Signing Rourke a double-edged sword for B.C Lions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/08/2024 (511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I wrote in this space last week Nathan Rourke created quite the stir across the CFL after being released by the NFL’s New York Giants. On Aug. 1 he signed with the Atlanta Falcons, who released him Aug. 11.

Well, on Tuesday morning, the 26-year-old quarterback turned the league on its head by signing a three-year contract with the B.C. Lions seemingly out of nowhere.

The landing spot isn’t a surprise.

Rourke made a name for himself and took the league by storm in his first full season as the starter in B.C. in 2022. Limited to 10 regular-season games due to an injured foot, he still threw for 3,349 yards and had 25 touchdown passes compared to 10 interceptions — enough to earn the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian award.

It also didn’t hurt Rourke is from B.C., born in Victoria. While he spent the later stages of high school and all of his college football (Ohio) in the U.S., Rourke has been a staunch supporter of the Canadian game, and particularly the Lions organization.

Rourke will make $250,000 for the remainder of the 2024 season, and TSN’s Farhan Lalji is reporting he’ll then become the highest-paid player in the CFL next year, earning $749,000 in 2025 and $809,000 in 2026. Toronto QB Chad Kelly was set to be the league’s highest earner in ‘25, making $625,000 in hard money.

This is certainly news to celebrate on the West coast, as Rourke makes the Lions a top contender to win the Grey Cup in a year they’re hosting the championship game. I can’t imagine fellow Lions QB Vernon Adams Jr., who was the front-runner for Most Outstanding Player until he was sidelined by a knee injury in Week 9, is feeling all that excited right now.

Lions head coach Rick Campbell has said all the right things, the club isn’t trading Adams, Adams is too skilled and too much of a leader to let go. Although that’s true, there’s still no chance B.C. will be able to keep both players next season, at least not with Adams earning around $500,000 per year and being among the best players in the CFL.

In short, something eventually has to give, making for an awkward situation in the Lions’ QB room. I don’t expect any in-house fighting — I see them being great teammates — but since the Lions, like all CFL clubs, are restricted by the league’s salary cap, it doesn’t make any sense to have more than $1 million tied up in a pair of QBs.

In fact, it’s a recipe for disaster.

The only way I see Adams staying with the Lions is if Rourke returns to the NFL. Which may be the entire reason he’s doing this, for a chance to get some more game film, with the hope of returning to the best league in the world and make life-changing money.

That would make a ton of sense. A heck of a lot more than keeping both on the roster.

Now, let’s dig into the league’s other top stories from the week that was in the latest edition of CFL Rundown.

1) It was another banner weekend for the CFL’s command centre after calling a late roughing-the-passer penalty between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Redblacks on what would have been the last play of the game. The call wasn’t wrong — Riders Zakoby McClain did catch Dustin Crum low — but it simply took too long to make.

Coaches and players were headed to the locker room, fans had rushed the field and the broadcast had issued a final score by the time the command centre intervened. Ottawa eventually got the ball back, in what was double OT at the time, and kicked a field goal to finish the game tied 22-22 — the first CFL tie since Week 1 in 2017.

2) The Riders certainly have a case for feeling screwed over. There’s really no rhyme or reason to when the command centre interjects, outside of a score or turnover. They should only be overruling the on-field officials when the missed call is egregious, and while McClain’s hit was illegal according to the letter of the rule, he was driven into Crum by a Redblacks lineman.

Funny enough, Ottawa also felt robbed after a successful challenge by Saskatchewan for defensive pass interference saved the Riders a loss, extending the drive and eventually leading to a tying TD in the first OT. The CFL botched a challenge from Winnipeg on a similar play in Toronto, leading to a pick-6 in a 16-14 loss to the Argonauts in Week 4. I’m told the CFL called the Bombers and admitted its error. This feels like progress in at least they made the right call, even if that won’t make everything right or everyone happy.

3) Redblacks QB Dru Brown was unable to finish the game after taking a low hit. It’s the second time this season Brown has been forced from a game, while the early prognosis is he’ll be back sooner than later, he’s already been ruled out of this week’s match against the Calgary Stampeders.

That opens the door for the return of Jeremiah Masoli, who will get his first taste of game action since suffering a season-ending Achilles injury last year. The Achilles injury came in Masoli’s first game back from a season-ending knee injury he suffered the year before, in what was his first season in Ottawa. I can’t imagine the effort and resilience required to come back from two serious injuries. He’ll be 36 later this month. Here’s hoping Masoli can stay healthy and write his own ending to what’s been an otherwise stellar CFL career.

4) The Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost again, dropping to a league-worst 2-7 after falling 33-23 to the Montreal Alouettes. The biggest news was the benching of QB Bo Levi Mitchell fewer than five minutes into the game after back-to-back giveaways by the offence, including an interception thrown by Mitchell just before he got the hook. Although Mitchell still leads the CFL in passing yards (2,522) and touchdowns (18), Ticats head coach Scott Milanovich is clearly far more concerned with his lack of protecting the ball, with the pick being his league-worst 10 interception.

Taylor Powell took over and while he didn’t win the game, he threw for 319 yards and two TDs, which was good enough for Milanovich to appoint Powell the starter for this week. There’s been some serious tension between Milanovich and Mitchell — did anyone see Milanovich rip into Mitchell on live TV earlier in the year after a missed throw? So we’ll see what happens. At last check, Mitchell posted over the weekend on Instagram a picture of his two young daughters running a lemonade stand, poking fun at losing his job.

5) I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again: the Alouettes remind me a lot of the Bombers in recent years. Never underestimate belief, and the Alouettes have that in spades. A top-ranked defence, an offence that’s finding different ways to win, even without QB Cody Fajardo in the lineup, and dynamic special teams have been the secret sauce.

It’s all brought together by elite coaching from Jason Maas, who like Mike O’Shea in Winnipeg, has surrounded himself with a razor-sharp coaching staff. The Rourke-led Lions changes everything, but the Als are rolling at 8-1, with three more victories than any other club.

6) The Edmonton Elks are on a bit of a heater, winners of two in a row after starting the year 0-7. While the victories have come against the Lions and Riders, two teams currently without their starting QBs, they were also against solid defences, especially the Riders while playing in Saskatchewan.

With the Lions losing three straight, the Riders winless in their last three and the rest of the West Division struggling, the Elks suddenly find themselves within distance of a playoff spot. Of their last nine games, five are against the West, including three games against Calgary and a pair versus Winnipeg, meaning the Elks still very much control their destiny.

7) Speaking of the Elks, they’ve officially been sold, ending their run of being community owned at 75 years. Reports say the new owner is local businessman Larry Thompson.

This has been a long time coming and although it’s sad to see a community lose ownership of the team, the Elks’ board of directors was a complete mess. Thompson should bring not only deep pockets, but also a renewed passion. Which is needed more than anything in Edmonton.

8) Congrats to CFLPA executive director Brian Ramsay on being hired in the same position by the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. Ramsay made big strides in his eight years at the helm, including negotiating collective bargaining agreements in 2019 and 2022, the last of which included revenue sharing and partially guaranteed contracts — both firsts for the CFL.

Ramsay was highly sought after by the PHPA, after being a finalist for the top job with the NHL Players’ Association back in February of 2023.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton