Rourke NFL workouts: chooses Jacksonville

[Hambone]

Last one Cro was Brock and before him Moon who benefitted greatly from the presence of Hugh Campbell. When you were raising questions about name the guys I thought you were talking about NFL prospects behind elite starters who with limited playing time parlayed that into starting jobs in their 2nd stops. That's where I see Rourke now. Position to be #2 and use that as a springboard to start elsewhere in 3 years.

All I've been saying is he needs to go down as a backup and earn his opportunities even if that starting opportunity is with his second organization like those I mentioned. I think too many took his comments of going to where he could play too literally. He's not stupid. He knew there was zero chance of getting a shot to compete for a starting opportunity this year. I would submit that if he played another 5 years in the CFL and lights it up he'd still not be offered an immediate shot to start.

So why not go to an organization with excellent QB coaching minds, secure a #2 spot and take advantage of the coaching and #2 reps now so that when game reps represent themselves he will be positioned to be successful.

[B.C.FAN]

Justin Dunk of 3DownNation.com had an in-depth interview with Rourke, who said Jacksonville showed the most interest from the outset. He got other offers but several opportunities fell through.

https://3downnation.com/2023/01/15/nath ... l-starter/

[Honour Dewalt]

Could you tell me the last time this happened in the 21st century?

Jeff Garcia. Went down and was backup to a hall of famer who got hurt, giving Garcia the chance to show his talent. He remained a starter after that. Does that count?

[Toppy Vann]

Justin Dunk of 3DownNation.com had an in-depth interview with Rourke, who said Jacksonville showed the most interest from the outset. He got other offers but several opportunities fell through.

https://3downnation.com/2023/01/15/nath ... l-starter/

The Justin Dunk article dispels any thoughts I might have had that he signed for a dream.

Sounds exactly like a great decision-making process with lots of input from others.

Now things can change but I suspect Nathan Rourke will end up a backup to the starter if not at the start of the season if CJ Beathard stays but fairly quickly.

I'm sold that this guy has the talent to shine in the right situation.

Hambone is right. Five years as a success in the CFL is not likely to put him in a better position than he is in now.

By virtue of their stability at the top of the depth chart, what the Jaguars could offer Rourke were assurances that he would get to compete for the number two job behind Lawrence, putting him one play away from the field in the event of an injury. Current backup C.J. Beathard is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

“I don’t think without that reassurance I would have made the jump, to be honest,” Rourke acknowledged. “To me, it wasn’t worth it to go down there and be a practice roster player. It was important that I was going to be able to be on an active roster or at least have the chance and then the ball’s in my court at that point.”

[TheLionKing]

Joe Kapp ??

[Honour Dewalt]

He said since the ipod invention, which would be Garcia. Garcia had a much larger resume in the CFL than Rourke before going down and was backup before becoming a ProBowler.

[OV:54-40]

Yeah, it 's real hard to imagine Nathan Rourke or any other player from the CFL being "NFL calibre" talent. OMG - it's "The Show", don't ya know.

[Hambone]

If this year is an indication odds of Rourke seeing playing time are pretty good. Only 8 QBs out of 32 teams played all 17 NFL games in 2022. Names were the likes of Brady, Rodgers Herbert, Goff, Burrow and Lawrence plus 2 more.

[OV:54-40]

He said since the ipod invention, which would be Garcia. Garcia had a much larger resume in the CFL than Rourke before going down and was backup before becoming a ProBowler.

Garcia, along with Dieter Brock & Warren Moon before him are examples of star CFL QBs who were NFL undrafted but ended up going down there after demonstrating outstanding QB play in the NFL, and getting real NFL playing time ... and guess what, they seemed to do more than Ok in the NFL Doug Flutie went NFL first (late round draft pick), then to greatness in the CFL and back to the NFL - where he won a bunch of games for the Bills, was named to the Pro Bowl, and started for the Chargers later. Evidence from the NFL field.

Now, since the ipod era, there have been lots of great NFL QBs; but also, dozens & dozens of examples of QBs who got to play there (let's say at least 3 reg. season starts plus some relief or back-up work), who turned out to be mediocre, weak or downright total $hite QB talents : poor passing stats, lost lots of games, threw lots of picks, couldn't read a D, looked lost or incompetent. It happens; scouts & coaches make mistakes on some players who end up playing in the pros - scouting is not an exact science.

Now, OTOH, in this same era of the ipod, there are ZERO examples of former top CFL QBs, who got recruited to the NFL, and who got significant playing time, and who played lousy or stunk the joint out. Again, that's ZERO. Ricky Ray & Dave Dickenson got zero playing time opportunity; Henry Burris had one start (against the Bus top notch SB winning D of that season - no hard to get why he didn't exactly light it up in that one chance); Casey Printers - nope, no playing time. No evidence from the NFL field.

And sorry about sticking with going by actual evidence from the football field to judge football players & talent; but that's just how I roll on the matter. NFL scouts may continue to write-off top CFL QBs as not "good enough" for them; and if they had some evidence from the football field - look at the example of so & so ex-CFL QB, or see exhibits 1 thru 15, then they might be on to something and maybe you couldn't blame them for their attitude issue on the subject. But they don't have the evidence; they can ASSume though. When an ex-star CFL QB ends up with some real NFL playing time in the future, and bombs or blows - somebody point it out to me please and we could continue to discuss.

So, the inscrutable genius club of NFL GMs, scouts & key personnel decision makers can continue to be dismissive of top CFL QB talent, and want nothing to do with almost all of them. That's good for CFL team and CFL fans, IMO.

And the NFL super-exerts can continue to draft, sign, dress and play a few real weak or mediocre QB talents. That's good for them and just swell. They don't do it on purpose of course; the decision makers there want to look smart; they just always aren't.

Good luck to Nathan Rourke; hope he gets to play there and does well (and if does play and bombs or blows, we can point it out as evidence from a football field); if not, I hope he at least has a great experience and makes tons of ca$h, even if just for holding a clipboard. It was a pleasure to see his fine QB skills on display on a CFL field; i'll hazard a guess that a few CFL teams might be interested in his services again if it does not pan out for him down there.

[Honour Dewalt]

I know its still over 20 years ago, but Jeff Garcia is in the realm of the "ipod era" way more than he is in the Brock, Moon era. This period you've determined is meaningless. He played in the 2000s.
But it's always been rare that a QB goes down and starts. (Whether he was backup first or not) Usually it's with exceptional play up here, which Flutie, Moon, Garcia all had. There are also a few examples of QBs that had insignificant roles in the CFL that started in the NFL later. Even though it was one season, Rourke would be in the exceptional category. You cannot ignore how he played. Printers was similar and went down there, and it didn't work out. And after that, it didn't really work out for him here either, so there might have been something to that. It's possible this happens with Rourke too, but I just have a better feeling about him. His commitment to always improving himself and working hard to be the best he can goes a long way with me. I have a lot of confidence in him. But it is possible that even if he is capable, he doesn't get the actual chance. This is what happened to someone like Dickenson. I think it's because he had another familiar and appealing option, that he came back, rather than sticking it out down there for longer.

[Toppy Vann]

JC Abott column on Nathan Rourke repeats what Glen Suitor calls him "Kid Canada" - kind of a weird name for a guy who played mostly in the USA under their coaches.

I'm confident that Rourke will be a success in the NFL. He just needs an opportunity and I'm sure he'll get it - sooner than later.

He's definitely a very special player with a work ethic that's paralleled only by the likes of the greats.


Joe Theismann turned down Miami Dolphins as he was a 4th Rd draft pick but after agreeing to a contract with Shula they added a clause about repaying a bonus so he went to the Argos.

In this football life story, he mentions how later when he was with the Argos Bob Griese got hurt and Shula had to go get Earl Morrow and theoretically that could have been him during the early 70s Superbowl years.

Now he had to return punts in the NFL before getting to be a QB.

A Football Life - 4 min he talks CFL
- .

A good story how a Notre Dame publicist changed his name pronunciation from something like theeseman to Theismann as in Heisman trophy. He didn't win but that stuck.

Joe's always been a big supporter of the CFL and I still recall Neil McCrae on a visit here where Joe was on a trip in Canada pumping ESPN or something where Neil was trying to get him to denigrate the CFL. After several ignored mentions as Joe was staying on message IIRC he got annoyed sort of and put him in his place.

[Toppy Vann]

Nathan Rourke is regularly featured on North Vancouver's Rob Williams if you check out instagram.

He's one of many athletes including Adam Bighill a year or so who work out with Rob Wiliams, a physio and bio-mechanics specialists who teaches QBs the new mechanics of throwing.

He's got a camp in NV this Jan 25-26.

https://www.instagram.com/sportcoreperformance/?hl=en

The Canadian biomechanics expert who’s remotely teaching Power 5 QBs how to fine-tune their throws

https://theathletic.com/2599738/2021/05 ... ir-throws/

[cromartie]

None of you appear to understand just what’s been lost here.

There is no better ambassador for not just the CFL but Canadian football in general than a Canadian born quarterback playing the Canadian game at a successful level. None. It’s good for the game at every level, it’s good for the team, it’s good for the league and it’s good for the player.

It’s so good, and so rare, in fact that it hasn’t happened since Russ Jackson.

You should have had a sense of the value of that last season. And the league and the club, and probably the player should have stepped in to ensure the compensation was adequate enough to leverage that and prevent this from happening. You grow the game and change narratives by prevalent Canadians succeeding at the Canadian game.

That’s gone now, and the opportunity for the game, at all levels is also gone. The club, with VA, will be fine but the perception of the league as so second tier that even a Canadian gets out as soon as he can to be a backup in the NFL is further reinforced.

And if/when Rourke comes back, no matter when that is, is that he’s just another guy who isn’t good enough for the NFL.

So you may be fine with all parties pi**ing that away for $750k in guaranteed money and a chance to hold Trevor Lawerence’s clipboard, but I’m furious.

And why me, an American, has to be the one to point this out is even more flabbergasting.

Literally everyone failed here.

But you guys enjoy your scratch off lottery tickets. I’m sure that something that hasn’t happened in 22 years is going to happen any day now.

[B.C.FAN]

Cro, I share your disappointment and I know a major opportunity has been lost but it’s not the fault of the CFL or its fans. As Rourke said Sunday, he is pursuing his childhood dream to play in the NFL. Even if the Lions found a way to scrape together a few hundred thousand extra dollars to compete with the Jacksonville offer, it wouldn’t have mattered.

When I was young, I dreamt of playing in the CFL. I didn’t get to that level but some people from my school did. Any success that Rourke has in the NFL will reflect well on the CFL, as it did with Flutie, Garcia, Moon, Brock, Kapp and other QBs who enjoyed success here before moving south. This is not a tragedy for the CFL.

[SammyGreene]

“The CFL was an unexpected detour in my football journey” says it all.
Nathan might have wanted to word that a little differently but clearly he had not once thought about “the dream” of playing in the CFL for the team in the province he was born in.
It was more like a two-year scholarship worth about $150,000 to help get him to where he dreamed of going. It also probably explained his incredible work ethic as he was never “content” to be here.