TSN analyst Matt Dunigan has ranked his top three current CFL quarterbacks entering the 2021 season.
Dunigan knows the position well after having played it at a high level in the three-down league. He was a three-time CFL all-star and two-time Grey Cup champion as a player. The five-foot-11, 199-pound CFL on TSN panel member provides his personal list of the elite active QBs.
No. 1) Bo Levi Mitchell, Calgary Stampeders
“Look, it’s hard to go against Bo Levi’s body of work — 77-18-2, an .804 winning percentage. That guy just gets it done, no matter who is around him. Again, he’s going to have a new cast of characters around him this year. Shoulder surgery and a groin that he’s dealing with aside, I’m still putting him at the top of the list.”
No. 2) Michael Reilly, B.C. Lions
“He’s tough as nails — we love him. He got the snot beat out of him in 2019, and he fared well because the extra time off. Michael Reilly got sacked 58 times in 2019, thank God for Kelly Bates, the new offensive line coach.”
“He’s only one of three quarterbacks to throw for over 5,000 yards three years in a row. That’s high company because the other two guys are Doug Flutie and Anthony Calvillo. I like Michael Reilly all day long, he’s going to make you pack a lunch and bring it to the fight because he is going to be fighting until the cows come home and I love that guy.”
No. 3) Jeremiah Masoli, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
“Jeremiah Masoli, he’s my favourite quarterback to watch play the game. He’s exciting, anything can happen, he can make any throw on the football field.”
“He uses his legs extremely well. Not so much to move the sticks but to buy time and put pressure on the defensive secondary to cover longer. What typically happens is with his excellent receivers, they find big chunks and big plays all the time.”
“Jeremiah is my third guy on that list.”
Dunigan expanded on the starting-calibre quarterbacks he has ranked below Mitchell, Reilly and Masoli.
“It’s no offence to McLeod Bethel-Thompson who is a warrior himself, Matt Nichols or Trevor Harris, but those guys melt my butter,” Dunigan said.
“If you go back to 2019, what it provided for us was a glimpse into our future, and it’s bright as far as our young helmsman go. We had some veterans go down and we saw some youngsters step up.”
“I’m talking about Dane Evans going 12-2. You’ve got Cody Fajardo, who stepped in after play three in the first game, he goes 12-4. And then you got Vernon Adams Jr. who picked up Montreal and went 10-5. And then you got Nick Arbuckle in place of Bo Levi who went down, he goes 4-3.”
“Our future is bright in the Canadian Football League as far as our young quarterbacks go, but I’m going back to those veterans.”
Dunigan chose proven over potential for the best quarterbacks in the CFL.
