Franklin gets another start as Toronto’s QB

James Franklin will get the starter’s job once again for the Toronto Argonauts as the club tries to figure out what precisely it has with the quarterback.

If Franklin’s track record reveals anything, it’s that he’s most effective when he enters game as a backup.

As a starter, at least during his injury plagued time as an Argo, there have been only a handful of quality performances.

Franklin flourished as a backup in Edmonton, where he backed up Mike Reilly — now the starter for the B.C. Lions, who are Toronto’s opponent Saturday night.

There was one start when the Eskimos played host to the Argos that led many to believe Franklin had the potential to be a franchise quarterback.

As he makes his second straight start for the two-win Argos and only his fourth of the season, Franklin has yet to change doubts about his ability as a starter.

It’s why every start he gets, every rep for that matter, looms large for Franklin as he enters free agency this coming off-season.

“It sounds cliché, but kind of being worry-free,” Franklin said about the mindset he must take into games such as Saturday night’s date with the Lions.

As he would explain, the worry free attitude often arrives when he enters games with the team in a deficit.

The key for Franklin is to embrace that mental philosophy as a starter.

Ultimately, he needs to show that he can lead a team as its starter.

They’ll be no reason for the Argos to have anyone not named Franklin line up under centre for any remaining game this season if he plays well, but he must start by having that right mental edge.

“I liked to have that mindset right from the beginning,” he said. “Not thinking that we’re down, but just worry free and thinking: ‘Let’s get a touchdown, let’s get a big play.’ Over the years when I have played well I think the best I had in my mind going for me was worry free and thinking aggressively.”

Not to provide any excuses for Franklin because his play speaks for itself, but he has endured a lot in Toronto, including a hamstring injury in the team’s Week 2 loss in Regina that sidelined him for close to two months.

“I hope not to see two guys,” said head coach Corey Chamblin, who has gone with Franklin since the second half of a loss to Calgary when Mcleod Bethel-thompson was pulled.