Will QB-go-round bring Reilly to B.C.?
CFL’s 2017 Most Outstanding Player, a free agent, is being targeted by Lions’ GM Hervey
First, a history lesson:
If you believe the CFL is heading into uncharted waters with a handful of quarterbacks about to change teams this off-season then, brother, you’ve never heard of the Shreveport Pirates.
Back in 1996, the CFL’s failed expansion into the United States let loose forces that led to virtually every starting quarterback changing teams.
Matt Dunigan went from the late Birmingham Barracudas to Hamilton; Damon Allen went all the way from Memphis to the Lions; David Archer from San Antonio to Ottawa; Tracy Ham migrated north with the reincarnated Montreal Alouettes; Danny McManus went from the Lions to Edmonton; Kent Austin from Toronto to Winnipeg and Doug Flutie, the best player in CFL history, landed in Toronto after Calgary owner Larry Ryckman ran afoul of the Alberta Exchange Commission.
Yes, it was a different time. Anyone out there remember Oasis?
So this year, pfft. There’s only five, maybe six quarterbacks who’ll potentially change teams but there is one who’s of interest to the B.C. Lions. True, there are about 38 moving parts in this story — little things like a new CBA and a few other intrigues — but when you strip away all the extraneous guck, you keep coming back to the same place.
Mike Reilly will be the B.C. Lions’ starting quarterback next season. And if he isn’t, GM Ed Hervey had better have a hell of a Plan B in place.
Admittedly, this prediction doesn’t qualify as a blinding revelation because, since the midpoint of last season, it became obvious the Lions were moving on from Jonathon Jennings and targeting Reilly as their main man.
Reilly, for starters, has a history with Hervey that goes back to the 2013 trade that sent the Central Washington product from the Lions to Edmonton, where Hervey was the GM.
Vancouver is also closer to Reilly’s Seattle home. And there’s a close relationship with Travis Lulay that factors in there somewhere, even though Lulay’s own future with the Lions is unclear.
One other thing to consider: Reilly is just two season’s removed from being the CFL’s MOP so you might say he fills a positional need.
Now, under ordinary circumstances, this whole matter would likely be resolved in a couple of weeks when the league’s free-agency season kicks off on Feb. 12. The problem there is this off-season represents anything but ordinary circumstances, which is why the Reilly story might still be months away from a conclusion.
The CFL’s existing CBA with the players’ union expires in May, just before the start of training camps and this negotiation sets up as a game changer for the league and its players.
Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has stated his goal is to double league revenues from a reported $210 million annually to $420 million. That’s a noble ambition and, to support his cause, Ambrosie figures to have a new franchise operating in the Maritimes by 2021 as well as initiatives in place to bring the CFL brand to Mexico and Europe.
The problem there, as Drew Edwards pointed out on the 3-Down Nation website, is player salaries last year accounted for only 22 per cent of league revenues.
The PA will be looking to change that in these negotiations. The league, for its part, is thought to be taking a long, hard look at the player ratio that guarantees Canadians seven starting jobs and 21 spots on a CFL roster.
As things stand now, the highest-paid players (non-quarterback division) aren’t necessarily the league’s best players but experienced Canadian starters.
This is in keeping with the laws of supply and demand and the league is interested in increasing the supply of players, irrespective of their passport. To sell this, Ambrosie will point to the new franchise and the jobs it represents for all CFLers.
At least that’s the league’s position. Just not sure if the CFLPA sees things the same way.
Now, it’s unclear how the uncertainty over the CBA will impact this year’s class of free agents. At the conclusion of the regular season, there were 322 CFL players who were headed into free agency and, to date, only a handful have signed with their existing teams.
The biggest name thus far is old friend Adam Bighill re-upping with Winnipeg but that quarterback class — which includes Reilly, Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell, Ottawa’s Trevor Harris, Saskatchewan’s Zach Collaros and Jennings — is still out there.
Will they wait until May to see what a new CBA brings? Maybe. But it’s also doubtful the new world order will drastically change the pay scale for elite quarterbacks.
Reilly, Mitchell and Harris are going to get paid — $500,000, $600,000, $650,000, whatever — regardless of the new CBA. That leaves other factors to consider and, again, the Lions tick a lot of boxes for Reilly.
The wild card here is Calgary. Mitchell currently is working out for NFL teams and it could be the Stamps won’t wait for that process to play out. They are the defending Grey Cup champions. For the 34-year-old Reilly, they represent the best chance to win right away.
That means Hervey will have to sell the quarterback on his vision for the Lions. He did it once, five years ago when Reilly was a backup who’d just been acquired by the Eskimos. With considerably more at stake this time, we’ll see if Hervey is still convincing.