The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Quarterback Dane Evans announced his retirement from football on New Year’s Day. The five-year CFL veteran shared the news on his Instagram account.
Evans spent the 2023 season with the BC Lions, after playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the previous four seasons. The 30-year-old played in two Grey Cup games, both with the Ticats, in 2019 and 2021.
He was set to become a free agent in February.
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Evans played in 79 games through his career, making 769 of 1,122 passes for 9,636 yards with 49 touchdowns to 40 interceptions. Backing up Vernon Adams Jr. last year in BC, Evans made 71 of 103 passes for 829 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions.
In Hamilton, Evans worked his way into the starting role, taking over for Jeremiah Masoli after he suffered a season-ending ACL injury in 2021. The Ticats went on to a franchise-best 15-3 finish that year and while Evans led the team to the Grey Cup game, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers topped them in the 107th Grey Cup.
Evans went in for Masoli in the 2021 Eastern Final and helped the Ticats come back to beat the Toronto Argonauts, earning themselves another trip to the Grey Cup game. While Evans got the start in the 108th edition of the game, a neck injury spelled an early end to his night. The Blue Bombers topped the Ticats in overtime at that game, at Tim Hortons Field, to win their second consecutive championship.
Evans assumed starting duties in 2022, but the Ticats opted to trade for Bo Levi Mitchell at the end of that season. Evans was dealt to the Lions in February of 2023.
Regardless of the uniform he put on in his career, Evans proudly shared his Indigenous roots. In a 2023 game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he and Mason Fine became the first two Indigenous quarterbacks to face one another in a CFL game.
In his Instagram post, Evans reminded fans that he’d always wanted to go into coaching and that he’d soon reveal what his next steps in the game of football would be.
