O’Leary: Collaros’ wild story adds its latest chapter
By the time he got to Winnipeg, it had stopped being fun for Zach Collaros.
There were injuries and subsequent rehabs. He’d been passed over in Hamilton in favour of Jeremiah Masoli and was eventually traded to a Riders team that had a ton of defensive punch but could only muster a jab here and there on offence. There was another injury, another young QB taking his job and another trade, this one to an Argos team that was mired in its own issues and had probably lost touch with the word fun a long time ago. Then he was traded again.
More often than not this is the trajectory of a quarterback that’s on his way to less things in his career.
For Collaros, it was the opposite.
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Zach Collaros defeated two of his former teams, the Riders and the Ticats, to end Winnipeg’s 29-year Grey Cup drought (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
“From a football standpoint, being in this building last year was for me kind of being born again. Having fun at work again,” Collaros told reporters in Winnipeg on Tuesday, a day after his two-year contract extension was made official.
“Hats off to Kyle (Walters, the Bombers’ GM) and O’Sh (head coach Mike O’Shea) for building that culture and to my teammates for welcoming me and being the people that they are. They just want to win football games and everyone understands their role. It’s a no-brainer from a football standpoint.”
The non-football boxes were all checked off for the 31-year-old, too. The terms of the deal — it’s reportedly in the $1 million range over two years with incentives hit, according to 3DownNation’s Justin Dunk — worked for him. The other factor was family. Collaros’ wife was on board with the deal. The two are expecting their first child in April.
That Collaros was able to unseat Matt Nichols as the starter and now assumes control of the defending Grey Cup champions — the team he took across a finish line that had 29 years’ worth of dust on it — is the newest chapter in his unbelievable story.
“From the moment the season ended, my wife and I talked about it,” Collaros said.
“It was kind of a no-brainer if they wanted us to come back.”
Bombers GM Kyle Walters said it was a gut wrenching decision to choose Collaros over Nichols, but when he spoke with O’Shea and incoming offensive coordinator Buck Pierce, the decision came into focus.
“Matt’s been nothing but a great teammate and great friend to many in this organization,” Walters said.
“I think ultimately the way Zach played down the stretch…getting us over the hump and winning a Grey Cup, I believe earned him…first right of refusal to the offer.”
Collaros was 4-0 as a starter, taking the Bombers to a regular-season finale win over Calgary, then leading them through the Stamps, then two of his former teams in the Riders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats en route to winning the first Grey Cup of his career. It’s a small but impressive and history-making sample size that Walters couldn’t turn away from.
“He was thrown into the fire last year and picked things up,” Walters said.
“That was the benefit of having a veteran quarterback. What he showed will be great for Buck as a first time offensive coordinator. They can learn and grow together.
“It’s exciting with the small, small sample size we saw of Zach and how excited we were and how well he played. A full off-season and a full training camp, there’s more we can expect from him, for sure.”
Collaros said he felt at home the second he arrived in Winnipeg. He mentioned a group chat with his teammates, who have celebrated each other’s signings as the winter has progressed. Nichols is a part of that chat, but of course won’t be returning to Winnipeg. Walters said on Tuesday that the team would release him that morning so that he could get a jump on his free-agent options. While recovering from shoulder surgery that ended his 2019 season and opened the door for Collaros’ arrival via trade with the Argos, Nichols is confident that he’ll be healthy in time for training camp and that he can start for the next team he plays for.
O’Shea informed Nichols last week that the team would first pursue a contract with Collaros. Walters said he didn’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth on how Nichols handled that news.
“You can imagine,” Walters said after a long silence. “You can ask Mike exactly the way the conversation went.”
Offensively, the Bombers now have secured many of their core offensive pieces ahead of free agency opening on Feb. 11. Collaros will start at QB. Offensive linemen Stanley Bryant, Jermarcus Hardrick and Pat Neufeld have also signed ahead of free agency, as has receiver Drew Wolitarsky. Running back Andrew Harris is still under contract. Receiver Darvin Adams’ contract is expiring, as is Canadian offensive lineman Michael Couture.
Defensive end Willie Jefferson is expected to continue to focus on landing with an NFL team, Walters said, adding that he hoped to speak with him later on Tuesday. The other quarterback in the team’s stable, the one that provided the legs to the position, is Chris Streveler. Walters said he expected Streveler to get heavy interest from the NFL.
Collaros has never been one to look back, even when there’s a fascinating story in his rearview. Through an almost season-long injury last year that saw him traded twice, then to take the field and run the table with a team that he joined in the final minutes before the trade deadline is unprecedented. He’ll try to build on that in 2020 and beyond.
“The way everything worked out in Toronto, from an injury standpoint I probably could have played,” Collaros said.
“Between myself and (then-Argos GM Jim) Popp and the training staff, we were 1-15, 2-14, you know? I don’t know how things would have ended there in Sask. They ended up having a good season.
“I don’t think it could have worked out for me any better though. I’m thankful for that.
“When you sit back and think about it — which I really haven’t done — it’s pretty crazy.”
