CFL QB injury epidemic takes down Darian Durant, Mike Reilly, Dan LeFevour

The CFL's opening weekend was a terrible one for quarterbacks, with Saskatchewan's Darian Durant, Edmonton's Mike Reilly, and Montreal's Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour all leaving their respective teams' games with injuries. Crompton is only listed as day-to-day, but the other injuries appear more serious. The Roughriders confirmed Saturday night that Durant is gone for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, while LeFevour has a dislocated shoulder and is likely gone for the year. Reilly's status isn't known yet, but his knee looked badly hurt after a flagged low hit from the Argos' Cleyon Laing Saturday, and he left the locker room on crutches. What could losing these quarterbacks mean for each team?

For Saskatchewan, losing Durant could represent a substantial blow to their hopes for this season. The Riders struggled while he was hurt for the last half of the season in 2014, and while there were plenty of questions about their team heading into this year, Durant's return gave them some hope. With him out, Kevin Glenn will have to step up. Glenn has plenty of experience, which may make starting him a more palatable option than throwing in a raw rookie, but keep in mind that he's still relatively new to this team and its offensive system. In fact, most of the team's new to that system, as the Riders switched offensive coordinators this offseason, parting ways with George Cortez and bringing in Jacques Chapdelaine. Glenn also wasn't that impressive when forced into regular starting duty in B.C. last year (thanks to Travis Lulay getting hurt), and he turned 36 this month. While Saskatchewan does have a solid ground game, they'll still need to make progress through the air and avoid turnovers, something Glenn particularly struggled with last year. Does he have enough left in the tank to be a regular CFL starter? We'll find out.

The other confirmed season-long loss, that of LeFevour, might or might not be highly significant for the Alouettes. LeFevour was a big-name signing for them this offseason, but he entered the year as the backup to Crompton. Granted, Crompton was on shakier territory than any other CFL starter, given his lack of experience (this is only his second season, and he was only elevated to the starting role partway through 2014) and the poor completion percentage he posted last year, so there was plenty of speculation that he would be on a short leash and LeFevour might be given a chance if he struggled. We won't get to find that out now, though, so Montreal may have to give Crompton a little more rope. If Crompton excels and hangs on to the starting role, LeFevour's loss may not matter much. If he doesn't, though, losing their top backup option may be more painful for the Alouettes.

With Reilly, a lot depends on just how badly he's hurt. If he misses a game or two, that may not be critical for Edmonton; they have a good, experienced and promising backup in Matt Nichols, plus other intriuging options like Jordan Lynch. Reilly has proven to be an excellent CFL quarterback over the last couple of years, though; he's probably the most dangerous rushing quarterback in the league (he regularly posts more rushing yards than anyone else, at least), he has good arm strength, he's able to evade pressure, and he's got great chemistry with top receivers like Adarius Bowman. The Eskimos have options behind him, but if they lose Reilly for a substantial part of the season (or even the whole year), that likely drags their offence down.

Quarterback injuries are nothing new in the CFL, as we've seen a ton of them over the last few seasons, and there were questions about how completely Durant, Toronto's Ricky Ray (who's currently on the six-game injured list) and B.C.'s Travis Lulay (who's healthy for now)  had recovered heading into this season. Still, seeing four quarterbacks hurt on opening weekend is remarkable, especially with at least two of those proving to be season-ending injuries, and the Laing hit on Reilly was particularly troublesome. The league's rule changes this year were at least partly designed to improve offence and scoring, but it's going to be hard to do that in the quarterback-driven CFL if quarterbacks keep going down. One week may be an anomaly, and the health histories of guys like Durant, Reilly and LeFevour may be a part of this too, but major quarterback injuries have been a notable trend for the past few years. The CFL might need to look at what it can do to further prevent those; otherwise, we may not have many quarterbacks left standing.