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Sometimes a coach can make a great quarterback or maybe it’s vice versa?
Either way, if you’re going to win you need a strong pivot.
And if the last two years are any indication, you’ll need more than one and maybe a third or fourth to win in the CFL.
At times it’s been a battle of attrition for teams behind centre. The bad news: there have been too many injuries to stars like Darian Durant, Ricky Ray, Zach Collaros and Mike Reilly.
The good news: Jonathon Jennings, Rakeem Cato, Trevor Harris and James Franklin have gotten some of the spot light and looked like hidden gems.
In 2015, the Edmonton Eskimos were given a chance to have home field in the Western Final, thanks to the work of Matt Nichols and James Franklin. Their leader, Mike Reilly, was injured in game one and spent the first half of the year on the sideline.
If it weren’t for solid depth, the Eskimos may have had a different fate come playoff time.
So when we look at quarterback depth going into 2016, and do a power ranking, it’s easy to see who could be labeled number one.
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The Ottawa REDBLACKS have two prime time starters in Henry Burris and Trevor Harris. The problem is whether it will be a blessing or a curse. A quarterback controversy won’t be hard to stir up at all if things are shaky to start with an offensive system being put in by new coordinator Jaime Elizondo, who has worked with Harris most recently in Toronto.
But aside from the potential gnashing of teeth outside the locker room, Burris and Harris stand out as a powerful duo for the REDBLACKS to rely on if injuries creep in. It has been a remarkable run of health for Burris who, in his 40s, surely can’t be relied upon to go 14-18 games.
With all due respect to the ‘best back-up in the league’ title that has been labeled to Drew Tate for the last couple of seasons, he has now been usurped by Harris, who guided Toronto to an incredible start last season before Ricky Ray re-claimed the starter’s role.
And that’s where we find the Stampeders, at number two.
Drew Tate still is one of the best to come off the bench in the league. And when you’re starting the season with Bo Levi Mitchell, you’re going to be okay.
Mitchell has become my ‘franchise’ quarterback if you had to start from scratch; he’d be the #1 pick.
The number two pick may be Mike Reilly for a number of people. Some would even say he’s their ‘franchise’ guy after seeing his work leading the Eskimos back to a Grey Cup Championship.
He’s got a young upstart quarterback behind him. James Franklin made Matt Nichols expendable midway through last season and allowed the Eskimos to swing a deal with the Bombers.
Franklin is among my favourite ‘rising star’ quarterbacks in the CFL. He could be a tremendous find for the Eskimos, though with Mike Reilly’s sizable extension, Franklin could also be a hard one to hold on to beyond this season.
Next in line are the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
After Zach Collaros, they have the most depth behind #1 and #2 but the reason they aren’t higher is quantity does not equal quality. And when your number two is a big time question mark, that could be scary but in the Tiger-Cats’ case it is not.
Jeremiah Masoli can win, as he proved in last year’s playoffs. Jacory Harris hasn’t reached his ceiling. Jeff Mathews definitely has the makings of a CFL quarterback and who knows what Kent Austin and newly appointed General Manager Eric Tillman have found in Jake Waters.
If Zach Collaros isn’t ready, Jeremiah Masoli has proven he’s capable of starting (CFL.ca)
With some questions over Collaros’ health for Week 1 of the season, Hamilton’s depth could be tested early, though there shouldn’t be too much anxiety in Tiger Town if Collaros needs a few more weeks to heal from the knee injury that ended a Most Outstanding Player calibre season.
Now we find the aforementioned Nichols and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Drew Willy of course is the starter and with a new offence I’m excited to see what Willy does with Paul LaPolice running the show.
But finally Winnipeg has some stability behind Willy, as the Bombers have been sunk by shaky back-ups as starters got injured over the course of the last five years and even as far back as the 2007 Grey Cup when Ryan Dinwiddie was pushed into action when then starter Kevin Glenn went down.
The Bombers are also quite happy with Dominque Davis in the quarterbacking stable, with another athletic QB in Bryan Bennett pushing him.
The Bombers have built a talented group around the quarterback and maybe, just maybe, this is the year the castle doesn’t crumble the minute Willy gets hurt.
This next group of teams have to be a little bit weary of where they are depth wise behind centre.
In Saskatchewan and Toronto you have two Grey Cup quarterbacks who have had major injury issues the last two seasons and behind them are a lot of question marks.
The Riders at least have a quarterback who has playing time under his belt as Brett Smith played a good chunk of games last season. They’re hoping B.J. Coleman and a few other quarterbacks they’ve yet to officially sign can make waves in pre-season.
The Argonauts don’t even have that. Logan Kilgore has been in Toronto to see the CFL game from the sideline but now has to take the bull by the horns and become to Ricky Ray what Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris were able to do.
Those two case studies help make the case in Toronto that GM Jim Barker and Head Coach Scott Milanovich can find and develop the quarterback talent with the help of offensive coordinator and QBs coach Marcus Brady.
In Montreal, it is a similar story to the Tiger-Cats; quantity doesn’t make better quality. At least they have a good starting point with veteran Kevin Glenn.
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Glenn’s career has been the watermark guy. He’s very good but teams always seem to feel they can find better. It’s why the Stampeders moved on, the Tiger-Cats, Riders and now he could very well be the watermark in Montreal.
He plays at a high enough level to win football games but it will be up to Jonathan Crompton, Aaron Boone, Rakeem Cato, Brandon Bridge and if that wasn’t enough, a sixth quarterback in Tahj Boyd to raise that watermark and take over.
Problem is all of those quarterbacks helped guide the Alouettes to just six wins and out of the playoffs for the first time ever since they were brought back into the league in 1996.
And to wrap things up the BC Lions enter this season with a quarterback who went 3-3 in his first CFL season.
Yes, Jonathon Jennings looked poised as his three wins in the back half of the season were enough to push the Lions into the playoffs. But am I going to say Jennings can out duel a Western cast of quarterbacks that includes Mitchell, Reilly, Durant and Willy? No, I won’t say that.
Behind him is Travis Lulay, one of my all-around favourite people in the league. His shoulder gives one tremendous pause as to how long his career has left.
After Lulay, you have Keith Price, who looked shaky in his days in Saskatchewan, and Greg McGhee, who is an unproven commodity.
I’m not sold Wally Buono is resurrecting his coaching career the way he ended it with a healthy Lulay, an upstart Reilly and a veteran like Jarious Jackson. A group that won him the 2011 Grey Cup Cup.
Of course Buono also kept the shelves full of quarterbacks in his Calgary days with Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Dave Dickenson, Henry Burris and in B.C., Dickenson, Lulay, Reilly and Buck Pierce starred for him there.
Strong quarterbacking helped him become the most winningest coach in CFL history.
And it will help a lot of coaches be successful this season as well, I’m just not sure it’s going to be Wally.
