Eskimos backup Franklin likely to find lively market
No lack of suitors for highly-touted quarterback who hasn’t played much
CALGARY He turned a one-score game into a two-score game.
Why on Earth would Jason Maas decide to kick a field goal when trailing by seven in the West Division final?
On third-and-four.
In the red zone.
With fewer than two minutes left.
Instead of just going for it and leaving his defence with better field position to come up with a stop if the attempt failed.
It will go down as the biggest question of the Edmonton Eskimos’ 2017 season.
Not that the answer will do anything to change the fact the rollercoaster of a 7-0 winning streak, followed by an 0-6 losing skid, followed by a 6-0 winning streak finally came to a disappointing stop in Sunday’s 32-28 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.
Fans were robbed of a chance to see how the game really would have ended had the head coach of the comeback kings of the CFL not tossed in the towel on his topranked points-producing offence at the most crucial time of the season.
But that ride’s over.
It’s time to get in line for the biggest question of the off-season: What will happen with James Franklin?
The promising young quarterback just spent three years backing up Mike Reilly, and with his contract set to expire in February, it’s a foregone conclusion there won’t be a fourth.
So, with the Eskimos sticking with Reilly — which they no doubt will, especially considering they have a rookie general manager in Brock Sunderland who isn’t looking to rock the boat with Edmonton hosting the Grey Cup next year, even though it might be a tantalizing opportunity to get younger at the position and still get something in return — where will Franklin go?
“I’m not sure. I’m still under contract until February and I haven’t heard from any teams or anything,” Franklin said.
“I don’t even know what’s going to happen to me.”
There is no shortage of potential suitors this off-season: The Saskatchewan Roughriders, Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Redblacks and even the B.C. Lions, if Jonathon Jennings heads south, all have varying degrees of questions at quarterback.
It wouldn’t be unheard of if a deal was made for Franklin ahead of free agency, à la Reilly’s arrival in Edmonton in 2013 when B.C. GM Wally Buono was shopping his up-and-comer around.
“As much as you try to come up with a thousand different scenarios, we don’t know,” Franklin said. “The toughest part is just being patient and see what’s going to happen, but it’s definitely exciting.”
While the body of on-field work is small, the words “pure passer” aren’t usually used to describe quarterbacks who have made their way through the vaunted halls of Commonwealth Stadium.
“I’m really fortunate for how my career went. I’m really thankful for that,” said Franklin, whose playing duties diminished under head coach Jason Maas.
“A lot of guys say I should have been a starter right away, but I’m thankful for the time as a backup and the PR because I got to develop and I got to see how it was done — good or bad. I got to see that.” He didn’t start a game this year. Aside from one game in Montreal, where he was brought in to light a fire under an under-performing Reilly, he ended the season with a spot-duty 142 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 13 of 19 passes.
His three-season total since being brought to the CFL by thenEskimos coach Chris Jones reads: 116 of 176 passes, 1,449 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception while rushing for 145 yards on 18 carries.
The six-foot-two, 225-pound Missouri product is 2-1 in career starts over the previous two years, with both wins coming over the Toronto Argonauts and a loss to the Calgary Stampeders on Labour Day in 2015.
It’s not like Franklin was biding his time outside the classroom, either, having spent off-season time working with throwing coaches.
“My mechanics, if you look at the film from my first year here until now, have changed dramatically,” said the 26-year-old native of Oklahoma City. “I’ve been able to do that, and I’ve been able to take more risk in practice and trying new things in practice because I don’t necessarily have to worry, I guess I should say, about playing. I can test the limits in practice.
“So I’ve been really fortunate for this developmental time, and hopefully next year I do get an opportunity. But I’m really thankful for the time I got to sit back and see how it’s done and try to adjust my game and my leadership to what I think needs to be done to lead a successful team.”
That being said, there are only nine professional starting quarterback jobs at any given time.
“I was thinking about that, all the guys out there who don’t just play quarterback, but every position out there, really, to get a starting spot anywhere is difficult,” Franklin said.
“And fortunately, it does seem like I have a good opportunity to get that, but I know I’m still going to have to work hard and earn it.”
I’ve been really fortunate for this developmental time, and hopefully next year I do get an opportunity.