Weston Dressler breaks up field with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last season.

In the end, Weston Dressler's familiarity with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Rider Nation was what brought him back to the green and white.

The highly sought after slotback was back on the field with his Roughrider teammates on Thursday for the first time since signing with the team following a tryout in the National Football League.

“I couldn't be more excited to be where I'm at right now today,” said Dressler to the assembled media on Thursday. “I'm focused on here, helping this team win some football games and the ultimate goal of winning a Grey Cup.”

The 2013 Grey Cup was the last time that Dressler stepped foot on Taylor Field and after his release from the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, it looked like that might be the last time fans show him in Rider green.

Numerous CFL teams were in hot pursuit of Dressler following his release, but his history in Saskatchewan ended up being too much to pass up, despite higher contract offers elsewhere.

“There's a lot I've gone through with this organization, with a lot of guys on this team – coaches and players – the fans,” Dressler said. “Everything here really does mean a lot to me and once the whole negotiation period was going down, it just seemed like it just popped up that this is where I'm suppose to be.”

In addition to the reported $200,000 that the Riders were offering, Rider Nation also rolled out the red carpet for Dressler, offering him everything from free paninis to blizzards.

The outpouring of support hit home with Dressler.

“I'm always amazed with the support from this fan base, so to see something like that it did surprise me, but at the same time, it doesn't surprise me because they show their support in numerous ways,” he said.

“I didn't want that to play into it too much because I wanted my decision to be about football and what was best for me as a football player, but it did weigh on me throughout the process.”

Ottawa and Calgary both reportedly made strong pushes to get Dressler into their lineups and he said the process ended up being tougher than he imagined.

“You see different contract offers, different money out there and I looked at the offer from Saskatchewan and I said, 'I can be more than happy living with that amount of money, I've lived with much left in earlier years playing up here,' so I'm happy with what happened.”

Dressler inked a one-year deal with the Riders and General Manager Brendan Taman said that a long-term deal was discussed, but was put on the back burner, for now.

“I knew that doing the way we did was going to be a benefit for us,” he said. “I didn't spend a lot of time (on a long term deal) because I wanted to do it sooner than later.

“We'll get him rolling here in the next weeks and see how he's playing and then I'll talk to either him, or the person that helps him out, (about signing an extension).”

Dressler didn't really get a look while in the NFL, finishing three preseason games with no catches and just one kickoff return for 19 yards. He said he feels like he got a fair shot and isn't closing the book on the NFL dream yet.

“I would have liked more opportunities in the games,” he said. “As a player, you need to earn those opportunities and I guess in their eyes, I didn't do enough in practice to get those opportunities in games.”

The contract is out of the way and his first practice is under his belt, so the next step is a return to game action for Dressler. He said there's still a lot of work for him to do before he can hit the field.

“It's going to take a little time to get use to the game again and get use to the playbook,” said Dressler. “It will be a little process and I know that I've got a lot of work to do within the next couple of weeks to be as smart and crisp as I can on the field.”

Dressler expects the next two days to determine whether or not we see him on the field for the Labour Day Classic. The Riders practice on Friday at Mosaic Stadium and then have their walkthrough on Saturday before Sunday's game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Darian Durant was back taking part in practice on Thursday, click here for more.