A shockwave was sent around Rider Nation on Saturday night when news broke that the Saskatchewan Roughriders had released star receiver Duron Carter.

Carter was the Riders' Most Outstanding Player in 2017 and just seven games into the 2018 season, his tenure with the Riders has ended.

Riders' general manager and head coach Chris Jones didn't reveal much during his media conference on Sunday, stating that the team decided that they wanted to move in a different direction than Carter.

"Over the break, we're always constantly evaluating our roster, our team, and the way we do things, process, coaching, things that we do at practice, so upon that evaluation, we made the decision that we were going to go in a different direction from Duron," said Jones.

'I went back-and-forth in my mind and (Saturday) about halftime of the (Ottawa-Montreal) game I decided to go ahead and call him and alert him that was the direction that we were going."

Carter stated in a tweet on Sunday morning that he had heard rumblings of the move from teammates during the day on Saturday and decided to text Jones to find out.

"Professional football is a business and it didn't seem to surprise him when I had the conversation with him (Saturday)," said Jones.

Carter is a talented, but controversial receiver that hasn't been afraid to speak his mind over the course of his five-year CFL career. However, he endeared himself to Rider fans over the past year, becoming a fan favourite.

In his first season in Saskatchewan, Carter led the Riders in receiving yards with 1,043 and touchdowns with nine last season. His offensive numbers took a hit this season as he was moved to defensive back for much of the team's first seven games, posting just eight catches for 111 yards and one touchdown. He had an interception return for a touchdown in 2017 and 2018.

Jones said this move didn't have anything to do with Carter's production on the field.

"We're not going to go into any specifics or anything like that, we're not here to put a guy on trial," said Jones. "We released a very good player who will land on his feet, but we decided to go in a different direction for our team.

"He's a very good receiver, he's a dynamic guy that has a unique set of qualities, but at the same time, we have a very young roster at the receiver position with the exception of Naaman (Roosevelt) and we have some very capable guys that we believe in."

Jones quickly shot down the idea that this move was connected to his workout of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Terrell Owens last weekend.

"We're not here to talk about Terrell, that's a discussion for another time, let's give this its due and then move on from here," he said.

TSN's Farhan Lalji was reporting on Sunday that Carter has already spoken with the Montreal Alouetters, Toronto Argonauts, B.C. Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats and expected to make a decision in the next few days.

The Riders will return from their bye week on Sunday to host the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium.