Ryan Dinwiddie ‘comfortable’ with Dru Brown as Ottawa Redblacks’ starting QB, but will evaluate all options

Photo: Aru Das/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Ottawa Redblacks have hired the CFL’s top quarterback guru to be the team’s head coach, offensive coordinator and general manager. Now, he has to decide if the franchise’s current QB is up to his standards.

Ryan Dinwiddie has 71 days to make a decision from the time his hiring was announced on Wednesday until January 15. That’s when incumbent Redblacks’ starter Dru Brown is due a $150,000 offseason roster bonus, which provides a deadline if the team wants to move on.

“Well, right now he is (our starter),” Dinwiddie told 3DownNation when asked about Brown’s status. “He’s got the bonus coming up and there’s free agency. Would we bring in another quarterback for him to compete with? I like competition, but the salary cap, that’s an issue.”

“What can we afford as far as bringing in another guy to compete with him? You can also look at different things as far as trades, but I’m comfortable with where he’s at. We made a commitment to him as an organization, and now we’ve got to evaluate that decision and make sure it’s the right thing for us moving forward.”

Brown dressed for 11 regular-season games in 2025 but made only nine starts while fighting through hip, neck and knee problems. He posted a 2-7 record at the helm and completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions to rank eighth league-wide in passer rating (min. 100 attempts).

Former general manager Shawn Burke, who moved to the vice-president of football operations role with Dinwiddie’s arrival, acknowledged after the season his franchise quarterback was not on the field enough to properly meet that definition. However, he blamed the organization, not Brown, for his injuries, and said the Redblacks would undergo a full reassessment while trying to keep him healthier in the future.

Nevertheless, the decision about how to proceed at the quarterback position will fall under Dinwiddie’s purview and everything is open for evaluation.

“I talked about Dru at the end of the year, who I thought he was, and he wasn’t on the football field a lot for us. I think a lot of evaluation is unfair to him when he wasn’t healthy, so we have to look at the full collection of not only the two years here, but the film that had us evaluate to bring Dru here,” Burke said.

“Dru’s an incredible guy in the building each and every day. No one works harder, but ultimately, Ryan will have full roster control. He will start breaking down the film with me. We’ll do it hand-in-hand and make decisions.”

Brown was acquired by the Redblacks leading into the 2024 season and started 15 games, producing an 8-6-1 record to lead Ottawa back to the postseason. He completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 3,959 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

The Palo Alto, Cal. native spent the first three seasons in his CFL career as a backup for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, starting three games when Zach Collaros was out due to injury. He threw for 1,484 yards, 14 touchdowns, and two interceptions, while rushing for five majors.

Prior to coming to the CFL, Brown made a name for himself at the University of Hawaii, he threw for 5,273 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions over two seasons as the starter. However, after transferring to Oklahoma State, he was unable to beat out former Edmonton quarterback Taylor Cornelius in 2018 or freshman Spencer Sanders in 2019, starting only three games over his final two years in the NCAA.

Dinwiddie has to assess whether the 28-year-old deserves the starting title he earned in 2024 or if his CFL future will repeat his NCAA past. That decision will have as much to do with the quarterback’s character as it does his arm talent.

“I think I gotta sit down with him, get to know him as the person first. See what his mental makeup is, then talk some football, see what he’s been taught and what they asked him to do in the scheme. Watch a few games with him,” Dinwiddie said, indicating he would like to fly Brown back to Ottawa for some face-to-face time in the coming weeks.

“I think he’s a good player. I think there’s some things we can clean up. We gotta make sure we keep him healthy, but I think he’s definitely one of the top nine quarterbacks in this league. But I want to sit down with him, watch some more film and evaluate it. I have a good opinion right now of where he’s at. I think we can get more out of him and have him playing a cleaner football game, but that starts with protecting him first.”

Dinwiddie has an impressive track record in regard to getting the most from quarterbacks with varied talent levels. During his time as a CFL coach, he has helped Bo Levi Mitchell and Chad Kelly win Most Outstanding Player awards, won Grey Cups with Nick Arbuckle and McLeod Bethel-Thompson as starters, and squeezed productive campaigns out of Cameron Dukes and Jonathan Crompton.

The 44-year-old bench boss leaves behind Kelly and Arbuckle in Toronto, where the latter was able to throw for 4,370 yards in 2025 while the former continued to recover from a broken leg suffered in the 2024 East Final. Both players are under contract with the Argonauts for 2026, but either could be an attractive trade target if Dinwiddie decides Brown is not the future.

“I think you’ve got to look at a lot of different things and go through a bunch of different scenarios. Evaluate some other quarterbacks across the league and do what’s best for the football club, most importantly,” he acknowledged. “That’s the thing in this business: there are tough decisions. You can’t run away from them, you’ve got to make them, and you’ve got to do your best to make sure it’s the right decision. We’re going to look at all avenues, investigate what is best for the Ottawa Redblacks and this organization moving forward.”

Where that leaves Brown is to be determined, but the organization that made the biggest CFL hire in a decade won’t be shy about change if it is needed.

“We’re looking at everything, no stone unturned,” Dinwiddie insisted. “But right now, Dru’s our quarterback and we’re comfortable with that.”