Scott Milanovich has played and coached the quarterback position at the NFL level and envisions a bright future for Nathan Rourke following the Canadian’s first full season in the league.
“I watched him play some in the preseason and I thought he did an amazing job. The hardest thing is to get your foot in the door and he did that, then you gotta catch a break,” Milanovich said.
“I was in the NFL for four years and in my second game ever against Detroit — this was back when they kept three guys on the active roster — both the starter and the backup got hurt and I was in. I was like, ‘I’m gonna play all the time.’ I never played another snap in four years.”
“He didn’t catch his break yet, so what he has to do is just stick around long enough till he catches his break and then he’s got to run with it. I look at it thinking it was an extremely successful season for him because he got his foot in the door. Obviously, somebody else wanted him. Bill Belichick wanted him, so I think that’s a positive.”
Rourke has a lot of respect for Belichick who has helped lead the Patriots to six Super Bowl championships. The 71-year-old brought in the six-foot-one, 210-pound QB because he liked his production in the CFL and NFL preseason. Belichick has noted his work ethic since arriving in New England.
Rourke spent the first 15 weeks of the season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, though he never saw action behind Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Beathard. Coincidentally, Lawrence suffered a shoulder injury the week after Rourke was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots, which would have made Rourke the team’s primary backup for Week 17.
The Victoria, B.C. native was New England’s primary backup behind Bailey Zappe for the team’s regular-season finale against the New York Jets on Sunday but didn’t see any action. Zappe completed 12-of-30 pass attempts for 88 yards and two interceptions in snowy conditions during a 17-3 loss to finish the season with a 4-13 record.
Milanovich worked alongside Jacksonville offensive coordinator Press Taylor in 2021 while coaching with the Indianapolis Colts. He understands how complicated Taylor’s scheme is and thinks it’s positive that Rourke was able to spend a year learning how to be an NFL quarterback.
“It’s difficult and getting a year under your belt to sit and learn the league and defences and things that they do and the pressures, they do so much more down there. In the CFL, we ask the centre to do most of that stuff. In the NFL, quarterbacks do a lot of protection stuff, he’s making the points in the run game. There’s really a lot on the plate of a young quarterback. I think it was great for him to be able to sit for a year and learn.”
The 50-year-old native of Butler, Penn. thinks it’s unlikely that a CFL quarterback will ever be given an opportunity to start in the NFL right away ever again. Instead, he sees passers as having to wait for the right opportunity, which almost always includes an injury to at least one veteran quarterback.
“There’s teams that don’t have a lot of respect for the CFL or the CFL’s players. Indianapolis is not one of them. Historically, they’ve done a good job of finding talent from the CFL. I think it really depends on where you’re at,” Milanovich said.
“The days of Warren Moon going down to the NFL and becoming an immediate starter are probably over unless some guy comes out of nowhere and is so dynamic. That’s the way it’s gonna have to happen for guys: they’re gonna have to make a team. Ideally, they make it as the number two, wait for somebody to get hurt and then take advantage of their opportunity. I think he’s doing a great job.”
