On November 8, the CFL's moribund Montreal Alouettes fell to an even worse team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who claimed only their third win in eighteen games that season. The Alouettes had led 24-6 in the fourth quarter, but allowed Saskatchewan to rally, force overtime, and take a 30-24 lead behind a touchdown pass from Brett Smith to Weston Dressler (the latter of whom had tried to bolt the league for the Kansas City Chiefs a year earlier, only to be released in the team's final cuts).
Montreal quarterback Brandon Bridge, one of seven quarterbacks to throw a pass for the Alouettes that season, had already thrown for a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions in his first career start, and was given a final opportunity to rally his team thanks to the CFL's NCAA-like overtime rules. However, his final drive stalled ten yards from the end zone. With their victory, Saskatchewan avoided producing the worst season in team history, instead tying their previous worst.
Bridge, however, had indeed made history; that season, he had become the first Canadian quarterback to play in the CFL in five years, and more notably, his start against Saskatchewan made him the first Canadian quarterback to start a game — in the Canadian Football League — since Giulio Caravatta in 1996, and the first black Canadian quarterback to ever start. Bridge was then, and is currently, the only non-American quarterback on a CFL roster. In fact, Bridge, a two-star recruit out of high school, hadn't even chosen to play college football in the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), instead playing for the FCS (within the NCAA) Alcorn State Braves, then the South Alabama Jaguars.
What's with the lack of Canadian-born, Canadian-raised quarterbacks? Former backup quarterback Frank Cosentino, in an interview with Canada.com, notes a so-called "glass ceiling" for Canadian quarterbacks, a general perception (among coaching staffs composed primarily of Americans) that Canadians aren't worth spending time on, while Americans can improve with enough practice.
This lack of patience manifests itself very often in the CFL. A Montreal Gazette article by Herb Zurkowsky points out that CIS quarterbacks are often converted to other positions, and that Montreal, at the time of Bridge's first action, had two such players on its roster: safety Marc-Olivier Brouillette and wide receiver Kyle Graves (who had played QB for the Montreal Carabins and Acadia Axemen, respectively). Brad Sinopoli, once viewed as a promising CFL quarterback prospect, was drafted by Calgary to play his natural position and also eventually converted. "It's probably an unintentional bias," Cosentino is quoted as saying. "Canadian coaches used to say the same thing about American hockey players... The American kid had to work twice as hard to show that they could play. Once they were given the opportunity... [they] turned out to be every bit as good as Canadian hockey players."
Another reason is built into the CFL's protectionist roster system, which outlines certain numbers of "import" (usually American) and "non-import" (Canadian) players — 19 of the former and 20 of the latter. Three more roster spots are dedicated to quarterbacks, who are excluded from the rule. American quarterbacks are generally better trained, and there's no incentive for teams to develop unpolished Canadian players because it doesn't help to fill the non-import requirement. As early as 2010, the CFL was considering changing this rule, but it remains in place to this day.
However, through a new so-called "internship" program, the CFL is currently encouraging the development of non-import quarterbacks. With the CFL's consent, sixteen Canadian quarterbacks, besides the three who had already signed with teams (Bridge, eventually-cut Jordan Yantz, and Andrew Buckley, who was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders but returned to the CIS to play another season), were given non-binding training camp invites that also did not require the teams to use a roster spot. Interestingly, half of these were in Montreal's camp alone.
(The aforementioned Yantz later claimed he wasn't given a fair shot in Winnipeg camp. He said he "was getting between one and three reps the entire practice"; clearly, creating the internship program alone won't be enough to eliminate the institutional bias against non-import QBs.)
If Bridge continues to excel, and if the internship program takes off, and if more Canadian quarterbacks get the chance to play, maybe we could see a change in the trend. But it's likely that the CFL will have to take action and change a rule that provides a real incentive to keep them on the roster throughout the season, not just give them a couple reps in training camp before casting them off forever.
