Bombers players welcome Collaros with open arms

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This article was published 10/10/2019 (2406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no telling if we’ll ever see newly acquired quarterback Zach Collaros behind centre for the Blue Bombers, but he has some familiar faces in the locker room that are excited to see him in Winnipeg.

The Bombers made a deal on Wednesday, minutes before the CFL trade deadline at 4 p.m. The team sent a 2020 third-round draft choice to the Toronto Argonauts for Collaros and a fifth-round pick. The Argos will also receive Winnipeg’s 2020 first-round draft pick if Collaros, a free-agent after this season, signs an extension.

Bombers kicker Justin Medlock has seen Collaros at his best as they played together with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2014 and 2015. Collaros led the Ticats to the Grey Cup game in 2014 and was having a career year in 2015. In 12 games, Collaros led the CFL in touchdown passes (25), passing yards (3,376) and passer rating (113.7) before going down for the season with a torn ACL.

The injury bug has followed Collaros ever since, which is the main reason why he’s been traded twice this season and was made available to the Bombers — a team seeking help at the position since No. 1 quarterback Matt Nichols went down with a season-ending shoulder injury on Sept. 15.

With rumours floating around that Collaros could be dealt, Medlock reached out to his former quarterback.

“I shot him a text yesterday at 6 a.m.,” Medlock said after Thursday’s practice at IG Field. “He was like “Oh man, I thought you were a GM.” I just said ‘Hey, good luck today’ and we talked a little bit. I said our locker room is great and this is the kind of locker room that he’d really like… the guys have a great system, great offensive co-ordinator, a system he can do really well in.”

Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson and Collaros were teammates last year with the Roughriders. Jefferson has high praise for the newest Blue Bomber.

“Zach’s a real good dude, a real good teammate,” said Jefferson.

“He’s one of those guys that comes in early, tries to get the offence down so he can really try to make it his (own). If he is able to get on the field, he’ll bring a lot of positives, pushing the ball down the field, passing wise and him knowing some of defences and stuff with him being a veteran player.”

Collaros will not be the team’s starter — at least not yet. Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea confirmed the job belongs to Chris Streveler. The second-year pivot has struggled as of late as the Bombers have dropped three straight and have only managed to score one offensive touchdown in their last 10 quarters. In 11 games, Streveler has 1,256 passing yards, six touchdown throws and 10 interceptions.

“Chris Streveler is the starter. He’s the guy who’s gonna get it going for us,” said O’Shea.

Thursday was a closed practice, so it’s unknown if Collaros was out there in the snow working with his new team or if he’ll be dressed on Saturday when the Bombers host the Montreal Alouettes at IG Field. But with a new arm in the building, there will be people calling for the new guy to get his shot behind centre sooner rather than later. Despite that, O’Shea doesn’t believe it puts more pressure on Streveler to perform. However, O’Shea does believe it was a “good move” to bring in a seasoned veteran at the position. Streveler was not made available to speak to the media on Thursday.

“Chris is a pro. I’ve said right from the get-go that one of the things that was really cool to see from Strev was how much of a pro he was in his prep and his understanding of being a pro quarterback and leading the team,” O’Shea said. “When I talked to Strev yesterday after the trade went down, he said it doesn’t change anything in his prep or how he thinks. He was preparing to win a football game and lead a team. It doesn’t change anything.”

Last week, O’Shea said it would be hard to expect a player, especially a quarterback, to come in this late in the season and “change your franchise.” When asked if he still feels that way, O’Shea had a different response.

“Well, once again I go back to the idea we talked about was we were trying to get a veteran quarterback. So, it would be very difficult for a young quarterback to come in and learn a system and trot him out there and think he’s gonna help. One of the things about veteran players, no matter what position, is if they’ve been in a few different systems, what they’ve really learned, besides the system, is they’ve learned how to learn the system. They understand what their process is in learning a playbook and learning it quickly.”

Only time will tell if Collaros will get a chance to revive his career in Winnipeg. The 31-year-old hasn’t taken a snap since he was knocked out of Saskatchewan’s season opener after taking a hit to the head from Ticats linebacker Simoni Lawrence. Cody Fajardo took over for Collaros and his play led the Riders to trade their opening-day starter to Toronto at the end of July. But if his number gets called, Medlock believes Collaros can be a difference-maker even though he’s had a roller-coaster of a season.

“We’ll see how it all plays out. I got faith in Streveler… But I think just from (Collaros) as a player, I’m really excited to see him here. If he’s healthy, he’s a great player and I think he can help us,” said Medlock.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

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