The Canadian Quarterback Conundrum Part 6: “Big Fish in a Small Pond, Canadian quarterbacks and the increasing CFL competition”

CFC reporter Rahim deMolitor was tasked with getting to the bottom of the CANADIAN QUARTERBACK CONUNDRUM.  This multi-series story digs deeper than ever and includes interviews with many Canadian Football experts including a variety of journalists including Kirk Penton & Andrew Bucholtz; coaches including Danny Maciocia & Warren Craney; former players including Duane Forde; Quarterbacks including Brad Sinopoli, Giulio Caravatta, Jamie Bone and Michael Faulds and many, many, many more.  And of course, we encourage you to join in the discussion, and forward these great stories to your friends.

Big Fish in a Small Pond

Canadian quarterbacks and the increasing CFL competition

PART 1 – CLICK HERE

PART 2 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Giulio Caravatta, Warren Craney and Michael Faulds

Part 3 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Brad Sinopoli, Michael Faulds, Giulio Caravatta, Kirk Penton and Richard MacLean

Part 4 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Jamie Bone, Kirk Penton, Giulio Caravatta and Brad Sinopoli

Part 5 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Duane Forde, Andrew Buchotlz, and Kirk Penton

Part 6 includes comments from Kirk Penton and Andrew Bucholtz

Part 7 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Lowell Ullrich, Giulio Caravatta, Michael Faulds, Brad Sinopoli, Billy McPhee and Duane Forde

Part 8 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia, Giulio Caravatta, Duane Forde, Brad Sinopoli, Andrew Bucholtz and Michael Faulds

Part 9 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia, Andrew Bucholtz, and Duane Forde

Part 10 – CLICK HERE includes comments from TSNs Farhan Lalji

Part 11 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Christian Audet, Pat Boies, Cherif Nicolas

Part 12 CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia and Brad Spinoli

Remember NFL Europe?

The game across the pond used to be a key cog in the NFL’s development system. Similar to how the NBA utilizes the D-League, NFL teams sent borderline prospects to Europe so they could be coached up and shown the NFL ropes.

Jake Delhomme, Kurt Warner and Brad Johnson all dawned Europa jerseys before graduating to the NFL, with the latter-two leading their teams to Super Bowl championships.

In 2007 though, costs outweighed benefits. Owners were losing money and NFL Europe officially shut down.

What does this have to do with Canadian football?

Well, if you are a former NCAA quarterback and you don’t own one of three spots on an NFL roster – outside of the Arena League – you only have one other option.

The CFL.

For aspiring quarterbacks in this country, the increase in competition is yet another hurdle to overcome.

“(The shutdown) is one factor of all the (American) quarterbacks we saw emerge in 2013,” said Kirk Penton. “There is no other outdoor league outside of the NFL anymore and the CFL is benefitting because if you’re not in the NFL, you’re probably coming up here.”

Penton, a CFL writer and columnist for the Winnipeg Sun was named 2013 CFL Reporter of the Year by the Football Reporters of Canada.

Plain and simple he said, “There is nowhere else to play. If you want to play outdoor football, you have no other place to go.”

Whether it’s Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, Florida’s Chris Leak, Hawaii’s Colt Brennan or former Ohio State Buckeye and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith – the influx of talent is making Canadians chances that much slimmer.

“You’re seeing a lot of investment in high profile backup quarterbacks and that definitely makes it more difficult for a Canadian to break in,” said Yahoo! Sports Andrew Bucholtz. “It’s much harder at quarterback than at any other position because of those limited number of starting jobs.”

Bucholtz, who runs Yahoo’s CFL blog The 55 Yard Line continued, “at the moment you have eight starting quarterbacks and nine next year with Ottawa — that’s not a lot of jobs.”

With the numbers dwindling, is it harder than ever for a Canadian quarterback to breakthrough in the CFL?

According to Bucholtz, it’s “a wash.” While competition in the CFL is fierce, he says, quarterback play in the CIS has sprouted as well, teetering the scales back to the mean.

But without concrete stats, we won’t know exactly how much NFL Europe’s shutdown affects Canadian quarterbacks. One thing is for sure – with the clock still ticking on 18-years since Giulio Caravatta last started a CFL game – it hasn’t helped.