Risky business
With Harris gone, Redblacks taking a chance that Dominique Davis can be their QB of the now
It’s hard to imagine there were many tears shed when the Redblacks parted company with Trevor Harris.
First of all, the team clearly did not want to re-sign its No. 1 quarterback badly enough.
The Redblacks had no issue offering Harris two years, while it’s believed they also dangled a salary in the neighbourhood of $500,000.
That would have been a $75,000 raise from what he made last year but still $50,000 less than the average annual haul he gets in 2019 and 2020 from the Eskimos.
Unless an insistence on having Greg Ellingson come along was part of the deal, theoretically, at least, Ottawa could have kept Harris for 50 grand more a year. Peanuts, right? But apparently, the line in the sand was drawn and solid.
At the same time, after all his hogwash about money being no issue and how badly he wanted to stay in a city he “loves”, you could almost read the glee in a statement from Harris on CFL.ca well before the first snowflake dropped in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m excited to join the City of Champions and Edmonton Eskimos led by Brock Sunderland and Jason Maas,” wrote Harris, who worked with the former for one year in Ottawa and the latter for two years in Toronto — and clearly likes both more than Marcel Desjardins and Rick Campbell. “I’m very blessed to have their belief and I’m excited to get to work and start our pursuit to the Grey Cup with my teammates!”
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Sunderland also issued a statement regarding his excitement on landing Harris, after Mike Reilly shunned a four-year offer from him worth $2.8 million.
Sunderland referred to his new “franchise quarterback” as a “talented and proven winner who’s shown the ability to lead his team to the Grey Cup.”
Now, calling Harris a “proven winner” is getting a little carried away. In his two years as the Redblacks starter, the team was 19-16-1 while playing five games against the Montreal Alouettes.
In post-season play, Harris is 1-2. He still has some proving to do before he can be considered proven.
That said, the Redblacks are taking a big risk in letting Harris walk — which presumably they could have avoided had they opened the wallet a little wider.
Ellingson, SirVincent Rogers and William Powell are considerable losses, but it’s a quarterback dependent league. If you don’t have a good one, you’re scrambling. And likely caught for a loss.
Interesting, the Redblacks say they are comfortable going forward with Dominique Davis, who was Harris’ backup last season and re-signed in January.
The 29-year-old Davis has been in the league since 2015, yet he has thrown only 93 passes. Of those, 57 were completed, for 750 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw an interception.
Desjardins isn’t discounting bringing in a quarterback or two to challenge for the job. In terms of experience CFLers, Jonathon Jennings remains available and, you would think, tempting.
“We’re looking at different options,” said Desjardins. “We’re not going to elaborate on what they might be, but we’re looking at different things. Whether any of them play out or not, I can’t answer that right now.”
At the same time, Desjardins made it clear that “as of right now,” he expects Davis to be the team’s No. 1 quarterback.
“Let me just say this: when we signed Dominique to his contact, which was the end of January, we had a pretty good sense as to how things were going to play out with Trevor,” said Desjardins. “And we were more than comfortable allowing him the chance to compete to start to be our quarterback.”
Davis has good size, at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, and he can run. The Redblacks mostly brought him for a QB sneak on third down last season. He also completed 24 of 39 passes.
“He didn’t play a ton, but when he did, he did a lot of good things,” said Desjardins. “He adds a different dimension to our offence now, with his size and with his athleticism and his ability to create with his feet, and those are all good things for our offence.”
Going with Davis is still a huge gamble. Guys need somebody to take a chance on them at some point — Harris himself barely played in his first three years with the Argos, and only got a real opportunity as an injury replacement for Ricky Ray in 2015.
But the Redblacks have spoiled their fans with a competitive team ever since their expansion year. And the whole while, they have had a quarterback who had proven himself as a reliable starter, if nothing more.
Davis is not that, not yet, maybe never. And the Redblacks could fall to the depths of the Eastern Division standings unless he becomes one.