When the Ottawa Redblacks released 10 player names from their 45-man negotiation list, seven were quarterbacks.
Two of the QBs Ottawa holds the CFL rights to have started games in the NFL: David Blough, Detroit Lions, and Devlin Hodges, Pittsburgh Steelers. Both men went unselected in the 2019 NFL draft, but each signal caller earned roster spots and due to injuries were elevated to starter roles.
“A guy like a Duck Hodges we’ve had him on our neg list since 2017. So he’s not a guy that we put on there after he surfaced in Pittsburgh,” general manager Marcel Desjardins told TSN 1200 radio in Ottawa.
“If there’s a change over in a staff at a team in the NFL then maybe all of a sudden that quarterback doesn’t fit what they want and all of a sudden he’s a free agent. But until that happens we just need to assume that they’re not and if they do then that’s a bonus.”
Desjardins knows it’s very difficult to tell if any given player on the neg list will potentially come north. Out of the quarterbacks, Kurt Benkart is on injured reserve with the Atlanta Falcons, P.J. Walker is a member of the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks, Kenji Bahar (Monmouth University) and Roland Rivers (Slippery Rock University) just finished their senior seasons in the NCAA and Eric Dungey was released by the Cleveland Browns and is a free agent.
“I would say that’s the case with all the guys on our neg list, there are guys that we’ve had on their for a number of years and we just have to be patient with the process and sometimes it’s hard because you really want these guys,” Desjardins said.
“For the most part you’re not going to get them and eventually you’re going to take them off, that’s just the reality of it. Some of these guys are going to make a lot of money and then coming up to Canada to play for a lot less just doesn’t really appeal to them. I’d say it’s the exception rather than the rule that would happen.”
Dominique Davis, Will Arndt and Ross Comis are the quarterbacks currently under contract for the 2020 with the Redblacks. Perhaps one or more of the neg list pivots become available.
