He’s in what might be the most important training camp of his life. But make no mistake: Kevin Glenn will retire an Eskimo, making history as the first player ever to play for all nine CFL teams.
Edmonton Only CFL Team yet to Own Kevin Glenn’s Rights
Well, okay, not exactly. But his rights have been owned by all clubs other than Edmonton at one point or another. He broke into the league under the tutelage of Danny Barrett’s Saskatchewan Roughriders as a tender fresh-faced rookie sixteen summers ago. With the return of Henry Burris to Regina there was an impending quarterback controversy with Nealon Greene, so the Riders decided that three was a crowd and traded Glenn to the Toronto Argonauts after the 2003 season. His stay with the Boatmen would last a few hours. He ended the day with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers via another trade.
Moving to An Expansion Franchise
More than a decade later, he would be selected in the expansion draft as the first quarterback in Ottawa Redblacks history. Then, of course, they signed Henry Burris later that off-season. (If you have much of a career in this nine-team league, you’re bound to cross paths with the same players sooner or later.) So Ottawa punted Glenn to the B.C. Lions.
But he’s legitimately contributed to all other teams in the league aside from Edmonton. And he’s proud of his journeyman status. “I will sign a one day contract with the Edmonton Eskimos because that’s the last team, so whoever’s the general manager at that time, they’re going to sign me and they can do whatever.” Said the veteran pivot before he opened training camp in Saskatoon over the weekend. “They can cut me the next day! But to know that I’ve been signed by every team or be affiliated with every team… that’s what I’m going to do!”
Becoming the Answer to a CFL Trivia Question
He has no bones about being remembered for a quirky stat like that more than what he did on the field, “It’s more so a conversational piece. You could go down as a CFL trivia question for the rest of this game. ‘What player was affiliated with all 9 teams?’ The fact that that might come into play, that’s kind of cool to me. That’s not something that you do it for it to happen. Like I’m going to get cut by this team to get signed by this team… it’s not like that. It’s just the fact that you’ve done what you’ve done. If there’s one team left, why not? Just to make it complete!” Glenn says with a grin.
No Championships, No Regrets
About to turn 38, he is ring-less in Regina. Back in the very spot his career began for a third tour of duty with Saskatchewan. Like the man who broke him into the league (Danny Barrett), Glenn has had a long career filled with highlights and Grey Cup appearances, but no championship ring. Football fans on the prairies have noticed but he swears it doesn’t keep him up at night. “I don’t think anybody should ever be defined by some jewelry. It’s the team that wins the jewelry. There’s linebackers in the NFL and CFL hall of fame that probably never won a ring.”
Whether he wins the starting job with the Roughriders this summer or not, the oldest active quarterback still playing the Canadian Football League says whatever will be, will be and he’s not disappointed with his career no matter how it finishes, “My biggest thing is leaving your mark and solidifying your space in CFL history for what you’ve done and I think I’ve done a whole lot. A lot of things that people won’t ever accomplish.”
He did after all play with legends Troy Westwood and Milt Stegall who both lasted nearly twenty years in professional football and neither of them won a Grey Cup. But there’s still time for KG.
One Last Stand
In a quarterback battle where the publicity is hogged by ex-NFL star Vince Young, the consensus among the majority of CFL observers is that although the Roughriders would prefer the one-time madden cover boy-wonder to win the job. It is journeyman Glenn who is most likely to be the starting quarterback come opening night in Montreal. Young still has to get used to accounting for 12 men on the field. Brandon Bridge has completed a whopping 37 passes in his pro career. He is also a Canadian quarterback, most never make it in this league due to the current ratio system. And names like Bryan Bennett and Maty Mauk don’t scare anybody.
It’s a recipe for Kevin Glenn to get one last gasp at not only a ring, but a chance to prove that he’s not over the hill. A stacked receiving core and offensive line bolstered by off-season acquisitions of proven stars Derek Dennis and Peter Dyakowski have opened the door wide open to show he can still be a legitimate signal-caller.
Answering the Doubters
Most seem to doubt he can be the same difference-maker whose broken arm cost the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a Grey Cup in 2007 or the steady hand who guided the Calgary Stampeders to a Grey Cup appearance of their own 5 years later. But the million-dollar question remains, is Glenn himself content with being a backup at this stage of his career or does he envision another run left in this, his 17th season?
“Oh, most definitely!” he says. “I think I can be as good as I have been over the course of my career. That’s the confidence that I have and that’s why I’m still playing this game!”
Saskatchewan fans had better hope he’s right because Kevin Glenn just might be the Riders only shot in 2017.
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