REGINA — It’s safe to say that longtime sports broadcaster Arash Madani didn’t have a ton of confidence in veteran quarterback Dru Brown emerging as the Ottawa Redblacks’ starter this past spring.
In fact, during one of his Coast to Coast segments on the SportsCage at the start of Canadian Football League training camps, Madani was one of the voices who figured Brown was on borrowed time in Ottawa with the signing of free agent pivot and former Roughriders quarterback Jake Maier.
Fast forward a couple months’ time, and wouldn’t you know it…
The Redblacks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced earlier this week that Brown had been traded to Winnipeg for first- and second-round draft picks, bringing an end to what had been a tumultuous tenure in Canada’s capital city.
The crux of the situation was Maier landing the starting quarterback job out of training camp, something that immediately caused issues with a team that’s desperately trying to get their situation at pivot sorted out.
“Isn't it fascinating that right now, there's been great quarterback play in eight of the nine teams, and it's the usual suspect that's just still a mess with its quarterback situation?” Madani asked during his conversation with SportsCage’s Barney Shynkaruk. “My understanding of the whole situation there is that when they told Dru Brown that Jake Maier was getting the starting job, a day or two later he went to them and said, ‘I want out of here’.”
That put the Redblacks in a quandary — what do you do with someone who doesn’t want to be there, but you’ve already invested quite a bit of money in? With an outright release a financial detriment to the team, Ottawa general manager and head coach Ryan Dinwiddie decided to shop Brown around, with Winnipeg finally taking the bite on their former player.
Interestingly enough, even while camp was happening, the Redblacks had their doubts when it came to their incumbent starter.
“I was told way back in training camp they had already started conversations with McLeod Bethel-Thompson, just to see where he's at, what's going on,” Madani said. “Then when the first round pick came from Winnipeg, that's when they pulled the trigger on the trade… If a dude doesn't want to be there and you're publicly admitting he's a little bit of a distraction, I'm not a mathematician, but that formula A plus B equals ticking time bomb in the locker room. And it's time to get that out.”
Not long after the Brown trade, the Redblacks announced they had signed Bethel-Thompson, who was a free agent after suiting up with the Montreal Alouettes last season.
Brown — who passed for 2,389 yards over 11 games last season, recording 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions — rejoins the team he began his career with, having played in Winnipeg from 2021 through 2023.
And his arrival instantly creates another quarterback controversy, with the big question being who gets the call if de facto starter Zach Collaros goes down with an injury — Brown, or Collaros’ heir apparent in Taylor Elgersma.
Madani pointed to Elgersma’s potential development behind Collaros being potentially similar to how Trey Ford is improving behind Bo-Levi Mitchell in Hamilton, and questioned how Brown fits into all that.
“Elgersma to me is the quarterback of the future, but is Dru Brown an insurance policy?” Madani queried. “I don't understand how Dreu Brown was looked at so favorably in Winnipeg and when he went to Ottawa, he seemingly wasn't the same person. So I'm just intrigued to see what happens there. But to me, Elgersma's still all system, all signs point to Elgersma being the quarterback of the future with the Bombers.”
Meanwhile, the Redblacks are left with Maier, who has the same number of interceptions as touchdowns at this point of the season, and McLeod-Thompson, who was out of the CFL a few days ago.
It’s all part of a quarterback quandary that’s plagued Ottawa ever since they let a certain rugged veteran walk over a contract dispute.
“If we really want to turn back the clock, where the Ottawa Redblacks franchise completely went off the rails, is you win a Grey Cup with [CFL legend Henry] Burris, Burris retires, Trevor Harris is your quarterback, Trevor Harris leads you to a Grey Cup, you end up losing to Calgary and Edmonton. And after that, over a few thousand dollars in a contract negotiation, you're like ‘we're going to move on from Trevor Harris’. And what has gone on since?”
Madani had plenty more to chat about with The SportsCage crew, and you can check out the whole segment below:
