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<\/p>\nA week before the start of the CFL regular season, the Ottawa REDBLACKS dropped what could be looked at as a quarterback bombshell on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jake Maier will be the team\u2019s starting QB \u2013 not just for Friday night\u2019s pre-season home game against the Montreal Alouettes, but also in Ottawa\u2019s season-opener next week against Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Surprising? Yep. It\u2019s not like Maier doesn\u2019t have the CFL resume, but, when healthy, Dru Brown has been the team\u2019s starting quarterback for the past two years.<\/p>\n
The depth chart for Friday\u2019s game listed Maier as the starter. Then, following a walkthrough, REDBLACKS head coach Ryan Dinwiddie made it official, not waiting until next week to make the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake\u2019s going to be our starter moving forward,\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cWe feel like he\u2019s the starting quarterback, so let\u2019s not wait to announce it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A week ago, with Brown out of the lineup, Maier completed 10-of-14 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns against the Alouettes. That, along with what they observed during the past couple of weeks in training camp, was enough to convince the decision-makers to give him a shot at the No. 1 role.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cJake\u2019s had a good camp,\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cHe solidified it a bit last week, I thought he played well against Montreal\u2019s (first) unit. He\u2019s throwing the football well, and he\u2019s moving better than he has in the past. He did a great job this off-season training. We feel like we need to get him more reps with the ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d said Maier, who spent four years with the Calgary Stampeders (2021-24), with 4,244 passing yards in 2023. \u201cI\u2019m super grateful for (Dinwiddie\u2019s) trust. When it comes to starting any football game for a team up here, it\u2019s a great honour, you can\u2019t take it lightly \u2026 ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I was ready (for camp) when I showed up. When you go out there, you just try and let it all hang loose, play fast and not worry about anything. People play better when they\u2019re freed up, and I\u2019ve felt freed up the past 20 days or so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the camp competition with Brown, Maier said: \u201cIt\u2019s totally healthy. We\u2019re kind of attached at the hip, not just in meeting rooms or at practice, but off the field as well. We get coffee together, we eat meals together, and he\u2019s invited me over to his house. It\u2019s been really positive. He\u2019s one of the good guys in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maier, who was the backup to Trevor Harris on last year\u2019s Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders, said the REDBLACKS made no promises when he agreed to join them as a free agent three months ago.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
After being dealt to the REDBLACKS by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers prior to the 2024 season, Brown put up 3,959 yards in passing. With injuries limiting him to 11 games last season, he had 2,389 yards.<\/p>\n
When told earlier this week he would be the backup, Brown, unsurprisingly, wasn\u2019t happy. Nor should he be expected to be. But when talking to media members Thursday, he played the role of good teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake\u2019s a great player, I feel the same about myself,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou leave it up to the head man to decide. I\u2019ve had (this happen) in my career, even going back to college. I\u2019m still confident in myself. It really doesn\u2019t matter what I think; I don\u2019t make the decision. We just get on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy for Jake; he\u2019s been through a lot in this league. I\u2019ve got a lot of respect for people who have been dragged through the mud. My initial reaction was that I was happy for Jake. Then, all the other emotions came. The decision doesn\u2019t change my relationship with Jake. I really enjoy working with him. I\u2019d rather this be more about praising him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Telling Brown he wasn\u2019t going to start was a difficult conversation for Dinwiddie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s never easy to make that decision, and it\u2019s never easy to hear the decision. It\u2019s unfortunate. At the quarterback position, only one guy plays. I\u2019ve been there before; it\u2019s not a good feeling because now you\u2019re waiting for an injury or a bad performance to get on the field. He took it pretty well. He was obviously disappointed, just as anybody should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what went into the decision in choosing Maier, Dinwiddie said: \u201cGetting through progressions, arm strength. I thought Jake was driving the football. He can deliver a few more concepts for us, a few more throws. He\u2019s got great leadership, he\u2019s confident, and he commands the huddle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having proven depth at quarterback has the potential to turn what\u2019s been a rollercoaster ride at the position for the REDBLACKS the past few years into a strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to make sure we had two quality quarterbacks,\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cInjuries happen in this league, obviously, it\u2019s happened a lot in this organization the past five or six years. With Dru going down last year, that influenced the outcome of the season. We wanted to make sure that wasn\u2019t going to happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two good quarterbacks. It\u2019s something you have to manage, but it\u2019s a good problem for us. If one guy happens to go down, you have another guy ready to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A week before the start of the CFL regular season, the Ottawa REDBLACKS dropped what could be looked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-701426","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\/701426","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=701426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}