In early March, Gary Lawless broke the news Agent Leigh Steinberg and quarterback Vince Young were en route to Regina to finalize a deal with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The move reminded CFL fans everywhere that unsigned NFL quarterback's could make the trip up north anytime they want.
Young was on the Roughriders negotiation list, which by CFL rules means they had the first shot at signing him when he decided to come to Canada.
The following excerpt is from Kevin Seifert's ESPN article on the subject, explaining the CFL negotiations list:
As Seifert points out in his article, NFL teams aren't showing much love to a trio of free agent quarterbacks right now, who were once giant talking points in their league. Those quarterbacks are:
Johnny Manziel
(Gregory Shamus/ Getty Images)
Colin Kaepernick
(Justin K. Aller/ Getty Images)
Robert Griffin III
(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
Any general manager, coach, or fan base would understandably be excited at the prospect of any of the three quarterbacks coming to the CFL, highlighted by Hamilton Tiger-Cats GM Eric Tillman’s comments on Manziel.
That brings us to the question; what CFL teams hold the rights to the above players? And according to the Seifert article, the answer is the same for all three: the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
(Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
Although the team has one of the CFL’s dynamic young quarterback’s in Zach Collaros (above), it appears the TiCats have been hoarding the rights to a plethora of unwanted NFL quarterbacks with tremendous upside.
While it does waste a couple of spots on the team’s negotiation list, the off chance one of these former NFL stars comes north is a risk worth taking.
To read Kevin Seifert full ESPN.com story, ‘Why one CFL team owns rights to Manziel, Kaepernick and RGIII,’ click the link HERE.
