{"id":327179,"date":"2025-12-05T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T14:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/327179\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T14:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T14:40:10","slug":"stability-connections-to-chris-streveler-mike-oshea-led-qb-bryce-perkins-to-choose-cfl-over-ufl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/327179\/","title":{"rendered":"Stability, connections to Chris Streveler, Mike O’Shea led QB Bryce Perkins to choose CFL over UFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Andrew Stein\/Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n

Veteran quarterback Bryce Perkins is the reigning MVP of the UFL but recently chose to sign with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers<\/a> instead of returning to the U.S. spring league. There were many reasons for his decision but none was more crucial than stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the UFL and what they\u2019re doing giving guys opportunities to play,\u201d Perkins told\u00a03DownNation\u00a0this week. \u201cI was basically at the end of waiting for the NFL. I wanted to continue to play and make a career and there was a lot of changing in UFL. The Michigan Panthers, the team I played for, left \u2014 the coaches left, the GM left, so I wanted to have a little more stability and continue to play at high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The native of Chandler, Ariz. completed 69.0 percent of his passes for 1,342 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions with Michigan earlier this year, posting a 4-2 record as a starter during the regular-season. He also rushed 47 times for 269 yards and five scores, displaying the dual-threat ability that\u2019s been a hallmark of his game since college.<\/p>\n

Perkins has many CFL connections, which also helped tilt the scales. He went to high school with longtime Montreal Alouettes defensive back Wesley Sutton and attended the University of Virginia with Edmonton Elks defensive lineman Noah Taylor<\/a>, CFL-turned-NFL edge rusher Elliott Brown<\/a>, and Toronto Argonauts receiver Dejon Brissett.<\/p>\n

The soon-to-be 29-year-old has also trained with Winnipeg quarterback Chris Streveler, as they both live in Arizona during the offseason. His relationship with Streveler led Perkins to pay attention to the Blue Bombers long before he signed with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Streveler) was like \u2018Man, you\u2019re going to love it (in Winnipeg),’\u201d said Perkins. \u201c(By watching him) I was able to see what was going on this season for Winnipeg and see how much passion there was. I started getting a little more open to the idea of (coming to the CFL). That\u2019s what you love about football, it\u2019s the people you\u2019re with and it\u2019s the community that you play for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins has clearly done his homework on the Blue Bombers. He knows that the team just sold-out its entire season and recently went to five-straight Grey Cups. Though there\u2019s currently no playbook for Perkins to learn \u2014 Winnipeg is actively looking for a new offensive coordinator<\/a> \u2014 he\u2019s already been watching games on his iPad to learn the intricacies of the Canadian game.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-two, 215-pound passer also has a family connection to the CFL through his father, Bruce, who played three seasons at fullback with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Memphis Mad Dogs. One of his fellow rookies in Steeltown in 1993 was Mike O\u2019Shea, who is now, of course, the longtime head coach in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this opportunity came up, I asked my father what he thought about it,\u201d said Perkins. \u201cHe was like, \u2018It\u2019s good ball, man. It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s a different game, but they love their football down there.\u2019 When you think about playing, that\u2019s what you want to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins started his professional career with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020 and spent three years with the team as an undrafted free agent, earning a Super Bowl ring in the process. He enjoyed the opportunity to learn from head coach and offensive guru Sean McVay as well as two-time Pro Bowl selection Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of coming from college is not necessarily running a pro-style offence or understanding how to better put yourself in position to be successful on the field. A lot of my time with L.A. was learning how to prepare, learning how to be a pro, learning how to communicate with guys,\u201d said Perkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of it is being able to put yourself in the best position pre-snap to be able to have success post-snap. Learning how to study, how to prepare from Matthew Stafford, who\u2019s been doing it for so long, definitely has helped me after my time in L.A. when I went to the UFL and even today how I see the game, how I approach the game. It definitely was an honour and a privilege to be able to witness that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his size and athleticism, it would stand to reason that Perkins has a good chance of being Winnipeg\u2019s short-yardage quarterback in 2026. Streveler has filled that role for two seasons since he returned from the NFL, though it seems unlikely he\u2019ll be re-signed given that he re-tore the ACL in his left knee<\/a> during the final week of October.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in your first year learning the offence and learning the different type of play style, you\u2019re honoured whatever the role is asked of you. You figure out how to do the best you can to be able to help the team succeed,\u201d said Perkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to do whatever it takes to be part of a winning formula is a blessing. (Winnipeg and I) haven\u2019t talked yet about (the short-yardage role) necessarily, but I\u2019m definitely willing to do whatever I can while still learning and still getting my feet wet and understanding the nuances of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins signed a two-year contract with the Blue Bombers, tying him to the team through 2027. His goal is to become a CFL starter but he\u2019s not putting a timeline on that particular aspiration. In the meantime, he\u2019ll look to learn from the team\u2019s coaching staff \u2014 whoever ends up helming the offence \u2014 as well as franchise quarterback Zach Collaros, who recently got a vote of confidence from general manager Kyle Walters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of ball ahead of me and I feel like I can make a great career in the CFL, be a prominent starter, and help the team to reach places they want to go. As far as timeline, who knows? You would love to say it\u2019s going to happen here or it\u2019s going to happen there, but I want to be able to do what I can, what\u2019s asked, and then continue to build on my strengths and be ready when my time is called,\u201d said Perkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I\u2019ve learned playing is how quickly your time can be called upon. You can have all these plans on what it\u2019s gonna look like and when you wanna get in there, but you never know when it\u2019s gonna happen. You have to be ready when called upon, so that\u2019s kinda my goal is learn as much as I can when I can \u2014 and when my number is called, go in there and try to do the best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Zach Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 13 regular-season games, going 6-7 as a starter.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers ranked fifth in net offence, third in net defence, and eighth with a turnover differential of minus-eleven. The club\u2019s leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, leading receiver was Nic Demski with 1,001 yards, and leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with average crowds of 32,343, which was a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Andrew Stein\/Carolina Panthers Veteran quarterback Bryce Perkins is the reigning MVP of the UFL but recently chose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-327179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}