This fall's most interesting QB controversy may be in the CFL

With the start of both NCAA and NFL football’s regular seasons looming, there are sure to be plenty of quarterback controversies in the coming weeks and months. But one league that’s already in the middle of its season might have the most interesting one. That would be the Canadian Football League, where the B.C. Lions sparked incredible debate amongst CFL fans Tuesday by signing already-record-breaking quarterback Nathan Rourke:

The controversy here is because B.C. now has two remarkable quarterbacks. Their starter to begin this year was CFL veteran Vernon Adams Jr., and he put up great numbers through the team’s first eight games and helped them to a 5-1 start. On the year, he has 167 completions on 259 attempts for 2,469 yards (the second-highest yardage total in the CFL) with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. And he was looking like a strong candidate for the league’s Most Outstanding Player award (if not the favourite) before an Aug. 1 knee injury that has him out week-to-week.

Meanwhile, Rourke previously played in the CFL from 2021 to 2022. That came following an impressive college career with Fort Scott Community College and then in the MAC at Ohio University. (He actually was drafted in the second round of the CFL Draft (of Canadian players) by B.C. in 2020, the highest quarterback chosen there since Jesse Palmer in 2001, but the 2020 CFL season was cancelled due to COVID-19.) In 2021, Rourke mostly served as a backup to Mike Reilly, but did well in limited stints, including starting the Lions’ final regular-season game. That paved the way for quite a change in 2022.

That year, Rourke entered the season as B.C.’s starter following Reilly’s retirement, and he immediately lit the league on fire. The 2022 season saw him set the CFL single-season completion percentage record with a mark of 78.7 percent, finishing with 255 completions on 324 attempts for 3,449 yards with 25 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. And he was on pace to set many more records before an August Lisfranc injury derailed his year. He did come back for their last regular-season game and their run to the West Final, though, and in that overall 2022 season, he was not just the best Canadian quarterback in the CFL, but probably the league’s best quarterback overall that year (on a per-game basis rather than a season-stats basis).

Following that season, Rourke went the route of many CFL players in trying to catch on in the NFL. He worked out with seven teams, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, underwent foot surgery, was cut, but caught on on their practice squad. He had two short activations to the active roster that fall, then got claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots, then spent brief time with the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons. And now he’s headed back to the CFL, and in a major quarterback controversy.

The first question may be how quickly Rourke can get up to speed with his new/old team and their playbook, as they’re desperately in need of quick quarterback help . Adams’ injury came in an Aug. 1 game B.C. eventually lost 25-0; he threw for just 74 yards in that game, and backup Jake Dolegala only attempted three passes, completing just one.

Dolegala started for the Lions last week against the Edmonton Elks, but completed just 14 of 23 passes for 143 yards in a 33-16 loss (to a team that was just 1-7 going into that game). Backup Chase Brice went four-for-four in mop-up duty, but there’s little reason to have major confidence in either so far.

Thus, B.C. would undoubtedly like to get Rourke playing as soon as possible. But as he’s only joining the team Wednesday, and coming in after one and a half years in a completely separate league with wildly-different rules (the CFL has many differences from American football, including three downs, unlimited pre-snap motion, a bigger field), he may not be ready to start their next game Sunday against Winnipeg.

Of course, it’s very helpful that Rourke’s returning to his previous team, and one with a lot of continuity from his last stint there. The Lions still have head coach/co-general manager Rick Campbell, co-GM Neil McEvoy, offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic, and three other offensive assistants all still in their 2022 roles. Thus, there’s definitely some familiarity here, and the playbook likely hasn’t changed dramatically. But a quick turnaround for a QB is hard enough with intraleague moves; it’s much more difficult with a shift to a league playing a different kind of football entirely.

Beyond the immediate game Sunday, the larger picture here is about what this means for B.C. and for Adams. It seems highly likely the Lions’ plan is to go to Rourke as soon as he’s ready, and that could mean Adams is on the trading block. But that’s an interesting problem on a number of levels; there’s no guarantee Rourke will quickly be as effective in this CFL stint as he was in 2022, and another recent returning star QB (2022 Grey Cup champion McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who came back to the league with the Elks this year after time in the UFL) lost his starting job recently after struggles.

The Lions may need to move Adams if they want to play Rourke, both to avoid a discontented QB on the bench and to stay under the league’s salary cap. But trading him could set a competing team up for a lot of success. And while going from Adams to Rourke may be popular with many given how well Rourke played in 2022, there are also certainly some who will support Adams given his play this year and last, and given the “You shouldn’t lose your job to injury” idea. So there are definitely significant potential controversies here along several dimensions.

And that’s before we get to Rourke’s nationality. A massive part of the discussion around him is that he’s a Canadian quarterback. The CFL’s roster rules have long mandated spots for Canadian players (formerly called “non-imports” versus “imports,” since 2021 called “nationals” versus “Americans,” with spots also reserved for global players), but until 2019, quarterbacks’ nationalities weren’t counted. That meant that few top Canadian quarterbacks ever got a chance in the CFL. But under the since-2019 rule , a Canadian quarterback can count towards a team’s mandated eight national starters (one of which can be a “nationalized American” veteran) and mandated 21 national active roster players. So Rourke brings roster flexibility as well.

Beyond that, too, there’s a huge potential surge in fan interest around a Canadian quarterback. The last pre-Rourke Canadian quarterback to find sustained CFL success was Russ Jackson, who retired after winning the 1969 Grey Cup. So it’s been quite a while. And some of the appeal around Rourke’s run in 2022 was about his nationality. So it will be interesting to see how that all plays out here.

Moreover, this November will see B.C. host the CFL’s championship game, the Grey Cup. So there’s even more pressure on the team to find immediate success this season. And that adds some further dimensions to the Rourke and Adams story. A lot of Canadian media and fan eyes will be on Vancouver this week and beyond to see how the Lions handle this.

The post This fall’s most interesting QB controversy may be in the CFL appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions .