Quarterback injuries: They created exiting storylines last season, but need to be avoided in 2020

Injuries come as a consequence of playing any contact sport, and it’s not uncommon for a player of a rough game like Canadian Football to have to sit out a match from injury. But what if that player was your starting quarterback? And what if it happened throughout the league? The CFL is no stranger to QBs getting injured, but it was completely unexpected that every single team in the league would see a QB injury, be they season-ending – such as for Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli – or short-term – such as in the case of Ottawa’s Dominique Davis. Many fans of the league were quick to blame poor officiating or lackluster O-lines for the string of injuries, but in most cases it just happened to be a play that went wrong.

Frustrating – and in some cases, heartbreaking – as they were, the injuries of CFL QBs created several exciting storylines around secondary quarterbacks that defined the season. Vernon Adams Jr. and Cody Fajardo’s breakout seasons for Montreal and Saskatchewan respectively has likely earned them the starting role for 2020, and Dane Evans of Hamilton led his team to the top of the Grey Cup. And who can forget the comeback of Zach Collaros after his Week 1 injury while playing for Saskatchewan, who overcame injury and endured two trades to win the Grey Cup for Winnipeg after 5 weeks with the team?

However, while they did give the league a lot of excitement, and made several secondaries into big name players, quarterback injuries need to be avoided in 2020. With the successes of QBs such as Adams Jr. and Evans, it’s easy to forget that some secondaries didn’t slot into the role so easily. Edmonton’s Logan Kilgore had 2 wins in 5 weeks at the helm, and Lions secondary Danny O’Brien went 0 for 3, with the performances of both QBs being a deciding factor in knocking their teams out of playoff contention. The fact is, it takes time for a second-string player to adapt to a starting role – even Cody Fajardo, now one of the strongest QBs in the league, only threw for 66 yards after being thrust into the spotlight following Collaros’s injury.

What teams need is the stability that comes with a healthy QB, which was lacking in 2019. A strong receiving corps, killer defence or dynamic running back are all great assets to the team, but none are more valuable than a dependable quarterback that can last the entire season. Additionally, John Chidley-Hill of the Canadian Press argues that QB injuries in 2019 were correlated with an early-season attendance drop , proving that the instability of the loss of a quarterback is a worry for fans too. Both of these things hurt the league in its entirety, causing disorder on the field and in standings, financial uncertainty for team management and drops in interest from fans. A big focus for 2020 has to be in keeping quarterbacks healthy, out of concern for players’ safety and the wellbeing of the league.