Kevin Glenn traded at deadline...to the Alouettes, his eighth different CFL team

The idea of an East Division team in need of veteran quarterback experience trading for Saskatchewan Roughriders' pivot Kevin Glenn finally came to fruition Wednesday, but before this week, few expected it would be the Montreal Alouettes on the other end of the deal instead of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After several rounds of swirling rumours, though, TSN's Gary Lawless broke that news Wednesday morning, reporting that the Riders had sent Glenn to Montreal for a fifth-round draft pick. That's just ahead of the league's trade deadline (Wednesday at 4 p.m.), and it's one of the few significant moves we've ever seen near the deadline; it may pave the way for others, though. While Glenn to Montreal is a relatively-recent and unexpected idea, it may be a trade that works out well for both the Alouettes and Roughriders.

One big factor in Glenn landing in Montreal may have been Hamilton, and specifically the way their rookie quarterback Jeff Mathews performed against Saskatchewan Saturday. When Ticats' starter Zach Collaros was lost for the year in September, Hamilton trading for Glenn (who was playing for the soon-to-be-eliminated Riders) seemed like a strong possibility given their remaining quarterbacks' limited CFL experience and the strenght of the rest of their team. Ticats' head coach and general manager Kent Austin publicly proclaimed his confidence in Mathews, but that may not have lasted without results; however, Mathews' dazzling 385-yard, three-touchdown in Saturday's 30-15 win over Saskatchewan was good enough not only to make him our First Star of the week, but to suggest that he has a chance to be a viable Hamilton starter going forward. One game isn't proof Mathews is going to be a great CFL quarterback, but it appeared to be enough to convince the Tiger-Cats to thoroughly give up on the idea of Glenn. That may have paved the way for the Alouettes to swoop in, and the lessened demand from Hamilton may have made the Riders agree to a price Montreal GM Jim Popp would accept.

So, why did the Alouettes do this? Well, this weekend's games were also likely a factor there, and particularly the injury Montreal QB Rakeem Cato suffered in their 25-17 loss to Toronto Monday. Cato is also a CFL rookie, but he's largely been playing well, and if he'd had stayed healthy, the Alouettes might have been quite content to go forward with him. With Cato leaving in the second quarter with a suspected concussion, though, the situation became rather different. Immediate replacement Anthony Boone has next-to-no CFL experience, and he didn't look great Monday, and neither did third-stringer Tanner Marsh (until the waning moments, when he led an almost-comeback). There hasn't been any word yet on the severity of Cato's injury, but concussions frequently take a while to recover from, and every game is critical for the 5-9 Alouettes, who are fighting for their playoff lives. Thus, a move to bring in an experienced CFL QB makes some sense, especially if the cost was only a fifth-round pick. (This works for Saskatchewan, too; they're already out of the playoffs, they might as well give 22-year-old rookie Brett Smith some more experience, and this way, they get some return for Glenn.)

Will Glenn be any use to Montreal? Well, that's the key question. Glenn's seventh all-time in CFL passing yards with 45,510, and he's been very effective at times over the years. He's also having a pretty good season, all things considered; after stepping in for starter Darian Durant, who was lost for the year in the Riders' first game, Glenn was a critical reason why the Riders' offence led the league in 17 of 30 statistical categories through five weeks. On the year, he's thrown for 2,174 yards with a 66.5 per cent completion mark, which is above both the 63 per cent he posted last year and his 62.3 per cent career mark. However, he's struggled since returning from a torn pectoral muscle that put him on the six-game injured list, and he has just nine touchdowns this year against 10 interceptions. Glenn is also aging (he's 36) and well-traveled (with this trade, he's now been with eight of the current nine CFL teams, even if he never played for two of them; the Edmonton Eskimos are the only team that have never had Glenn on their roster), and he's coming into a new offensive scheme and system, which can be hard even with a full training camp, much less in the middle of the season. Gambling on him is a bit of a desperate move.

This seems like a gamble worth taking for the Alouettes, though. They're in a fight for their playoff lives, but the playoffs are still reachable (particularly through the East-to-West crossover if they finish ahead of Winnipeg and B.C., who both only have five wins), and an experienced QB like Glenn may go a long way to getting them there. Once in the playoffs, anything can happen. If Glenn doesn't pan out as their starter, he'll give them an experienced backup option at the least, which seems like an upgrade over what they currently have. He also only cost them a fifth-round pick; that's not nothing, but it's not a huge price to pay for a move that might well improve their postseason chances. Montreal head coach and general manager Jim Popp is rolling the bones here, but there's more than a ghost of a chance for it to work out well for him.