Drew Willie, Kevin Glenn Traded

[Blitz]

A couple of big trades.

Winnipeg traded Drew Willie to Toronto for T.J. Heath, a first round draft choice in 2017, and a third round pick in 2018.

Then the Bombers traded their fourth round pick next year to Montreal for Kevin Glenn.

Basically the Bombers raped Toronto in the trade because Toronto was desperate for a backup quarterback, with Ray injured. They host the Grey Cup this season.

But Drew Willie was not in the Bombers future plans. He has an expensive contract. The Bombers got rid of the $100,000 bonus they would have paid Willie next January. The Bombers got T.J. Heath, an excellent defensive back and the Bombers defense is loaded in the defensive backfield. A first round and third round draft choice to add to the Bombers bounty for the trade of Wiliie to Toronto meant Toronto paid a very high price.

One has to wonder about Barker as GM of Toronto. He let Collaras and Harris get away for nothing. Then pays a ransom for Willie, who may not turn out to be Ray's successor one day.

With Willie gone, the Bombers got Glenn for a 4th round draft choice. Glenn cost our Leos a first round draft choice two seasons ago, a trade that Benevedes called the 'biggest steal in the history of the CFL" but consider the source.

Montreal made a wise choice to definitely turn the page for the future. In the meantime the Bombers get an experienced backup for Nichols for the remainder of this season and possibly next. Glenn can pick up an offence quickly and is in the role that he should be in at this stage of his career.

The Bombers and the Als have now established their future direction at quarterback. Willy had to be traded from Winnipeg to establish Nichols as their starter. Montreal needed to trade Glenn so the team could not be divided in terms of whether to stay with an established quarterback or play with a young quarterback. Both problems solved.

[maxlion]

Winnipeg wasn't going to do Toronto any favours given that they are fighting for the same playoff spot. Willy still has potential--perhaps Milanovich will be able to help turn his career around. Matt Nichols is no sure thing and Glenn is incapable of leading a team anywhere, so the Bombers are taking some risk here too.

i agree that Toronto paid a lot more than I expected to see Willy go for, but from a playoff-positioning standpoint, I think Toronto is suddenly not looking too bad while Winnipeg is relying on a guy with a very short resume and a washed up journeyman. Toronto may come out as the winner in this in the end.

[Hambone]

Winnipeg wasn't going to do Toronto any favours given that they are fighting for the same playoff spot. Willy still has potential--perhaps Milanovich will be able to help turn his career around. Matt Nichols is no sure thing and Glenn is incapable of leading a team anywhere, so the Bombers are taking some risk here too.

i agree that Toronto paid a lot more than I expected to see Willy go for, but from a playoff-positioning standpoint, I think Toronto is suddenly not looking too bad while Winnipeg is relying on a guy with a very short resume and a washed up journeyman. Toronto may come out as the winner in this in the end.

Not sure how you figure Toronto and the Bombers are fighting for the same spot. Winnipeg is snapping at BC's heels and 4 points up on Edmonton with their series tied 1-1 series lead and Bombers +3. The rubber match is in 2 weeks. That will be a must win for Edmonton to stay in the West race.

[Blitz]

Winnipeg wasn't going to do Toronto any favours given that they are fighting for the same playoff spot. Willy still has potential--perhaps Milanovich will be able to help turn his career around. Matt Nichols is no sure thing and Glenn is incapable of leading a team anywhere, so the Bombers are taking some risk here too.

i agree that Toronto paid a lot more than I expected to see Willy go for, but from a playoff-positioning standpoint, I think Toronto is suddenly not looking too bad while Winnipeg is relying on a guy with a very short resume and a washed up journeyman. Toronto may come out as the winner in this in the end.

Not sure how you figure Toronto and the Bombers are fighting for the same spot. Winnipeg is snapping at BC's heels and 4 points up on Edmonton with their series tied 1-1 series lead and Bombers +3. The rubber match is in 2 weeks. That will be a must win for Edmonton to stay in the West race.

Matt Nichols has played very well in Winnipeg. He's completed 70.7% of his passes, has a 104.1 quarterback efficiency rating and the lowest interception rate per game in the CFL.

Nichols' college career passing yards are the most in Big Sky Conference history and rank sixth overall in NCAA history.

Nichols career in Edmonton was set back by a devastating broken leg injury as well as a torn AC. Nichols was coached in college by Beau Baldwin whose list of QBs he’s coached includes Mike Reilly, Bo Levi Mitchell and Vernon Adams Jr.

At 6'2" and 215 pounds, with sound mechanics, Nichols has only started 19 games in the CFL. Whether he is long term starter material or not can't be seen at this point but there is no reason why he can't be successful longer term in the CFL.

Kevin Glenn is 38 years old now but Winnipeg needed a backup quarterback for at least this season, with the trade of Drew Willie. I see Glenn as a backup quarterback now but he is still capable of leading a team if needed. In Calgary, in 2012, he started 15 games for the Stamps and then beat our Leos in the WDF. In 2013 for the Stamps Glenn played a total of 15 of the 18 regular season games, leading the Stamps to a league best record of 14-4, earning a first round bye.

Glenn had one of his worst seasons ever in his one season with us as a Leo but he spent most of that season on his back, crushed under a pile of rushers. Last year, in Saskatchewan, during his first four starts, he quarterbacked the best offence in the CFL. Even with Montreal's offence in disarray, Glenn was 4th in CFL passing yards and had a 70.2% completion average. He has a penchant for throwing too many interceptions but he is a very good insurance policy for Winnipeg this season with only a the cost of a 4th round pick next year.

T.J. Heath, a first round and a third round draft choice were very expensive for Willy. But I do agree with you that Toronto might not come out of fine, depending on how Willy plays in the future there.

There is no reason why Willy can't be successful. Willy was the most prolific passer in Buffalo football history. As a four-year starter, he set numerous records there and during the final 20 games of his college career, Willy threw 36 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. Willy was good enough to kick around with a number of NFL teams.

In Winnipeg last season, Willie completed 68.6% of his passes and had a very good 106.6 quarterback efficiency rating. This season in Winnipeg Willie completed 71.7% of his passes and had a 94.0 quarterback efficiency rating. Those are starting CFL quarterback numbers. An offence's success is not completely determined by the quarterback. Scheme, blocking, receiver quality, play calling all are part of the equation.

It will be interesting to see how this all works out next season. Nichols as the starter in Winnipeg, possibly Willie in Toronto and likely Vernon Adams in Montreal.

One thing for sure, the bar for CFL quarterbacks has never been higher. There are many good ones in the CFL right now from Bo Levi Mitchell, Mike Reilley, Jonathan Jennings, Zack Collaros, Trevor Harris and Ricky Ray when he is healthy. Durrant can still play very when he is healthy too.

These are the other historically significant CFL quarterback trades that took place during the regular season.

1961 – Joe Kapp traded by Calgary to BC for Jim Walden and four other players
1974 – Hamilton traded Chuck Ealey to Winnipeg for Don Jonas
1974 – Peter Liske was traded by Calgary to BC for Karl Douglas
1983 – Hall of Famers: Dieter Brock traded by Winnipeg to Hamilton in exchange for Tom Clements
1983 – John Hufnagel traded from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg for Nickie Hall

Source: cfl.ca

With Nichols playing well in Winnipeg, only Montreal and Toronto, with Ray out, really have quarterback worries.

Montreal is going with Cato for now, likely Adams in the future. Montreal needs to settle on a quarterback for the future. Since Cavillo retired, Montreal has used Josh Neiswander, Tanner Marsh, Troy Smith, Jonathan Crompton, Alex Brink, Rakeem Cato, Anthony Boone, Kevin Glenn, and Brandon Bridge.

[maxlion]

Well, Nichols has been around the CFL since 2012, and the 6 games he has played this year is the first time that he has had any kind of sustained success over those 5 years. At this time last year, he was only worth a conditional 7th round pick. However, he is playing very well now.

As for WPG and TOR fighting for the same spot, Hambone is right that WPG is in the driver's seat. One or 2 losses could change that pretty quick though.

[Blitz]

Well, Nichols has been around the CFL since 2012, and the 6 games he has played this year is the first time that he has had any kind of sustained success over those 5 years. At this time last year, he was only worth a conditional 7th round pick. However, he is playing very well now.

As for WPG and TOR fighting for the same spot, Hambone is right that WPG is in the driver's seat. One or 2 losses could change that pretty quick though.

I agree with you maxlion that Nichols has been around since 2012. But he was only given two starts in 2012 in Edmonton . He was supposed to compete with Mike Reilley for the starting job in Edmonton in 2013 but tore an ACL in the exhibition season and missed the entire 2013 season. By 2014 Reilley had established himself as the starter in Edmonton. Nichols only started 3 games for Edmonton in 2014.

His first real opportunity arrived in Edmonton in 2015 but he didn't play that well and then was traded part way through that season to Winnipeg. A trade part way through a season to a new team, different offence, etc, is not easy to do.

He's never really ever had the #1 job before now, so I'm interested to see what he will do with it. He hasn't started a lot of games in the CFL as already mentioned.

While things can change quickly in the CFL, right now it will be Calgary, B.C. and Winnipeg in the West. The order could change.

In the East, Ottawa has 11 points and Toronto, Hamilton have 10 points. Ottawa has played one less game. Edmonton has 10 points in the West.

Right now any of those teams - Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, or Edmonton can still miss the playoffs. Heck, if our Leos even lost a bunch of games and a couple of teams went on a winning streak, there is no guarantee that we will get a playoff spot yet although the odds are in our favor.

Still a lot of important games to play yet for our Leos and other CFL teams. Plus we have to play Edmonton and Winnipeg twice over the remaining schedule of the regular season.