Photo courtesy: Jason Halstead/CFL

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros has been named the CFL’s top performer for Week 17, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

The 37-year-old earned a grade of 91.2 following his team’s 40-3 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He completed 20-of-25 pass attempts for 367 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. This was the third time Collaros has earned an honour roll selection this season by PFF.

B.C. Lions defensive lineman Bradlee Anae was the top-graded defensive player of the week with a score of 84.0. The 26-year-old, who joined the Lions recently after a six-year stint in the NFL, recorded two defensive tackles, one special teams tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble in his team’s 27-22 win over the Toronto Argonauts.

The Calgary Stampeders had the highest-graded offensive line of the week with a group score of 75.7 following their 38-20 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. Christopher Fortin, the team’s rookie centre, was the top-graded individual (78.3), followed by right guard Christy Nkanu (71.4) and left tackle D’Antne Demery (67.2).

The CFL partnered with PFF for the first time ahead of the 2023 season. The company uses game footage to review every player on the field and grades their individual performances on a scale from zero to 100.

The league unveils the top-graded players from PFF each week. Offensive and defensive players must play a minimum of 25 snaps to be eligible, and special teams players must play at least 10. Ties are broken by the number of snaps played.

The top-graded players from each position were as follows for Week 17.

QB | Zach Collaros | Winnipeg | 91.2
RB | Brady Oliveira | Winnipeg | 80.2
REC | Nic Demski | Winnipeg | 84.8
OL | Christopher Fortin | Calgary | 78.3
DL | Bradlee Anae | B.C. | 84.0
LB | Brock Mogensen | Edmonton | 81.3
DB | J.J. Ross | Edmonton | 78.8
RET | Trey Vaval | Winnipeg | 88.6
K/P | Lirim Hajrullahu | Toronto | 84.0
ST | Alexandre Gagné | Montreal | 90.2

Below are the top-graded offensive and defensive performances of the season, dating back to Week 1.

99.3 | W9 | DL | Willie Jefferson | Winnipeg
93.4 | W15 | QB | McLeod Bethel-Thompson | Montreal
93.4 | W16 | QB | Nathan Rourke | B.C.
93.2 | W11 | QB | Nathan Rourke | B.C.
93.0 | W7 | QB | Trevor Harris | Saskatchewan
92.6 | W7 | DB | Destin Talbert | Hamilton
92.6 | W14 | RB | Justin Rankin | Edmonton
92.2 | W15 | REC | Tyson Philpot | Montreal
91.6 | W13 | DL | Malik Carney | Saskatchewan
91.6 | W3 | QB | Davis Alexander | Montreal