ROBSERVATIONS: Jake Maier provides invaluable insurance … Roughriders “excited” for Year 2 of A.J. Ouellette … and the weekly shout-outs
Despite an abject inability to do my own taxes — I owe whaaaaaat??!! — this scribbler has dusted off the abacus to calculate the frequency of injuries to quarterbacks.
This has been done to determine the statistical probability of the Saskatchewan Roughriders having to test their depth behind centre in 2025 and, given the breadth of the research, in any season.
It is a timely exercise in that the Roughriders recently signed Jake Maier to be the understudy to Trevor Harris.
Much has been made outside the organization of injuries that forced Harris to miss playing time in 2023 (13 games) and 2024 (six).
However, it should be emphasized that last summer’s stint on the sideline did not prevent him from being a divisional All-CFL selection.
He produced touchdown passes at a brisk pace (20 in 11 regular-season starts), sported the league’s best quarterback-efficiency rating (108.4) and established a franchise single-season record for completion percentage (72.4).
Only three CFL quarterbacks threw for more scores than Harris last season. One of them was Maier, who connected for 22 TDs on behalf of the Calgary Stampeders.
Acquired by the Roughriders on Dec. 23, Maier subsequently agreed to a one-year contract — a form of insurance, or reassurance, when you look at the realities of a long, gruelling and unpredictable professional football season.
Which brings us back to the numbers …
Over the past 74 regular seasons — beginning with 1950 — Roughriders quarterbacks have missed an average of 3.18 man-games per year on account of injuries. (For the purposes of this project, a year is defined as 18 games — the duration of a team’s regular-season schedule.)
Saskatchewan has completed an entire season without a quarterback injury only 42 per cent of the time over those 74 seasons.
The percentage decreases to 34 when the past half-century is analyzed.
The numbers increase when a line is drawn at 1986 — the first year in which each team played 18 regular-season games. (Saskatchewan played 14 games in 1950 and 1951, and 16 games from 1952 to 1985.)
From 1950 to 1985, Roughriders quarterbacks missed 1.66 man-games per year. That average is influenced by the remarkable durability of Ron Lancaster during his 16 seasons with Saskatchewan, along with a greater reliance on the running game (see: Reed, George) in that era.
Since 1986, the average is 4.52.
The latter figure isn’t too distant from the six games Harris sat out in 2024 after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The year before, he sustained a tibial plateau fracture of his right knee.
Although the injuries have often been mentioned in the same breath as his age, neither absence was attributable to him being 37 or 38. When someone falls on to or is pushed into a limb, gravity takes over. Period.
The Roughriders’ Heath Rylance, for example, was only 24 when he tore ligaments in his left knee on Oct. 6, 1996 against the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That was the third injury he suffered in 1996, following back-to-back concussions.
Saskatchewan’s Tom Burgess, then 23, missed eight games with a broken collarbone in 1987.
Kent Austin, 25, was shelved for four regular-season games and one playoff contest in 1988 due to a torn cartilage in a knee.
At 28, Austin missed 5½ games in 1991 with a partial separation of his right shoulder.
Conclusion: Such misfortunes can befall anyone, of any age, at any time.
Based upon data that extends back 50 seasons, the Roughriders can expect a quarterback to miss at least one game due to injury two out of every three seasons.
Hence the need for an insurance policy.
“It’s the most important position on the field, as everyone knows, and to have a guy who would be able to not only go in there and do well as a quarterback, but also help you go in and help you win games, is very important,” Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O’Day said.
Not coincidentally, O’Day was Saskatchewan’s starting perennial All-CFL centre during a six-season span (2005 to 2010) in which the quarterbacks were routinely unscathed. There wasn’t a man-game lost to injury at that position in 2005, 2007, 2009 or 2010.
In a football-operations capacity, O’Day has also experienced two seasons in which Saskatchewan’s starting quarterback was injured in the first half of the opening game (Darian Durant, 2015; Zach Collaros, 2019).
Durant also missed the final nine games (playoffs included) in 2014, when an elbow injury to the franchise pivot cost Saskatchewan a realistic shot at a second successive Grey Cup championship.
The next year, Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon that sidelined him for 17½ games.
Kevin Glenn, an eminently credible replacement, took over for Durant in 2015 and lacerated rival secondaries for the next month until he, too, was injured.
It can be, for lack of a better term, luck of the draw.
Durant rarely missed a game from 2009 through the first half of the 2014 season. Then he suffered back-to-back season-ending injuries.
Like Durant, Harris enjoyed an extended period without a serious injury until facing setbacks in 2023 and 2024.
Welcome to professional football and the occupational hazards one accepts when signing up to play a contact sport.
Last year, only two of the nine teams did not lose a starting quarterback to injury at some point.
Future Canadian Football Hall of Famer Bo Levi Mitchell dressed for every game as a member of the Tiger-Cats.
Maier suited up for all 18 of Calgary’s contests.
Although Maier has 45 CFL starts to his good name, he doesn’t turn 28 until April 9. Harris celebrates his 39th birthday on May 31. Both quarterbacks are on one-year contracts.
Considering the age gap, Maier has been portrayed by pundits as a possible heir apparent to Harris.
“We’ll see,” O’Day replied. “(Maier) has obviously been a starter in this league. It’s a fresh start for him — a new team, a new organization — so we’ll see where it goes.
“We haven’t had any of those discussions about past this year with Jake or Trevor, but they both know the situation that we’re in.
“Hopefully we have a lot of success with the guys that we have and we can keep it rolling with the guys that we have.
“It’s kind of yet to be determined what 2026 looks like.”
But if you want to know what 1950 looked like, this is the place!
TAILBACK IS BACK
One of the Roughriders’ off-season objectives is to protect A.J. Ouellette from himself.
“It’s kind of crazy when you have to ask your running back to stop squatting 700 pounds,” Head Coach Corey Mace quipped.
“A.J. is such a hard worker but, at this point of his career, he’s got to make sure it’s conducive to him being as healthy as possible and trying to avoid some things.”
The Roughriders were very careful with Ouellette last season, when he dressed for eight of a possible 18 regular-season games. He sat out six games, partially because the utmost caution was exercised to ensure his availability for the playoffs.
The blueprint was successful. Over two post-season contests, he carried the ball 24 times for 121 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged five yards per carry.
During the regular season, Ouellette averaged 4.2 yards per handoff while rushing for 550 yards. The yardage figure, extrapolated over a full 18 games, computes to an impressive 1,238.
Ouellette rushed for a career-best 1,009 yards in 15 games with the Toronto Argonauts in 2023, earning East All-CFL recognition for the second season in succession.
He thus became a high-priority free-agent signing for the Roughriders, who announced on Feb. 13 that he had committed to the team for two years.
The bruising back — a 5-foot-8, 208-pound battering ram — helped Saskatchewan finish second in the West, earn a home playoff game, and advance to the division final.
“Having him back in the playoffs definitely helped us as well,” Mace said. “He had a great game in the West semi and I know, pushing forward, I know what it means for us to have him out there.
“There are all the things he does outside of yards per carry that are an asset to our team that we hold in high regard. It’s not always just about when the ball’s in his hands with the things that he provides for our team.
“Certainly, him being out there definitely is (beneficial). He knows it and wants it just as much we do.
“He’s taking care of himself this off-season to make sure he’s going to be available for us.”
But, as is the case with quarterbacks, you can never say for sure.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” O’Day said when asked about Ouellette. “With all our players, you don’t know how they’re going to perform when they go into the season, but I do feel like he’s going to be healthier than he was coming into training camp last year.
“He had some problems with his hips when he came into camp and tried to fight through it for most of the year.
“He battled and really did everything he could to try to get healthy for us. I feel like he’s going to be healthier when he comes to camp, which will give him a better start.
“He brings a lot to the table and a lot of intangibles to our team. He’s a great team guy and we’re excited to have him be a part of our team.”
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Bob Trumbley, Cathy Trumbley, Dylan Trumbley, Eden Trumbley, Esme Trumbley, Lisa Degelman, Arielle Zerr, Cindy Zerr, Barry Zerr, Corey Mace, Coden Nikbacht, Tyris Nikbacht, Kris Mazurak, A.J. Allen, Karleen Wallace, Danielle Allen, Nicole Kwiatkowski, Stacy Hollinger-Fairholm, Robert Sproule, Roxanne Anderson, Mary Lerat, Leslie DeMars, Brenda Indzeoski, Greg Indzeoski, Kyle Paul, Kim Perepeluk, Jay Dufour, Josh MacNeil, Jace Egland, Ken Schneider, Dante De Caria, Drew Postey and, with (slightly) belated 42nd-anniversary wishes, Norm and Kathy Fong.
