Bridge deal for Bridge

REGINA — Brandon Bridge is capable of extending a play as well as a contract.

The 25-year-old QB’s athleticism is one reason why the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders were amenable to consummating a oneyear bridge deal,which was announced Wednesday.

That being done, the emphasis will be on refining the game of Bridge to the point where he is more reliable on a play-to-play, series-byseries basis.

“My big-play ability can get us in some great opportunities,” Bridge said on Wednesday, “but it can also put us in second-and-forever.”

At this point, nobody knows when (or if) the CFL will amend its rules so that they are favourable for a Canadianborn QB such as Bridge.

As it stands, teams are allowed to dress three quarterbacks of any nationality. Therefore, the Roughriders did not derive any ratio-related benefits from playing Bridge when he stood in for Kevin Glenn last season.

Bridge maintains, and logically so, that a Canadian quarterback should count against the ratio when he plays. That point was reinforced Monday during his half-hour meeting with CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

Ambrosie plans to discuss the matter with the CFL Players’ Association. The league and the CFLPA will also have to get together on negotiations toward a new collective-bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires after the 2018 season.

“It is a real positive to get Brandon under contract for next season so we can continue to build with our core group of players,” Riders head coach, GM and VP of football operations Chris Jones said in a media release. “Brandon is a good, young quarterback who has shown a lot of growth.”