Fall is in full swing across North America. The CFL regular season is coming to an end and the playoffs will be upon us in just four weeks. It’s time to start singling out the players who have been the best at their positions in 2015. The Last Word on Sports CFL department takes a look at the best players in 2015, position by position. Today, we discuss who was the CFL’s best quarterback.
CFL’s Best Quarterback in 2015
Oh the quarterback! The most scrutinized position in football and possibly in all of sport! 2015 has been anything but the year of quarterbacks in the CFL, with 11 injured quarterbacks and one retired midway through the season. It’s a surprised that the 40-year-old Henry Burris is only one of two starting quarterbacks from the beginning of the season left standing, without any injury. The other quarterback to make it through the year is Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell, who is in his prime at 25-years-old.
Thanks to the influx of injuries, Montreal, Saskatchewan, Edmonton, B.C. and Winnipeg have all had at least three starting quarterbacks, introducing many quarterback controversies. To an average fan, the merry-go-round of quarterbacks is too confusing and has possibly shunted some fans away from the league.
With all these changes in the position, it’s hard to pinpoint who exactly was the best on each team, let alone name the best quarterback in the league. But hey, let’s give a shot.
Nine Teams, Nine Candidates
In this edition of “nine teams, nine candidates”, we will include all the other quarterbacks that have started a game this season, just to show how many have played. The quarterback in bold is the candidate for the CFL’s best quarterback in 2015.
- B.C. Lions- Travis Lulay**, John Beck*, Jonathon Jennings
- Edmonton Eskimos: Mike Reilly**, (Matt Nichols), James Franklin
- Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Drew Willy*, Brian Brohm, Robert Marve***, Matt Nichols
- Calgary Stampeders: Bo Levi Mitchell
- Saskatchewan Roughriders: Darian Durant*, Brett Smith, (Kevin Glenn)**
- Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Zach Collaros*, Jeff Mathews
- Toronto Argonauts: Trevor Harris, Ricky Ray**
- Ottawa Redblacks: Henry Burris
- Montreal Alouettes: Jonathan Crompton*, Rakeem Cato**, Tanner Marsh, Kevin Glenn
Legend: *Currently injured, **Injured but returned to play, ***Retired, ( ) Traded from team
Yes, that’s a lot of quarterbacks. However, there are three quarterbacks who stand out the most. Although Trevor Harris is a close fourth on this list with his league-leading 32 touchdowns, his counterparts Zach Collaros, Bo Levi Mitchell and Henry Burris all get the nod for the nomination of the CFL’s best quarterback in 2015.
Bo Levi Mitchell
Bo knows how to win. The 2014 Grey Cup MVP has proven to the naysayers that he is not a one-trick pony, in his second full season as Calgary’s starting quarterback. Going 343/526 passing is already better than last year’s numbers in terms of completions (264) and completion percentage (63.3% compared to 65.2% in 2015). He currently sits second in the league with 4,304 yards passed, 23 touchdowns and 13 interceptions- which unfortunately is an increase on the INTs he threw last season by five.
What is making him such a good quarterback this season is his leadership skills. Anybody that watches the Calgary Stampeders play football knows that Mitchell is their leader on and off the field. He makes everybody else around him play so much better. Eric Rogers was a no-name last season but thanks to Mitchell, he’s one of the best wide outs in the league. Even with Jon Cornish sidelined most of the season, Mitchell has led his team to a 12-4 record.
That’s what makes a great quarterback.
Henry Burris
The 40-year-old ‘Smilin’ Hank’ Burris has 40 million different reasons to keep up that iconic smile going all season. The future Hall-of-Famer is leading the league with 5,148 yards of passing right now and is just 219 yards shy of his career-best mark, which he set with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2012. This is also only the third time in his long and illustrious career that Burris has passed for over 5,000 yards. He passed for 5,093 yards the year that he won his first and only Grey Cup with the Calgary Stampeders, in 2008.
Burris has completed an alarming 71.8% of his passes 607 passes. His career-high for completion percentage is 66.2% in a 2010 season in which he fell just shy of 5,000 yards but threw 38 touchdowns. It will be interesting to see if Burris can maintain his percentage over 70% with two games remaining against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Burris has brought this team from a 2-16 inaugural season record, to a 10-6 record and battling for the division crown in 2015. Burris was given a group of veteran receivers in Greg Ellingson, Maurice Price, Ernest Jackson and Brad Sinopoli and has them playing in their prime once again. He keeps defences guessing by mixing the ball around and by tucking it and running himself- he has seven rushing touchdowns.
Don’t be surprised if Burris can lead this Redblacks team to a Grey Cup victory in November.
Zach Collaros
Despite a week 14 injury that tore his right ACL, Collaros still deserves a nomination. Up until his final snap in the 2015 season, Collaros was terrorizing defences and led the most potent attack in the league.
Collaros threw a touchdown pass in every game except in Hamilton’s opener and only threw for one TD in four of his remaining 11 games.
His 3,376 yards of passing ranks him second only to Burris for yards per game, which he has an average of 281.2. Excluding his 90-yard shortened outing when he got injured, he has nearly thrown for 300 yards a game. Collaros is still second in the league for touchdown passes with 25, with Mitchell right behind him. Statistically, Collaros is ranked one of the best even when he is out injured.
For the Tiger-Cats, Collaros is more than just a number. Like Mitchell and Burris, Collaros has single-handedly turned his team into the East Division champs the past two years. When he got injured, the Ti-Cats were 8-3, and since then the team has gone 2-3. He is just that valuable.
The Winner
The winner is an obvious choice and a possible Most Outstanding Player, Mr. Henry Burris. One of the oldest players in the league is making everyone else look like infants- a simile saying he makes them look like kids would not be a simile but rather the truth… they literally are kids to him. He is having the best season of his career and to not name him the CFL’s best quarterback would be an insult to his play.
Main Photo.
