ROUGHRIDERS ARE STARTING OVER YET AGAIN AT QB
Having started with No. 4, Chris Jones may soon be looking for No. 4. Darian Durant was the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ marquee player when Jones was installed as the CFL team’s head coach, general manager and vicepresident of football operations in December of 2015.
Durant — No. 4 on the roster — uneasily coexisted with Jones for one season before the Roughriders’ brass determined that a change at starting quarterback was warranted.
Jones labelled Durant as “moderately successful,” even though his picture deservedly decorated the west-side facing at Taylor Field, and eventually traded him to the Montreal Alouettes.
For Year 2, the Roughriders signed veteran Kevin Glenn — wisely so, as it turned out — and also auditioned former University of Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Titans star Vince Young.
Young, at 34, was looking to exhume — er, resume — his football career after three years out of the game, but proved to be the antithesis of his surname.
Glenn saved the day, throwing for 4,038 yards and 25 touchdowns while sporting an impressive quarterback-efficiency rating (100.0).
Glenn and Brandon Bridge combined to throw a leaguehigh 35 touchdown passes for a Saskatchewan side that won 10 regular-season games and nearly reached the Grey Cup.
Still not satisfied, Jones dumped Glenn in favour of Zach Collaros — No. 3 on this regime’s list of No. 1 quarterbacks — and the offence cratered.
On the strength of a dominating defence, the 2018 Rough riders posted a 12-6 record and earned a home playoff game, only to lose 23-18 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Sunday’s West Division semifinal.
With Collaros sidelined for the third time as a Rider after absorbing a hit to the head, Bridge started against Winnipeg and erupted for 100 aerial yards.
A second-string quarterback, combined with a second-tier receiving corps and a game plan that may have had a second page, was not a recipe for success — certainly not of the sustained sort. So now, with a long winter looming, questions about the quarterbacking will again be swirling like the snow.
Collaros and Bridge are eligible to become free agents Feb. 15. It would be surprising if the Roughriders, having received such marginal quarterbacking this past season, offered either pivot a contract that was worth signing.
Ergo, the Roughriders’ brass could very well be searching for No. 4 — a fourth different starting quarterback for Year 4 of the regime. Saskatchewan has some nice foundational pieces, especially on defence. But a football team without a legitimate starting signal-caller is like having the Pips without Gladys Knight.
Such is the predicament facing the Roughriders, who will continue to hover around the periphery of greatness until they have a difference-making quarterback.
Undeniably, the Roughriders have progressed under Jones, et al, ascending from five wins to 10 to 12. The defence (co-ordinated by Jones) and special teams (under Craig Dickenson) have carried the team.
But that offence …
That quarterbacking … “Moderately successful” would look awfully good right about now. Somehow, some way, the Roughriders need to address a cavernous void at football’s most important position.
The problem is, a talented quarterback is the most-coveted commodity in the sport, on both sides of the border.
The Edmonton Eskimos’ Mike Reilly can become a free agent in February, but a stellar supporting cast and something in the vicinity of $600,000 per annum will be required to successfully woo him. Although Jones, Reilly and offensive co-ordinator Stephen Mcadoo won a Grey Cup together in Edmonton, it is a stretch to advance the notion that they all will be working on behalf of the Roughriders next season.
If Reilly does not re-sign with Edmonton by mid-february, expect a furious bidding war. The Roughriders cannot afford to simply wait and hope to become the successful suitor because, really, what are the odds?
Unfortunately for the Green and white, the chances of developing a quarterback aren’t much better. The track record is not good. Non-existent, in fact.
With John Murphy handling the player personnel, the roster has been upgraded in several areas — one notable exception being the all-important position of quarterback.
Three years into the existence of this regime, the Roughriders have not demonstrated any ability or inclination to identify, recruit or develop a young quarterback.
Bridge, who was claimed on waivers from the Montreal Alouettes in 2016, looked like an intriguing prospect the following season.
But then he regressed — the coaching staff ’s confidence in him having eroded, for whatever reason — and is now a long-shot to return.
Ditto for Collaros, who proved to be erratic, injury-prone and uncomfortable with the role of team spokesman — a responsibility Durant and Glenn had handled so brilliantly while communicating with the media and, by extension, the fans.
David Watford, the third-string pivot, is not the answer. Drew Tate, 34, was the 2018 version of Vince Young, without the hamstring injury or the speculation about, say, possibly opening a steak house in Saskatoon.
Hence the imperative of starting over at quarterbacking as the Rough riders enter year 4 of a three-year plan.