Analysis: Have the Riders found their franchise QB?

REGINA —  The Saskatchewan Roughriders may have found their next franchise quarterback.

The Riders acquired Zach Collaros from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Wednesday, and while Brandon Bridge and Kevin Glenn remain in the picture, CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye says there’s no mistaking it: The Riders are Collaros’ team.

“Even though they still have Brandon Bridge and they like Brandon Bridge — it’s going to be an interesting competition right out of the gate — this is Zach Collaros’ team now,” said Nye.

“This is a franchise guy that Chris Jones believes in.”

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Zach Collaros was traded to the Riders on Wednesday for a second round pick in 2018 (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)

Collaros has played six seasons in the league, taking the Ticats to the Grey Cup in 2014 and emerging as a legitimate Most Outstanding Player candidate a year later (those hopes were sidelined only by a season-ending knee injury suffered in 2015).

Over the last four seasons with the Ticats, Collaros has completed 67 per cent of his passes for 11,342 yards and 66 touchdowns while starting 43 of 53 regular season games.

For Jones, finding a long-term solution under centre in Collaros marks the end of a careful process that started when he took the job as Riders head coach and general manager following the 2015 season.

While Jones spent the following two seasons gutting and rebuilding the rest of the roster, his approach under centre, from Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn to Brandon Bridge and Vernon Adams Jr., was very deliberate.

“Chris Jones clearly had a plan,” said Nye. “He had a vision. He wanted to see if Darian Durant could be his guy — that didn’t work out, traded him away. He brought in Kevin Glenn as kind of that stop gap to see if he could develop somebody. Brandon Bridge is also under contract and some people consider him a ‘next one’.

“I think there’s still going to be some healthy competition at quarterback, and there has to be for the Roughriders, but this is definitely a move that Chris Jones had to make this season. His third year, he got the extension through 2019, he needed to finally put his stamp at the quarterback spot on somebody you could see playing three, four, five years down the road and play well, and that guy is Zach Collaros.”

“He needed to finally put his stamp at the quarterback spot on somebody you could see playing three, four, five years down the road and play well, and that guy is Zach Collaros.”

Jamie Nye on Chris Jones’ search for a QB

While there are still some questions about the Riders’ quarterback depth chart, with Glenn, Adams Jr. and Bridge all still on the roster, Wednesday’s deal leaves the Ticats without a veteran quarterback under contract for 2018. Yet their situation just became a lot clearer.

It’s expected that after his late-season success in 2017, Jeremiah Masoli will sign a contract extension and go into 2018 as the starting quarterback. There’s also the likelihood of Johnny Manziel signing with the team.

“Clearly June Jones likes Jeremiah Masoli,” said Nye. “They’re going after Johnny Manziel, there’s no doubt about that one. All of a sudden you need room. [The Ticats] had to make a smart financial decision as well as a football one, even though it’s a tough one with the talent that Zach Collaros can have.

“I think it made sense for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but it’s going to be interesting this is one of those trades that’s going to be compared – did the Ticats make the right move, did the Riders make the right move – and that’s only going to be proven when everything gets put together and these teams start to play on the field in 2018.”