SASKATOON, Sask. — First, Juwann Winfree had to learn what a waggle is. Now he must figure out how to run one.

A waggle is a maneuver in the Canadian Football League in which a receiver runs forward about 10 yards before a play to gain momentum and reaches the line of scrimmage just as the ball is snapped. In the NFL, receivers can only go horizontally in motion.

But Winfree, a former University of Colorado and Broncos wide receiver, is no longer in the NFL. He has gone north of the border this season to play in the CFL for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I’m just thankful the CFL gave me a chance to play some ball,’’ Winfree told The Denver Gazette after the Roughriders, who are based in Regina, defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 31-27 in their second and final preseason game Saturday at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon. “I might be 29, but I feel like I’ve got a lot left in the tank.”

Winfree has kept the post office busy with change-of-address requests since he left Colorado as a sixth-round pick by Denver in 2019. He had an injury-riddled Broncos tenure in which he got into three games as a rookie and didn’t have a catch before being waived before the 2020 season. Since then, he has played for Green Bay from 2020 to 2022, with Indianapolis in 2023, was briefly with Houston in 2025, and now it’s on to Canada.

Winfree has been adjusting to a game in which teams have 12 players, rather than 11, on each side, have three downs, rather than four, and have a field that is bigger and with deeper end zones. And then there’s the waggle.

“It’s been interesting,’’ he said. “I’m trying to learn a waggle, and I know once I really master it, it’s going to get real dangerous. I’m going to enjoy it. It’s a different game, but it’s still professional football. I’m just glad I got this opportunity. (The Roughriders) were on my line for the last two years, excited to give me a chance to continue playing ball, and that’s all I wanted to do.”

Winfree’s NFL statistics were modest, having played in 23 regular-season games with nine catches for 75 yards. But he has more years of NFL experience than any other Saskatchewan player.

Still, Winfree is not a lock to make the team. The Roughriders have good depth at receiver, with 15 now on the 85-man offseason roster. The roster will be cut to 45 for the regular season, but no more than 19 can be Americans. There is also an eight-man practice squad in which the nationality of players doesn’t matter.

In the Roughriders’ first preseason game on May 18, Winfree caught four passes for 35 yards in a 20-15 road loss to the Calgary Stampeders. However, he missed some time in practice last week with a minor leg injury and he sat out the game against Winnipeg for what he called precautionary reasons.

“Winfree, you could tell he was a pure pro as soon as he came in,” said Roughriders coach Corey Mace. “He had a great game (against Calgary). He’s physical around the box. We’ll see (what happens with the roster). He’s one of a lot of players that we have at that position. But, boy, he’s good.”

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Winfree, who grew up in New Jersey outside New York City, has long been considered to have good size and potential. He played as a freshman at Maryland in 2014 and became good friends with Terrapins wide receiver and future NFL star Stefon Diggs. But he was booted from the program after that season.

“Just being dumb and young and not listening to the rules and I did it a little too many times,’’ said Winfree, declining to give specifics on his infractions. “So I had to start over and go the community college route (at Coffeyville in Kansas). But going through those trials and tribulations, it was important for me to go through that and I bounced back.”

Not right away. After enrolling at Colorado, Winfree missed the 2016 season with a torn ACL. He was bogged down by more injuries the next two seasons, having 21 catches for 325 yards in 2017 and 28 grabs for 324 yards in 2018.

“I love the Colorado Buffaloes,’’ Winfree said. “I never regret going there. I think I left some food on the plate (as a player), but I definitely enjoyed my time there.”

Despite his modest college statistics, the Broncos liked Winfree’s size, athleticism and speed of 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash. So they took him with the No. 187 overall pick in the sixth round.

Winfree continued to have problems staying healthy. In his 16-game rookie season, he was inactive for 10 games and was placed on injured reserve for the final three games with a hamstring issue. He had more injury problems in training camp the next season and was waived Sept. 5, 2020.

“It was tough,’’ Winfree said of his Broncos tenure. “I had to learn how to become a pro and I was at a young age, learning how to take care of my body and learning how to really treat the game as a professional. It’s not just a hobby anymore. This is your job to be available. It’s your job to know what’s going on with the play calls and the playbook. And I feel like I wasn’t there mentally, so it was a big learning experience. The playbook, your body and all those types of things, you just got to be on top of things.”

Winfree said he has learned since then how to take better care of his body with improved eating and workout habits. He said he should have studied the playbook more in Denver and has learned from that.

“I was only learning one position and you got to learn everything,’’ Winfree said of not becoming adept at multiple receiver spots. “I wasn’t developing the right way as a pro. I learned from that moment, I won’t make the same mistake.”

Winfree’s Packers tenure went much better, although he did spend three years on a deep team going up and down from the practice squad to the active roster. He had his best season in 2021, when he played in seven games and caught eight passes for 58 yards.

Winfree got into a career-high eight games with the Colts in 2023 but didn’t catch a pass while playing mostly on special teams. He sat out the 2024 season while rehabbing a knee injury and spent a week with the Texans in the late summer of 2025 before being released.

“It’s definitely been tough, knowing what I’m capable of and not getting a fair share at moments,’’ Winfree said of his NFL tenure. “How you start your career, you can either get ahead of the 8-ball or you get behind, and I ended up being behind the 8-ball. So I’ve been playing catch-up my whole career and teams aren’t fully aware of what I can do. So that’s been the most frustrating part, me knowing what I’m capable of.

“But I’ve lasted this long, so I remain confident. I’ve dealt with adversity a lot throughout my whole career unfortunately.  But one thing about me, I’m going to persevere. Hopefully, I’ll be back doing what I love.”

With that in mind, Winfree is optimistic of still being on the roster when the Roughriders open the regular season June 13 against the British Columbia Lions. He would be in line to make around $100,000, a pittance compared to what NFL players on a 53-man roster earn.

“It’s tough that I wasn’t out there to compete and show my worth even more,’’ Winfree said about sitting out the second preseason game. “But I feel like when I’m healthy and out on the field, I’m one of those guys (who makes the team). I’m going to stay hopeful.”

In the meantime, Winfree, who turns 30 on Sept. 4 and is the team’s oldest receiver, is using his experience to help others.

“He’s a great guy,’’ said rookie wide receiver Daniel Wiebe, who played at the University of Saskatchewan. “He’s brought a lot to the team.”

Of course, Winfree also can learn some things from the Roughriders’ receivers. Such as how to best run a waggle.