesday's work out, but it's still not all fine and dandy. While Durant did have his protective boot off and was in pads he didn't end up doing a whole lot.
"Chance for him to get a little bit more rest," said head coach Corey Chamblin. "He did enough today where he made it through and got the reads that he needed."
Those reads came in the period where the offense went up against the scout secondary. Other than that, Drew Willy took most of the reps, with Tino Sunseri seeing a few snaps as well.
Even though Durant didn't practice much, not all is lost.
"If it doesn't swell up and do those other things we'll probably see him on game day," said Chamblin.
So Durant is still listed as a game time decision ahead of the game in Guelph against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The fact that this is a road game might not work in Durant's favour since getting a plane can sometimes make injuries worse.
"It concerns me a little bit, just because of how much it swelled up on me coming back from Toronto," said Durant.
With that in mind Durant said he's going to be wearing the boot on the plane ride east. He'll also ice down the foot and put a wrap on it.
This injury is actually nothing new to Durant, who has been dealing with it off and on since college.
"I'm kind of used to dealing with it. It's not fun to deal with but it's something, I guess, I'm adjusted to," said Durant, who adds the injury has been in the same foot all along.
The foot has most certainly been a work in progress as Durant says they've been working non-stop since it most recently emerged to try and get it back in working order.
Durant told reporters he's been icing the foot up to five times a day, going to therapists, using machines, pain killers, and so on.
"It's just constant treatment," said Durant. "We've been attacking this thing full blast."
That being said, Durant hasn't injected any freezing medication into his foot yet, claiming he is afraid of needles.
Another thing working in Durant's favour is facing the same team again, as Durant will have an idea of what the Ti-Cats would be doing. But there's one aspect he can't prepare for.
"The thing you can't measure is intensity," said Durant. "Those guys I'm pretty sure they felt embarrassed last week."
