Trevor Hagan/CFL.ca
WINNIPEG — As one familiar face departs, another familiar face returns.
After the departure of backup quarterback Dru Brown in a trade with the Ottawa REDBLACKS, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced on Wednesday they have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with quarterback Chris Streveler.
Streveler (six-foot-one, 216 pounds; South Dakota/Minnesota; born: January 6, 1995, in Naperville, IL.) returns to the Blue Bombers after spending the last four seasons in the National Football League, suiting up for nine regular season games and starting one during his days with the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets. Streveler also spent brief stints with the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins.
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Streveler first signed with the Blue Bombers on May 4, 2018, and was the club’s starter to open the season just a few weeks later following the sudden retirement of Darian Durant and an injury to Matt Nichols near the end of training camp. That made him the first straight-from-college quarterback to start Week 1 for a CFL team since Anthony Calvillo with the Las Vegas Posse in 1994 and the first for the Blue Bombers since John Schneider in 1968. He threw for 11 touchdowns in his first season in Winnipeg while rushing for 10 more, making him the first Winnipeg quarterback since Matt Dunigan to hit double-digit touchdown totals through the air and along the ground.
During the 2019 championship run, he again stepped in for an injured Nichols and guided the club to a 3-5 record. His 726 yards rushing that year established a club record by a quarterback, eclipsing Ken Ploen’s mark of 541, set in 1960.
Streveler started 12 games in 2018 and 2019 with the Blue Bombers, going 4-8 in those games. He threw for 2,698 yards with 19 touchdowns and 19 interceptions during his days with the club, and rushed for 1,167 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Streveler began his college career at the University of Minnesota, playing both quarterback and receiver before transferring to the University of South Dakota. In his two seasons with the Coyotes, he threw for 6,081 yards and 54 touchdowns. In 2017, Streveler was named MVFC (Missouri Valley Football Conference) Offensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision.
