courtesy leaderpost.com
After last season’s catastrophic collapse following the injury to quarterback Darian Durant, the Saskatchewan Roughriders couldn’t handle the thought of the same scenario playing out in 2015 so they went out and signed themselves the best insurance policy in the league. Much to the delight of any Riders fan who lived through last season, it was announced earlier today that Kevin Glenn has signed a contract with the Riders after spending last season with the B.C Lions.
Glenn was summoned last season to take over under centre for the injured Travis Lulay and was able to lead the Lions to a crossover birth in the playoffs with a 9-9 record where they were promptly dismantled in the first round by the Montreal Alouettes. While Glenn didn’t have a stellar year stats wise throwing 17 touchdowns matched by 17 interceptions, and the playoff game against the Alouettes was embaressing, it is tough to imagine the Lions could have crawled their way to a 9-9 record with the likes of John Beck or Travis Partridge running the offence.
The fact that the Lions opted not to push hard enough to re-sign Glenn and have failed to scoop up Dan LeFevour in free agency may speak to the fact that Lions’ General Manager Wally Buono is confident Lulay’s shoulder will be ready to go in June, but still I wouldn’t feel very comfortable with Beck or Partridge on deck if Lulay were to go down yet again. This remains to be seen.
However it is very clear the Riders saw a glaring issue at the backup quarterback spot after they shut down without Darian Durant last year and decided they aught to fix it. They looked to be in contention to make another run at the cup with an 8-2 record but without their star quarterback the Riders limped down the stretch with a 2-6 record and a first round exit in the playoffs. Lets not forget the Riders called upon Kerry Joseph to lead the troops one last time, that’s how desperate things got.
Obviously in a perfect world the Riders hope that he never sees the field, but Glenn has proven time and time again that if you need someone to step up and hold the team together, he is the guy for the job. If you surround Glenn with a solid team like the Calgary Stampeders did back in 2012, he still has enough left in him to win games in this league, and the Riders definitely have the talent in house to support him if disaster does strike again.
It may not be a massive signing right now, but if Glenn is called upon to salvage the season, this could prove to be the smartest move this offseason.
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