Riders ready to launch Zach Attack
Chris Jones is poised to make three quarterback switches — this time by design.
When the Jones-coached Saskatchewan Roughriders last played a meaningful game, they used Kevin Glenn ... then Brandon Bridge ... and then Glenn, again ... before settling on Bridge for the duration of the CFL’s East Division final, won 25-21 by the host Toronto Argonauts.
Jones’ indecision on Nov. 19 underlined his overall dissatisfaction with the quarterback situation, even though Glenn and Bridge had combined for a league-high 35 touchdown passes.
Glenn was discarded in January, shortly after Jones obtained quarterback Zach Collaros from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The trade was consummated not long after the Roughriders announced that Bridge, who was eligible to test free agency in February, had signed a new contract.
Jones also reached a renegotiated deal with Collaros, who is to make a reported $430,000 (plus tips) this season. The riches lavished upon Collaros have fostered presumptions that he will be the Roughriders’ No. 1 signal-caller. Not so, insists Jones, who has adamantly maintained that there is an open competition for the starting quarterback’s job. Really.
This brings us to the Roughriders’ planned quarterbacking rotation for Friday’s pre-season game against the visiting Calgary Stampeders. Jones said Thursday that Collaros will play during the first and third quarters. Bridge will be behind centre in the second and fourth quarters. The sequence: Collaros to Bridge to Collaros to Bridge. We will soon discover how sincere Jones is about an open competition.
The strong suspicion here is that Collaros will get the nod for the regular-season opener unless he is completely outplayed by Bridge. Anything close and Collaros will start June 15 against the visitors from Toronto. He will also start Friday, providing much of the intrigue that accompanies the looming exhibition tilt.
Collaros did not play May 27, when the Roughriders lost 35-12 to the host Edmonton Eskimos while using David Watford, Marquise Williams (since released) and B.J. Daniels at quarterback.
Now the prospective front-liners will take over, with Collaros under the most scrutiny.
Can he reprise his form of 2015? That year, he was the favourite to win CFL most-outstanding-player honours before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Collaros now holds the dubious distinction of having lost his last 12 starts, including eight last season. In fact, Bridge won more games (one) in Hamilton than did Collaros last season. Bridge was the victorious pivot in his only start of 2017.
Bridge is one of nine quarterbacks to have started for Saskatchewan since Sept. 7, 2014, when franchise pivot Darian Durant suffered his first of backto-back season-ending injuries.
Durant and Bridge aside, the Roughriders have started Glenn, Tino Sunseri, Seth Doege, Kerry Joseph, Brett Smith, Keith Price and Mitchell Gale over the past 31/2 seasons. Compare that to the stability that had existed between the 2009 opener and Labour Day weekend in 2014. Over that span, the Riders’ starters were Durant, Ryan Dinwiddie and Drew Willy, and the latter two were rarely used.
Somehow, some way, the Roughriders have to get back to the point where they have an established No. 1 quarterback.
And if that lucky individual does not prove to be Collaros, the Roughriders will be saddled with a $430,000 backup. But let’s not be hasty. After all, there is the matter of Friday’s pre-season game — the final bridge to cross before The Decision is made.