Dru Brown is being shut down.
Officially eliminated from playoff contention with three games remaining on their schedule, the Ottawa Redblacks have decided to shelf their oft-injured No. 1 quarterback for the rest of the season.
Backup Dustin Crum will start Monday’s game in Montreal, while Tyrie Adams will be elevated from the practice roster to second in line, ahead of Matt Shiltz.
Brown, who has started nine and finished just six of Ottawa’s 15 games, returned from a knee injury that kept him out more than a month when the Redblacks faced the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 3 with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread.
After throwing his third interception of the night in the third quarter, he was benched in favour of Crum as the Redblacks went on to lose 20-13.
Brown was a DNP (did not participate) in practice this week, with “knee” listed as the reason.
Would Brown start Monday if the Redblacks were still in playoff contention?
That’s no slam-dunk.
The Redblacks have considered the 28-year-old Brown their quarterback of the future.
Before this season, they gave him a one-year contract extension that, according to 3DownNation, is worth $462,500 in hard money with a maximum possible value of $471,500.
But while he has shown flashes of brilliance, he has also been flawed.
Along with completing 196 of 274 passes (71.5 per cent) for 2,389 yards and 14 touchdown passes, he has also been picked off 10 times.
Is there more to shutting down Brown than simply giving him time to heal?
Would he be playing if Monday’s game was meaningful instead of meaningless?
“That’s a tough situation,” head coach Bob Dyce said after Saturday’s practice at TD Place. “I know Dru would continue to fight through, and I would have a very hard time not letting him play. He’s our guy.
“Sometimes when you’re in these situations, you’ve got to make tough decisions for people’s long-term health and everything. But if we were playing (a game that mattered in the standings), I think it would have been very tough to keep Dru off the field.”
The final call came after much deliberation.
“After the (Saskatchewan) game, we took a couple of days and wanted to get together with Dru and see where his head was at with everything,” said GM Shawn Burke. “Obviously, from a physical standpoint, he’s had some ailments throughout the year, and it’s continued even since coming back to play through them. You always owe an obligation to make sure a player can wrap up things, but when you look at the big picture of having a fully healthy offseason and not having to do too much rehab and focusing on those things, we just thought it was the best course of action.”
Are the Redblacks confident that Brown has the durability to be a successful and dependable CFL QB?
As a first-time starter in the CFL last season, Brown also missed three starts and failed to make it to the finish line in three other games.
One of the smaller quarterbacks in the league at a listed 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, his list of injuries has included elbow/triceps and a concussion.
“Doug Flutie was not a big guy either,” Dyce said, referring to the former NFLer who also had a highly successful eight-year career with the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argos in the 1990s. “And if you ever saw Damon Allen (a CFL star QB for 23 seasons) without his equipment on, he’s not a big guy. I don’t think Dru’s size has anything to do with his durability. Injuries are a freakish thing, and you can’t control when they happen.
“Look at a guy like (Winnipeg Blue Bombers QB) Zach Collaros … he’s had certainly challenges and then he’s been extremely durable. So injuries, sometimes they just do run up on you at a certain time. Like Dru’s competitive nature, you battle through them.
“I expect him to win Grey Cups here in Ottawa and have an outstanding career, and put up a lot of yards in his career.”
Asked if he believes Brown is durable enough to attain that kind of success, Burke said: “I think Dru would be the first one to say that, collectively, we all have to look at keeping him more on the field than not. The reality of this league is, teams that keep healthy starting quarterbacks on the field have better success. I think it’s not just a Dru thing or a me thing, it’s an organizational thing, from (athletic therapists) and doctors to Dru’s offseason to how we manage him day to day at practice.
“I think all that has to be evaluated, because right now, having a quarterback for eight out of 18 games isn’t going to give you the best chance to win.”
Will Tyrie Adams get a chance in the final three games?
Now 28, Adams has been with the Redblacks since 2022. In his second year, he started and starred in a 26-7 win over Edmonton while suffering a knee injury in the same game.
Adams has not played since, despite being healthy.
“At the end of the day, you look at different things,” Dyce said when asked why Adams hasn’t been given a chance to play in a game. “I have to go back through every scenario over the last three years … Jeremiah (Masoli) was here, Nick (Arbuckle) was here, and this year we brought in Matt (Shiltz) for that (backup) role.
“We constantly evaluate every single day, and we go from there. So it’s just shaken out, if Dusty is healthy and Dru’s healthy, they’re going to play the majority of the snaps. It’s not like you’re just putting a guy in to put him in. When we put in a quarterback, we’re putting him in to try to win the game. For whatever reason, the guys who have been in front of Tyrie, we felt they’ve given us a better opportunity to win.”
Winning isn’t important for the final three games, other than for the pro athletes who always try to get the best of their opponent, no matter the stakes, and for the resumés of coaches.
For management, this would appear to be the perfect opportunity to see what Adams can do in a game — and whether the Redblacks want to fish or cut bait with the player going forward.
“Right now, Dustin’s our No. 1 quarterback,” said Burke. “Tyrie will be elevated to the roster, and we’ll see how the next three weeks go, but we’re trying to win a football game this week.”
Said Dyce: “I’m focused on this game, and I want to see Dustin go out there and lead this team to a victory in Montreal. Two games from now, I’ll let you know about what our strategy is going forward from there. But I can tell you that Dusty is going to play this game, and I believe he’s going to play the whole game.”
Is Crum ready to become a full-time starter in the CFL?
A 26-year-old who has been with the Redblacks since 2023, Crum signed another one-season deal with the team in January.
In six starts and three relief appearances this season, he has connected on 147 of 205 throws (71.7 per cent) for 1,609 yards, six TDs and just two interceptions.
And along with his exceptional ball carrying (a 5.5-yard average on 71 attempts, along with a league-leading 11 touchdowns), Crum has shown progression when it comes to his play-reading and passing skills.
“If you harken back to Dusty’s first year, I put him out there week after week after week after week,” said Dyce, who was really left with little choice when Crum, who arrived at training camp as the fourth-stringer, became the starter because of injuries. “I can’t say I’m more confident in him now than I was in some regards, but I’ve seen growth, and he’s certainly a better, more complete quarterback now.”
After the Saskatchewan game, when asked if he feels he’s proven ready to become a full-time starter in the league, Crum replied:
“I would say most people would feel that I probably took steps towards that. Obviously, there’s only nine spots, so whether a spot would open up, or something like that would happen … obviously, some things would have to align, but I would say I felt like I took steps in the right direction towards that goal.”
The remaining three games will provide Crum the opportunity to take more steps.
“I think this is a fantastic opportunity to continue that growth and move forward as he establishes himself,” said Dyce. “I told him once Dru came back that he showed people he’s a starting-level quarterback in this league.”
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