New Argos coach Corey Chamblin declines to name starting quarterback

Corey Chamblin did not name a starting quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts at his introductory press conference.

That’s a much different approach than the one adopted by his predecessor Marc Trestman, who said on his first day on the job that Ricky Ray was the No. 1 QB for Toronto. Ray would go on to lead the team to a Grey Cup title in 2017. The Argos have James Franklin and McLeod Bethel-Thompson under contract for the 2019 season.

After Ray – a pending free agent – went down with a year-ending injury in Week 2 last season, Franklin went 1-3 as the starter, then the Argos promoted Bethel-Thompson to the top QB spot going 2-6 over his eight starts completing 65 per cent of his passes for 2,007 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Franklin was reinstalled in Week 18 and finished the season 2-6 as the starter throwing for 2,034 yards, eight touchdowns against nine interceptions while completing 65 per cent of his attempts. The 27-year-old rushed 78 times for 365 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“When we look at that position right there, we have two young guys on the roster right now and those guys have shown some things last year to where they’ve shown that they can be elite in some games and then there’s other games where they have not. I think they would agree with that,” Chamblin said.

“So for me to sit and name a starter today I can’t do that and I think that’s fair to them. That’s fair to the organization, fair to the players around them. We’re going to start from ground one and we’re going to earn everything.”