Collaros trade results in Glenn’s release
Kevin Glenn’s nomadic CFL career has taken yet another turn.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Thursday that they had released the 38-year-old Glenn, who was the team’s starting quarterback in 2017.
Glenn was deemed expendable after the Roughriders acquired quarterback Zach Collaros from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats earlier this week. Leading up to that deal, Saskatchewan had signed promising signal-caller Brandon Bridge to a one-year contract extension.
“Once we make a decision to make a trade like we did (Wednesday), there’s going to be some movement that we have to do on the roster,” said Roughriders assistant vice-president of football operations and administration Jeremy O’Day, who noted Glenn was “disappointed” by the move but “handled it like a pro.”
Glenn started 17 regular-season and two playoff games for the 2017 Roughriders, who had a 10-8 record and made the playoffs for the first time in three years.
During the regular season, Glenn threw for 4,038 yards and 25 touchdowns while compiling a quarterback-efficiency rating of 100.0.
However, Roughriders head coach Chris Jones was increasingly prone to removing Glenn in favour of Bridge as the season progressed.
In the East final, Jones twice replaced Glenn with Bridge during a 25-21 loss to the host Toronto Argonauts. Glenn left the game for good after throwing his third interception of the first half.
On the whole, however, Glenn was a major contributor to a team that faced a glaring void at quarterback after Darian Durant was traded to the Montreal Alouettes on Jan. 13, 2017. Glenn was signed as a free agent, thereby becoming a third-time Roughrider, shortly after Durant was dealt.
Glenn’s rights have been held by every current CFL team except the Edmonton Eskimos.
Over 17 seasons, he has thrown for 52,867 yards — fifth on the CFL’s all-time list — and 294 touchdowns.
There had been some speculation that Glenn might remain with the Roughriders by succeeding Jarious Jackson, now of the B.C. Lions, as the quarterbacks coach.
“I think that was probably erased when Kevin told us that he wanted to continue playing,” O’Day said. “You want to respect the player’s aspirations. The other question is, ‘Is that a great fit and is the timing right for that to happen?’
“I won’t speak for Kevin and if he wants to become a quarterbacks coach down the road, but it wasn’t a huge discussion because we understood that Kevin wants to continue playing.”