MONTREAL – Caleb Evans never stopped believing he might get another chance, even after the back-to-back setbacks he suffered 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
First, he lost his job as the Montreal Alouettes’ primary backup to Davis Alexander, failing to seize his opportunity while starting quarterback Cody Fajardo missed time. A week later, Evans sustained a season-ending knee injury while subbing in for Alexander against Hamilton on Aug. 2, 2024.<\/p>\n
But that wasn’t the end of his time in Montreal. The 27-year-old American returned on a one-year contract \u2014 and now he’ll make his first CFL start since July 25, 2024, when the Alouettes (5-4) visit the B.C. Lions on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“You never know, injuries happen,\u201d Evans said after taking first-team reps Thursday at Stade H\u00e9bert. \u201cYou just always got to be ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just hard work to get back here, and I’m thankful for it.”<\/p>\n
Evans, Montreal\u2019s third-string and short-yardage QB this season, replaced a subpar McLeod Bethel-Thompson and threw for 113 yards and one touchdown on 14-of-18 passing in the second half of last week\u2019s 23-22 loss to the Edmonton Elks.<\/p>\n
Bethel-Thompson joined Alexander \u2014 now the franchise QB \u2014 on the six-game injured list with a right elbow injury Wednesday, meaning Evans could get some runway in the starting role.<\/p>\n
“He’s been tremendous about handling adversity, really throughout his career,\u201d head coach Jason Maas said. “He’s just an unselfish person and very committed to the game. I’m very excited for him and the opportunity that lies ahead of him.”<\/p>\n
Evans, who has a knack for running the ball but has struggled with pass efficiency, will make his fourth start for the Alouettes and 17th in the CFL after a previous stint with the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n
This time around, he\u2019s coming in with a new perspective.<\/p>\n
“More comfortable, calm,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter you go through the highs and lows, there’s not much more to go through \u2026 can’t get no lower, so you just got to go out there, sling, go out and have fun.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s gonna always be naysayers and doubters,\u201d he added. \u201cThis process has taught me a lot about myself, how hard I want to work mentally and physically, so it’s just more to prove myself right.”<\/p>\n
The task ahead, however, will be anything but easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lions (4-5) are coming off a big win over the East Division-leading Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Alouettes \u2014 losers of two in a row \u2014 have only practised once with Evans as the starter.<\/p>\n
Injury-plagued Montreal, which is also missing top receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, began the week with team meetings on Monday and Tuesday before cancelling Wednesday\u2019s practice due to inclement weather.<\/p>\n
Maas points out the Alouettes have won with backups in recent years \u2014 Evans himself won two games while replacing Fajardo in 2023 \u2014 but this season, they have a 1-4 record without Alexander.<\/p>\n
The offence has often stagnated. Through Week 10, Montreal ranks last in the CFL in offensive TDs, and second-last in offensive points, net offence and pass efficiency. Its TD drive percentage is also a league-low 13.6.<\/p>\n
Maas said Alexander, who is one win shy of a record-setting 9-0 start to a CFL career, is \u201cprogressing,\u201d but a timeline for his return remains unclear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s far enough away where we can’t exactly pinpoint a date that he’s going to come back,\u201d Maas said.<\/p>\n
The Alouettes are not the only team that\u2019s shuffled quarterbacks this season. Only Toronto\u2019s Nick Arbuckle and Hamilton\u2019s Bo Levi Mitchell have started all of their teams\u2019 games.<\/p>\n
Montreal will join Ottawa (Dru Brown, Dustin Crum, Matt Shiltz) as the only teams to start three QBs this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of the Canadian Football League and you need depth at that position,\u201d said former Alouettes QB and current offensive coordinator Anthony Calvillo. \u201cYou need the other guys to make sure they’re going to give you a chance to win out there, and we feel very confident in the guys that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond Evans, James Morgan is waiting in the wings for his first CFL chance. The Alouettes also signed former Toronto Argonauts QB Cameron Dukes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Dukes filled in for suspended starter Chad Kelly in Toronto last season before he was cut from training camp this year.<\/p>\n
Since then, the 27-year-old American has been in Florida, where he trains aspiring quarterbacks. Dukes was working out at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday when Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia rang him up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s like, ‘Hey, you can get a flight up here today?'” Dukes recalled. “Went straight home, started packing, got a flight at 4 o’clock, and I was up here at 1 a.m.”<\/p>\n
He calls it a \u201cfull-circle moment\u201d after working out for Maciocia in Vegas before signing with Toronto in 2023.<\/p>\n
“I actually said to him, \u2018I’ve been waiting on your call, man!’\u201d Dukes said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL – Caleb Evans never stopped believing he might get another chance, even after the back-to-back setbacks he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-70001","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\/70001","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=70001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}