Ottawa Redblacks still searching for franchise QB eight years later

Photo: Gord Weber/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

All these years later, the Ottawa Redblacks are still trying to replace Trevor Harris.

Let’s rewind to 2018.

Harris posted a single-season career-high 5,116 passing yards to lead the Redblacks to an 11-7 record and first place in the East Division. He then set two CFL playoff records in the East Final with six touchdown passes and a 90.2 completion percentage to qualify for the 106th Grey Cup.

The 46-27 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still stands as Ottawa’s last postseason victory.

Following a contract dispute, which was mostly signing bonus related, then-Redblacks general manager Marcel Desjardins decided to re-sign Dominique Davis and proceed without Harris as QB1. That decision has had ripple effects for years as Ottawa is still searching for a bonafide franchise quarterback.

13 different players have started at football’s most important position in the nation’s capital since the 2019 CFL season kicked off:

Tyrie Adams 1-2
Nick Arbuckle 3-7
Will Arndt 0-3
Dru Brown 10-13-1
Dustin Crum 5-15
Dominique Davis 3-8
Caleb Evans 3-10
Duck Hodges 0-1
Jonathon Jennings 0-6
Jake Maier 0-3
Jeremiah Masoli 1-7
Matt Nichols 1-3
Matthew Shiltz 0-1

These quarterbacks combined for a 27-79-1 record. Brown was the starter when the Redblacks made the playoffs in 2024, the team’s only appearance since Harris left.

During that same time span, the veteran passer has led three different franchises to playoff wins: Edmonton, Montreal, and Saskatchewan. That includes an MVP performance in the 112th Grey Cup last November as the Roughriders earned the team’s fifth CFL championship.

Harris’ 21-19-2 regular-season record in Ottawa was slightly above .500, which compares favourably to the team’s marks since he left: 3-15, 3-11, 4-14, 4-14, 9-8-1, and 4-14. The only year Ottawa did not have the worst record in the three-down league was 2024 — Brown’s first season in the nation’s capital.

The Redblacks traded Brown back to Winnipeg after he asked for his release, wanting to leave the team when Jake Maier was named Ottawa’s starter in May. That has left Harris’ former understudy as the next man trying to fill his shoes as a legitimate franchise QB for the Redblacks.

The 29-year-old Maier left Saskatchewan for a chance to become a starter again and he earned that opportunity with Ryan Dinwiddie in Ottawa. He’s 0-3 so far in his time leading the team’s offence with a 64.3 completion rate, 820 passing yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions.

“Jake’s a very good quarterback. When you watch film, he’s getting the ball to the right spot at the right time,” Harris told the media.

“He’s very accurate. He’s a guy that’s been slept on his whole career because things didn’t go quite as well as he wanted it to in Calgary. I thought he learned, grew and developed a lot here last year. He’s got a bright future ahead.”

Meanwhile, Harris (38,872) sits 169 yards away from moving into 12th place all-time in CFL passing yards and realistically could pass Tracy Ham (40,534) and Doug Flutie (41,355) to be 10th by seasons end.

He also currently sits 14th with 212 touchdown passes and entered 2026 with the second-highest completion percentage (71.0) in league history, close behind Cody Fajardo (71.4) for first.

Not bad for a QB Ottawa deemed not worth an increased signing bonus after the 2018 season.