Quarterback of the Future

With the trade for Henry Burris, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are set at Quarterback for the next year or two.

But what about the beyond that?

Henry Burris is 36, and is not the long-term answer at Quarterback. Kevin Glenn, who was traded for Burris, is 32 and could have been with the team longer than Burris, but with 11 years under his belt, he was not the answer either.

The Tabbies have two guys on their roster that could be ready to ascend the throne, in Quinton Porter and Jason Boltus. But Porter, at 29, has been given ample opportunity to seize the starting role over the last couple of season and has yet to do so. Boltus has seen very little playing time and is therefore a complete unknown.

There has been talk of Boise State superstar Kellen Moore coming to Hamilton. He is currently on Hamilton's negotiation list, which means that the Cats have the first shot at bringing Moore's immense talents north of the border. Moore is thought of as a mid-to-late round draft choice in the NFL, so his football future is currently up in the air. If Moore is not selected in the NFL Draft, or if he gets cut during Training Camp, he could find his way onto Hamilton's practice roster.

Moore had an undeniably stellar career at Boise State, and is unarguably the best Quarterback that school has ever had. Moore led the Broncos to a 50-3 record in his four seasons as the starter, which is a feat that is likely not to be matched by any Quarterback at any school. He also put up incredible stats and finished in the top 10 in Heisman voting the last three seasons.

But does his NCAA success mean he's destined for CFL success? If recent history is any indication, the answer is no.

Over the past few seasons, the top Quarterback to come from a major college program is probably Darian Durant, who went to North Carolina, which is hardly known as a football factory. Drew Tate went to Iowa, but his CFL career is in its infancy and it is too soon to tell if he will be a success. Adrian McPherson went to Florida State (alma mater of CFL Hall of Famer Danny McManus), but had a less than stellar collegiate career that will best be remembered for him getting kicked off the Seminoles. Jarious Jackson has carved out a nice career for himself, but he's spent most of his time being a backup. And of course there is Quinton Porter, who went to Boston College.

However, the vast majority of Quarterbacks who arrive in the CFL do not even reach the heights of a Quinton Porter. The list of failed big-time college Quarterbacks is a lot longer. Chris Leak won a National Championship while at Florida, but flamed out when given a chance to start for the Montreal Alouettes in 2010. Timmy Chang came to the CFL as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards, but looked completely lost when he took the field for the Tiger-Cats.

But those guys are successes compared to players like Graham Harrell, Todd Reesing, Bryan Randall, Tyler Palko and Cody Pickett. All of whom either never made it off the practice squad (or out of Training Camp) or played so sparingly or poorly that there CFL careers were over almost before they began.

Winnipeg has two Quartebacks that played at BCS programs – Joey Elliott at Purdue and Alex Brink at Washington State – but neither of those guys did much during their college careers. Both have looked promising in their limited time on the field, but it is way too soon to tell if either will take the next step.

Then there are the two players that have the most in common with Moore: his predecessors at Boise State, Jared Zabransky and Ryan Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie is still best remembered for making his first start for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup back in 2007, and Zabransky was given the chance to unseat Ricky Ray in Edmonton and failed to do so. Zabransky is now out of the league, while Dinwiddie is currently a backup in Saskatchewan.

The path from NCAA stardom to CFL starter is not an easy one. Kellen Moore has all the tools to succeed on either side of the border, but the same has been said about countless players who amounted to less than nothing in their professional careers.

Is Kellen Moore the "Quarterback of the Future" for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats if he decides to ply his trade in the CFL? Maybe. But history suggests it is not a slam dunk.

Khari Jones Off to Saskatchewan

Less than a year ago, Khari Jones was named the Offensive Coordinator of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He will not be in that role in 2012, as he has been named the Quarterback Coach for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Jones's first year as a coordinator provided mixed results. There were times when the Offense looked unstoppable and other times when it looked like they didn't know the difference between a football and a baseball. A perfect example of that is their play in the two playoff games: near flawless in victory over the Alouettes and completely inept in defeat at the hands of the Blue Bombers.

With a new Head Coach coming in – soon? – it was unlikely that Jones would return in the same capacity with the team in 2012. Jones has a lot of potential, and it showed in spurts during the 2011 season. I would have preferred to see him continue to grow in the roll with the Tiger-Cats, but I'm not surprised he is moving elsewhere.

The Cats are now need to fill both coordinator positions, as well as name a Head Coach. The list of candidates for all those positions are dwindling by the day – not to mention, Winnipeg is still in need of a new Offensive Coordinator – so the Ti-Cats can ill-afford to dillydally any longer. It's time to pick someone move on to other business. Hopefully a decision comes down before the end of the week, but with how long it has taken them so far, I will not be holding my breath.

Thank You, Kevin Glenn

Meeting Kevin Glenn for the first time back in 2010

If you are a Tiger-Cat fan (as I assume most of the people reading this will be), you remember how dreadful the franchise was from 2005 to 2008. It was a terrible time to be a fan of the Black & Gold, with the losses piling up and the wins few and far between.

When the 2009 season started, no one thought much of Hamilton. They had a young Quarterback in Quinton Porter and a new Head Coach in Marcel Bellefeuille. The Tiger-Cats were expected to struggle, and when the team lost at home on opening day to the Argonauts, it felt like the same old story would play out.

The season was up and down, but following a miserable Thanksgiving Day showing against the Blue Bombers, the decision was made to pull the plug on the Porter experiment and hand the reins over to Kevin Glenn. The Tiger-Cats would go 3-1 down the stretch and secure their first home playoff game since 2001.

Glenn was named the starter entering 2010 and he played Quarterback better than almost anyone in Tiger-Cat history. Over 5,000 yards through the air and a team record 33 touchdown passes, Glenn once again led the Tiger-Cats into the playoffs; their first back-to-back trips to the post season in a decade.

The 2011 season saw a decrease in the stat and win columns, yet Hamilton still advanced to their first East Division Final in 10 years, and defeated the Montreal Alouettes in Montreal in an epic clash in the East Division Semi-Final.

Glenn was one of a handful of key players that helped take the Tiger-Cats out of the East Division basement and turn them into a perennial playoff team. Considering where the team was before he arrived, his tenure with the Tiger-Cats is a success in my eyes. Glenn may not have guided the team to the Promised Land, but he did more than any Quarterback since Danny McManus, and the list of Quarterback saviours post-McManus is not a short one.

If not for Glenn's arrival, the Tiger-Cats probably do not have the success they have enjoyed over the last three seasons. While the ultimate goal eluded both Glenn and the team, he leaves the franchise in much better shape than when he arrived.

I will fondly remember Glenn's years in Black & Gold because he helped rejuvenate a fan base that had become accustomed to nothing but meaningless games after Labour Day. Glenn, along with a host of other players, brought respectability back to football in Hamilton.

As Glenn leaves for Calgary, I'd like to say thank you.

Thank you, Kevin Glenn, for the three wonderful seasons.

Thank you, Kevin Glenn, for doing everything you could to make this team a winner.

Thank you, Kevin Glenn, for being a player I was proud to call a Hamilton Tiger-Cat.

Thank you, Kevin Glenn. Best of luck in Calgary.

Burris to TigerTown, Glenn to Cowtown

The Quarterback change that some fans have been clamouring for is on the verge of happening, as Henry Burris is being sent to Hamilton in exchange for Kevin Glenn and Mark Dewit.

I have made no secret of my feelings on Burris coming and Glenn leaving, so it's obvious I don't agree with this trade. But instead of restating an argument I've already made, there are others reasons why I think this is not a good trade.

First, the Cats gave up too much. A straight-up Burris-for-Glenn swap would have been more palatable than dealing Glenn and Dewit. Handing Calgary a good, young, Canadian player – and one that filled in admirably for one of the best Centres in the CFL in Marwan Hage when the latter was lost for the season in September – is not the type of move a team that had ratio problems should make. Dewit proved in 2011 that he can play, and Hage is closer to the end than the beginning. Trading Dewit makes no sense.

The second problem is Hamilton will now have to pay Burris a lot more than it was paying Glenn. Why Hamilton didn't wait until Burris was eventually released – and we all know that Burris's days in Calgary were numbered, but that was solidified when Drew Tate signed a contract extension last week – and sign him at a much more financially sensible number? Rumours are that Burris makes somewhere between $400,000 to $450,000, which means Burris's salary will take up almost 1/10th of the league's $4.3-million salary cap per team. That's a huge chunk. Perhaps Burris has agreed to a pay cut, but he wasn't willing to do that for Calgary, so what are the chances he'd be willing to do it for Hamilton?

There seems to have been no rush to make this change. The team still doesn't have a Head Coach, so it's not like Burris will have a system to learn right away, so waiting another month (when Burris is owed a bonus by the Stamps that they were probably not going to pay) wouldn't have been a detriment. Making a move now seems unnecessary. Another 30 days wouldn't have hurt the team, and may have helped them by getting to negotiate a deal with Burris at a much more attractive number.

With a new Head Coach and Quarterback, the pressure will be on for Hamilton to win it all in 2012. Anything less than a Grey Cup championship will have to be viewed as a complete failure. These are the type of moves teams make to get them over the proverbial hump, so unless Burris and whomever the Head Coach is takes the Cats beyond the East Final, the moves, especially at Quarterback, will have been pointless. Burris, who will be 37 before the 2012 season starts, is not the long-term answer at Quarterback, so this is a win-now move.

Now we just have to wait for things to be made official, but it looks like Burris is headed to Steeltown.

The Cortez Assumption

The calendar has turned to 2012 and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are still the lone CFL franchise without a Head Coach. The main reason most people believe the Cats have not hired anyone is because they are wishing to interview and/or hire current Buffalo Bills Quarterback Coach George Cortez, which they could not do before the NFL season ended.

Cortez would probably make a very good Head Coach. He has experience – both in the CFL and elsewhere – and success – where he was on the staff of four Grey-Cup-championship squads in Calgary – on his résumé. He is the type of coach the team could sell as an upgrade over Marcel Bellefeuille.

The one assumption is that Cortez will be available because Bills Head Coach Chan Gailey could be fired. The Bills started the season 5-2, but ended the season a disappointing 6-10 and in last place in the AFC East. The belief is that late-season swoon will cost Gailey his job.

But there are a couple of problems with that mode of thinking. First, there has been no talk of Gailey losing his job. None. It seems to be CFL writers and fans that think the Bills' failures will get Gailey fired. It has not been a topic that has come up amongst NFL writers or insiders. None of the lists of coaches on the hot seat that I have seen have included Gailey. Not one.

Secondly, NFL coaches generally get three years to turn a losing team around. Gailey just finished his second season in Buffalo, which means he will probably get at least one more season to try to get the Bills to the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season.

Finally, Bills Owner Ralph Wilson is a pretty patient man. He doesn't fire coaches willy-nilly. The Bills have had five coaches since Marv Levy handed in the headset in 1997, but only one coach lasted less than three seasons (Mike Mularky) and he left of his own accord following his second season. (This list doesn't included Perry Fewell, who took over on an interim basis after Dick Juron was fired mid-season in 2009.)

The above points do not preclude Cortez from becoming the next Head Coach of the Tiger-Cats, but history suggests that it will not be due to Gailey's firing. Fans holding out hope that Cortez will be a free man, thus able to come to Hamilton, should temper those expectations. If Cortez is to become the Tiger-Cats next Head Coach it will be because he wants to, not because his boss in Buffalo was shown the door.