REGINA – It was back at the end of the 2018 season that the Ottawa Redblacks had to make a major decision when it came to dealing with their franchise quarterback.
Their starting pivot was coming off a career-best, record-setting season that had carried them all the way to the Grey Cup. But when contract negotiations came around, he apparently wanted a slightly bigger signing bonus, one worthy of someone who came a single win away from winning a CFL championship.
Ottawa general manager Marcel Dejardins said no.
The Redblacks have made the playoffs only once since, with the lack of a franchise QB the defining factor in those struggles.
And as for the quarterback who decided to walk rather than take less money? Well, one Trevor Harris seems to be doing just fine for himself these days with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Justin Dunk of 3DownNation recently broke down the entirety of Ottawa’s quarterback follies since Harris’ departure, including the record of all 13 – thirteen – of the quarterbacks that have played for the team in the eight years since, and the lack of success is astonishing.
Ottawa has finished with four or fewer wins every season other than the 2024 campaign, where they posted a 9-8-1 record and barely snuck into the postseason.
Harris, meanwhile, has led Edmonton, Montreal and Saskatchewan to multiple playoff runs since, including the Grey Cup win last fall that saw him named the game’s MVP.
That all led to a conversation on the SportsCage with Arash Madani earlier this week, where he expressed dismay at Ottawa letting Harris walk over the reported $5,000 in signing bonus money — while offering a rather unique solution to their ongoing problem.
“If you're serious about being a real football franchise, which they have not shown that they are for 10 years now, but if you're serious as a football franchise… you offer Chad Kelly whatever the number is salary-wise,” Madani said. “You provide Chad Kelly and his partner and their child a house. You provide Chad Kelly with an off-season job. You provide Chad Kelly's partner with whatever gig she wants. And you let everybody know now we are putting all our eggs in the middle of the table.”
Madani went on to say that the situation is so bad at the moment that eating all the fines and penalties the CFL can muster is worth it just to get back to some semblance of respectability.
“What are we going to do? Take a $10,000 fine? Be stripped of a third-round draft pick for tampering?” Madani said. “Who cares? We haven't had a quarterback for 10 years. Our team's a disaster. This is not about the salary cap. We are just going to blatantly do whatever it takes to finally get a real quarterback here because there's no other way that we can be competitive. Because otherwise, you're just fooling yourselves. “
You can check out the entirety of Madani’s segment below:
