The Ottawa Redblacks have added American quarterback Kenji Bahar to their negotiation list, per source. This means that the club has the exclusive rights to sign Bahar if he chooses to come to the CFL.
The native of Baltimore, Md. went unselected in the 2020 NFL Draft but signed with his hometown Ravens in 2021, participating in their off-season minicamp. Though he didn’t make the final roster, Bahar has been brought back intermittently by the Ravens as their other quarterbacks have completed stints on the COVID-19 list.
The six-foot-three, 200-pound passer played at the University of Monmouth in New Jersey, competing in the FCS’s Big South Conference. He completed 61.9 percent of his passes over four seasons (2016-19) for 9,642 yards, 70 touchdowns, and 34 interceptions. He also rushed 206 times for 333 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The 24-year-old is currently a free agent.
Ottawa has three quarterbacks under contract for 2022, including Caleb Evans, Devlin Hodges, and Taryn Christion. Veteran passers Matt Nichols and Dominique Davis, who started a combined six games for the Redblacks in 2021, are both pending free agents.
Evans went 2-5 as a starter, completing 59.3 percent of his passes for 1,279 yards, five touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Hodges, who played eight games with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019, started the Ottawa’s penultimate game of the season and completed 36.4 percent of his passes for 90 yards.
