Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke is certain he’ll be a B.C. Lion in 2025, despite team management’s insistence the franchise has not yet made a choice between him and Vernon Adams Jr.
“I’m glad I don’t have to make those types of decisions, but I know I will be [here],” Rourke said confidently.
The Victoria, B.C. native inked a three-year contract in August which includes $749,200 in hard money in 2025 and $809,000 in hard money in 2026. There are $6,000 in award incentives available in both seasons, taking his earning potential to $755,200 and $815,000 respectively each year.
Adams Jr. signed a contract extension through the 2026 CFL season in February. He received a $200,000 signing bonus with $395,000 hard money in 2024, $500,000 hard money in 2025 and $505,000 hard money in 2026 with half his base salary guaranteed in the final year.
Based on those numbers, it would be impossible for the Lions to keep both quarterbacks at their current salaries. Regardless of public comments from co-general manager Neil McEvoy and head coach Rick Campbell suggesting a debate between the two, Rourke has no concern about possibly being the one shipped out of town.
“2024 was a whirlwind for me and my family, a lot of different stops. I’m excited about the fact that for the first time in a while, I know where I’m going to be next year,” Rourke said. “I know there’s a lot of comfortable things about this place, a lot of things that I really enjoy and that [my wife] Emily really enjoys, so we’re looking forward to that.”
The 26-year-old started eight games for B.C. after returning to Canada from the NFL. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,781 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions. Rourke ran 24 times for 213 yards (8.9 per carry) with five touchdowns while producing a 3-5 win-loss record.
“Turnovers are a huge metric for wins and losses. Wins or losses have always been debated whether that’s a reasonable quarterback stat, but it’s a business and if you don’t win, you’re not going to be there very long,” Rourke said.
“We have to turn that around, it starts with turnovers. When the dust settles, there’ll be less things to think about for me. We’ll be able to continue to execute the offence the way it’s meant to be and I have full confidence that I’ll be able to get to that point.”
Alongside offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic in 2022, Rourke completed 78.7 percent of his passes for 3,349 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during parts of 10 starts. He rushed 39 times for 304 yards and seven touchdowns. That November, the six-foot-two, 209-pound QB won the three-down league’s Most Outstanding Canadian award despite missing half the season with a Lisfranc injury.
Rourke parlayed his first year as a CFL starter into a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He dressed for three games with the Jags and three with the New England Patriots, earning $519,668 USD. The Ohio University graduate had an offseason stint with the New York Giants, who released him one week into training camp, and Atlanta Falcons, who let him go after one preseason quarter with no practice reps.
He’s focused on restoring the roar and producing the expected results everyone was excited about upon his return north of the border. With a full offseason and training camp to prepare, B.C.’s golden boy has every opportunity to lead the franchise to the promised land.
“I’d love to be able to finish my career in B.C. and not think about that league down south but that has to come with a lot of improvement. I think the biggest thing that I was missing in the NFL, I didn’t feel like I had the opportunity to improve,” Rourke said.
“You have to go in there and you have to fail, you have to learn, I wasn’t getting those opportunities. I did that a lot here in these last couple of stretches, things that I can learn about. Things that I need to get better at, things VA did really well that I can learn from him. Those things are going to propel me to becoming a better player in the next year.”
The Lions finished 9-9 which put them third place in the West Division and sent B.C. on the road for the playoffs. Adams Jr. was intercepted three times in the Lions season-ending loss against Saskatchewan.
