What if Blue had brain?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/10/2013 (4384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — So? How do you like Kevin Glenn now?

The quarterback who the Winnipeg Blue Bombers seem to love to hate more than any other is having a career season of sorts for the Calgary Stampeders in 2013, raising — once again — that maddening “what if?” question as it pertains to Glenn and the Bombers.

To wit: What if the Bombers had taken the Stampeders up on their offer last winter of trading Glenn to Winnipeg in exchange for a measly second-round draft pick?

Bombers fans will get to see what that might have looked like up close at McMahon Stadium today, when Glenn gets the start for his league-leading 10-3 Stampeders against the lowly 2-11 Bombers in what might be the worst mismatch of the 2013 CFL season.

History has recorded, of course, the Bombers declined Calgary’s offer of Glenn for a second-rounder — and then promptly flushed that pick down the toilet in May with an off-the-board selection of a Concordia defensive back named Kris Robertson, who shredded his ACL in May and never made it as far as training camp.

And Glenn? Well, Glenn’s numbers this season say it all: 148-of-218, 1,729 yards, 12 TDs, five interceptions and a career-high QB rating of 100.5.

Revolving door

That kind of performance is, of course, leaps and bounds above anything mustered by the revolving door of QBs the Bombers have trotted out this season. Indeed, Glenn’s 12 TD passes are four more than the entire Bombers offence has mustered this season — and Glenn’s work has come in an abbreviated season in which he’s had to share playing time with both Drew Tate and Bo Levi Mitchell.

Now, if all these “what if” questions surrounding Glenn sound familiar to a Bombers fan, they should.

A five-year Bomber veteran who helped lead Winnipeg to the 2007 Grey Cup game, Glenn was run out of Winnipeg prior to the 2009 season by a new head coach in Mike Kelly, who had a new franchise quarterback in Stefan LeFors.

LeFors, of course, proved to be an unmitigated disaster for the Bombers, which in turn begat the mitigated disaster that was the Buck Pierce years, which in turn begat the utter debacle that has been 2013.

And Glenn? Well, Glenn has done nothing less than post the four best QB ratings of his 13-year CFL career in the four-plus seasons since he left Winnipeg.

And while it is true he continues to throw a few too many interceptions — he’s thrown 62 interceptions compared to 102 TDs since 2009 — his numbers by almost any measure would have been an improvement on what Winnipeg has thrown out on the field as a QB the last four years.

All of which creates an interesting decision for the Bombers this coming off-season.

‘That’s a question I can’t answer right now. Nobody knows what the future might hold. Let’s leave it at that’

— Calgary QB Kevin Glenn on the possibility of returning to Winnipeg

League sources indicate that barring something unforeseen, the Stampeders have already decided to protect Mitchell in the dispersal draft that will take place this winter to stockpile a new CFL franchise in Ottawa next year.

That will once again put Glenn back on the open market — and at the same time, the Bombers will be looking for both a bona fide starter and, preferably, also a seasoned backup QB.

Glenn, of course, could fit both roles nicely. But, given all the water under the bridge, would he want to?

Glenn said Friday he has no hard feelings towards the Bombers, something that wasn’t always the case.

“That might have been when I first left Winnipeg, when I was young,” said Glenn with a laugh. “But now, I’m more mature. And I’ve always told guys I’m not a vengeful person… That’s not me.”

Yeah, but would you come back? “That’s a question I can’t answer right now,” Glenn replied. “Nobody knows what the future might hold. Let’s leave it at that.”

The Bombers have “left it at that” when it came to Glenn a couple of times now. And lived to regret it.

They’ll get yet another chance today to see up close what might have been.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca