McLeod Bethel-Thompson knows his role is to be a backup with the Montreal Alouettes but he still has the fire to be a starter in the future.
“Obviously, you want to play,” the 36-year-old told reporters during his first press conference since joining the team. “Every competitor wants to play. When that goes away, it’s an indicator that you’re ready to move on.”
Bethel-Thompson signed a one-year contract extension with the Alouettes on Monday after being acquired via trade from the Edmonton Elks in December. The move sent fellow veteran QB Cody Fajardo to the Green and Gold, offering both players a fresh start as a backup after getting pushed out of their starting role.
The Elks brought Bethel-Thompson back to the CFL in 2024 after a stint with the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers, paying him starter money to save the ailing franchise. He finished the season with 3,748 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions but saw Tre Ford take over his starting role following a seven-game losing streak to start the year. The pair split time down the stretch due to injury, before the franchise elected to move forward with the younger pivot.
His new deal formalizes his transition into a backup role, throwing his full support behind Montreal’s 26-year-old first-time starter, Davis Alexander.
“When I signed my name on that dotted line, it became a ‘we’ and not an ‘I’. It’s about how we can become a better ‘us,’” Bethel-Thompson insisted. “Quarterback is the hardest position in professional sports. You have enough to deal with the defence in front of you, you don’t have to be feeling any inkling of lack of support from within. He will have full support from me.”
That will require a different type of mentorship than what he offered to Ford in Edmonton, mainly because a winning culture has already been established within an Alouettes team that won the Grey Cup in 2023 and topped the regular-season standings last year.
“When you have an opportunity to join a winning culture and a good group of men, it’s a special opportunity,” he said. “It’s very different to what I was dealing with last year, although I’m proud of the work that we did (in Edmonton) and I’m sure they will have a lot of success.”
Bethel-Thompson plans to contact Alexander to work out together before the training camp starts in May, as both players are based on the West Coast. He wants to get to know his teammate personally, even before starting to talk about football.
The 14-year professional football journeyman has enough on his resume to call it a career but still has the desire to play many more seasons. He adds a new training component every offseason and recently began a regimen popularized by the Soviet Union in the 1970s to prepare for training camp.
“I have a lot of gas left in the tank, unfortunately,” Bethel-Thompson said. “I wish my body was telling me no, my mind telling me no. I’m in really good shape. I’m throwing the ball as good as I ever have. I’m taking it year by year, but I definitely feel like I could play 20 more years.”
The San Francisco, Cal. native has started French lessons and plans to live in Montreal with his four-year-old daughter starting in June. He has good memories of the city and the atmosphere of the stadium when he was playing for the other teams.
