{"id":345326,"date":"2025-12-14T20:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/345326\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T20:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T20:04:09","slug":"cameron-dukes-claims-he-received-death-threats-as-toronto-argonauts-starting-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/345326\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron Dukes claims he received death threats as Toronto Argonauts’ starting QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Toronto Argonauts<\/p>\n

Being a CFL starting quarterback is not a risk-free profession, as Cameron Dukes learned the hard way.<\/p>\n

The former Toronto Argonaut recently sat down with The Carter Code podcast<\/a> to discuss his career. Among the revelations was that he received threats against himself and his family while quarterbacking the team in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, for somebody that never had to worry about media \u2014 I came from a small school, dude \u2014 it\u2019s the first time I ever had to look at that,\u201d Dukes said. \u201cI\u2019m getting death threats. I\u2019m getting people talking about hanging my parents. I\u2019m getting this in the box (sic), and guess what? I still got the screenshots, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old started nine games for Toronto in 2024, holding down the fort while franchise quarterback Chad Kelly served a suspension for violating the CFL\u2019s gender-based violence and harassment policy. He went 4-5 at the helm that season and successfully kept the team afloat, completing 71.9 percent of his passes for 1,444 yards with seven touchdowns against six interceptions while rushing 57 times for 321 yards and four majors.<\/p>\n

However, concerns over Dukes\u2019 quality of play<\/a> led him to be demoted to the third-string role once Kelly returned, and it was Nick Arbuckle who eventually got the start in the team\u2019s Grey Cup win. When the results weren\u2019t going his way, Dukes felt a turn in the fanbase and began receiving the threats on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m building what I think is going to be a career in Toronto because of what I\u2019m doing, what I\u2019m giving for the organization, and what I\u2019m putting into it. It just feels right for me to be here because I\u2019m putting into it. I go out, and I\u2019m producing. And then you have one bad game, and it\u2019s like everybody completely forgets who you were the whole entire time and creates this different script on you,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat fans don\u2019t realize is you would never say this to us in person, but I\u2019m using everything you\u2019re saying right now as fuel. That sh*t motivates me, dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Shepherdsville, Ky., native wasn\u2019t used to threats, but he was familiar with disrespect throughout his time with the Argonauts.<\/p>\n

The six-foot, 210-pound pivot\u2019s collegiate resume included a national championship victory and three All-American selections, but those accolades came from tiny Lindsey Wilson University in the NAIA. Even after a successful stint in the Indoor Football League, few expected Dukes to pan out in the CFL, including those associated with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole entire time, I\u2019m hearing like, \u2018He\u2019s a camp arm,\u2019 \u2018He\u2019s only coming in to throw the ball, and they\u2019re gonna release him.\u2019 I\u2019ve got the media in Toronto talking about, \u2018His type of game isn\u2019t sustainable.\u2019 The thing is,\u00a0it was legit the Argos\u2019 podcast people. Like, brother, what are you talking about? You\u2019re supposed to\u00a0be on my team,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo ahead. Guess what? I don\u2019t need anybody out here to believe in me. I need one person, yeah, and that\u2019s me, because I\u2019m the one that wakes up with me. I\u2019m the one that\u2019s driving to the facility. I\u2019m the one going through the work. I\u2019m the one going home at night to myself. I don\u2019t need nobody to believe in me. I\u2019m laughing at all these people posting this stuff about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dukes proved the doubters wrong by making the roster for all 18 games as the primary backup in 2023, including a pair of starts. After scoring in his first start against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, he let everyone see the chip on his shoulder with a message screamed down the camera lens: \u201cI bet you know now.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this occasion, the fighting words were directed at an opponent and not his own organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinnipeg is the first team I thought, like, \u2018Man, I might have a chance.\u2019 Like, \u2018I know I\u2019m going here, they might pick me up.\u2019 And then word comes back to me that people in the organization don\u2019t want me because of where I played college ball. Quote, unquote, \u2018He does look like a boy amongst men out here, but he didn\u2019t play against nobody.\u2019 I\u2019m sitting here thinking maybe you all think I didn\u2019t play against nobody, but this is the opportunity I was given,\u201d Dukes recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the reason I said it. \u2026 I hope that person that said that at Winnipeg saw that and knew exactly who I was talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dukes\u2019 tenure with Toronto ended on June 1, when he was released as part of final training camp cuts<\/a>. After a three-week stint with the Montreal Alouettes in 2025, he remains a CFL free agent<\/a> and is currently looking for his next opportunity.<\/p>\n

Despite the throngs of doubters and outright nastiness he experienced from some fans, the 2024 Grey Cup champ is grateful for every element of his professional career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I never play another down, thank goodness for those experiences, because now, whenever I become a coach, I can give those experiences. I can now let people know what to expect, how to handle situations,\u201d Dukes said. \u201cI\u2019m just taking everything as a sponge, trying to soak up everything and every experience so I can relay that to people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Toronto Argonauts Being a CFL starting quarterback is not a risk-free profession, as Cameron Dukes learned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-345326","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\/345326","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=345326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}