Eskimos general manager shares views on Canadian quarterbacks and the ratio
3Down Staff 3downnation.com December 18, 2017
Brock Sunderland has been forthright in his first year as Eskimos general manager.
He kept that going when asked about Canadian quarterbacks counting towards the ratio.
“It’s trending that way. I would vote for it to be that way. If you have a Canadian quarterback he absolutely should count as a Canadian,” Sunderland told TSN 1260 in Edmonton.
“We had a scenario in 2006 in Montreal we had Jesse Palmer, he came up and Jim Popp and I were joking with him. We said we could literally start an entire offence of Canadian players. For me I don’t know why it wouldn’t be allowed, this is the Canadian Football League and if you can develop a quarterback it’s advantageous for the players, the fans, the league and everybody involved.”
With the possibility of an Atlantic franchise entering the league in the near future, Sunderland was asked about the current rule of having to start seven Canadians to comply with league stipulations.
“I know in Ottawa last year for the first three to four maybe even five weeks of the season we started nine. We just had the talent there so we went with it and it gave us a lot more opportunities if there was an injury. On the flip side, there is other teams and I’ve been with some teams where guys are propped up and they are starting,” Sunderland said.
“And what it does is it affects your cap because you’re playing a guy that really you don’t feel is a starter, but you have to pay him starter money because he is Canadian and there is a ratio affect. There’s good arguments on both sides. From the CFLPA perspective they’re going to protect their own and protect the investment of the Canadians, it is the CFL. Sometimes on our side we just want to play the best players no matter what, and a lot of times the Canadians are the best players, so it doesn’t matter anyway. But the reality is you are paying some Canadian players a little bit more because of the ratio, which makes sense.”