{"id":699368,"date":"2026-05-28T13:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699368\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T13:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:02:17","slug":"mike-oshea-believes-zach-collaros-still-best-qb-in-cfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699368\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike O’Shea believes Zach Collaros still best QB in CFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Matt Johnson\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t seem anything can shake Mike O\u2019Shea\u2019s confidence in Winnipeg Blue Bombers franchise quarterback Zach Collaros.<\/p>\n

The veteran passer, who turns 38 in August, has seen his production decline in recent years, throwing 34 touchdown passes and 31 interceptions since 2024. He went 6-7 as a starter in 2025 and took a pay-cut this offseason<\/a>, leaving $50,000 on the table from his previous agreement.<\/p>\n

Regardless, O\u2019Shea remains his most ardent support, even going as far as to crown him the CFL\u2019s best pivot.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A decline to his game is) not what I see,\u201d O\u2019Shea told the media in Winnipeg on Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cI see a guy who is the best quarterback in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy Condell was hired as the club\u2019s new offensive coordinator this winter, reuniting him and Collaros after they previously worked together with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2013 to 2015. Collaros has repeatedly raved about the longtime CFL assistant\u2019s intelligence and organizational skills, boosting his morale after a challenging 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Last year, Collaros was forced to sit out the first game of the regular-season after he failed to respond to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport for an offseason drug test. The passing game was then stagnant for most of the year, ranking ninth league-wide with 235.0 per game.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea isn\u2019t sure if he sees more energy from Collaros so far in training camp, though he\u2019s as confident as ever in the quarterback\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he has more energy, that\u2019s great. I\u2019ve said it before, Tommy Condell is a very energetic, high-energy guy all the time, so that certainly provides a boost, too, but I see Zach the same way all the time,\u201d said O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year is so far in the rearview mirror, I probably don\u2019t even remember what that was like. I see Zach full of energy and I would \u2014 if I were to have to think back \u2014 that\u2019s how I see him. A guy who is a great leader, not always vocal but always doing the right thing, and always working hard. If people were to latch onto him and sort of follow him around for the day, they\u2019re going to get better just because they\u2019re gonna do the things that he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an extremely small sample size, but Collaros looked excellent in Winnipeg\u2019s first preseason game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He completed three-of-four pass attempts for 57 yards and rushed once for six yards on the team\u2019s first series to set-up a two-yard touchdown plunge from Brady Oliveira.<\/p>\n

Tim White, the team\u2019s big-name free-agent signing in the receiving corps, was the target for each of Collaros\u2019 three completions. Clearly, the three-time All-CFL selection has formed quick chemistry with Collaros.<\/p>\n

Though many pundits would argue that the CFL\u2019s best quarterback is Nathan Rourke or Bo Levi Mitchell, it\u2019s clear that Mike O\u2019Shea still has Collaros as his No. 1 passer in the league.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers opened training camp on May 10. The team lost 31-27 in its first preseason game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Winnipeg\u2019s second preseason game is against the B.C. Lions on Friday, May 29. Final roster cuts are due on Saturday, May 30, after which the team will play its first regular-season game against the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, June 5.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg recently selected Wake Forest defensive lineman Nuer Gatkuoth with their first-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, adding to the club\u2019s pass rush. The team\u2019s other major offseason additions include receiver Tim White, offensive lineman Jarell Broxton, and defensive lineman Jake Ceresna.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Matt Johnson\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. It doesn\u2019t seem anything can shake Mike O\u2019Shea\u2019s confidence in Winnipeg Blue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,22070,22936,49,48,7028,521,522,520,194642,527,170990,1627,7338,82,22073,52049],"class_list":["post-699368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-blue-bombers","tag-bombers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-collaros","tag-football","tag-mike-oshea","tag-qb","tag-quarterback","tag-sports","tag-winnipeg","tag-zach-collaros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699368","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=699368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}