Stampeders lock up Tate: now, whither Burris?

It looks like Drew Tate will be the Calgary Stampeders' starting quarterback for the near future. Sportsnet's Arash Madani reported Wednesday that the Stampeders have signed Tate to a three-year contract extension. Tate took over from Henry Burris midway through the 2011 campaign and led the Stampeders into the playoffs, but he proved ineffective in Calgary's West semifinal loss to Edmonton and was replaced by Burris at the half. Burris didn't do any better in relief, though, and this extension makes it clear that the Stampeders see the 27-year-old Tate as their main quarterback heading into next year. That probably means that Burris, the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2010 and a guy who's been Calgary's starting quarterback since 2005, will be wearing new colours next season.

This move is an interesting one, as it has potential but also involves substantial risk. There's a lot to like about Tate, who had a solid college career at Iowa and has been maturing on the Calgary bench for most of the time since then; he's made impressive throws, shown composure in the pocket and seems to have picked up a deep understanding of the Canadian game. Many have anointed him as perhaps the next great CFL quarterback. However, he still hasn't seen a lot of CFL action, only starting a few games down the stretch last season, and his stats are more decent than fantastic; he completed an impressive 63.9 per cent of his passes in 2011, but only threw for 1,346 yards and tossed just eight touchdowns against five interceptions.

There's certainly a solid chance that Tate (seen at right above) will develop into the next Travis Lulay, but it's also quite possible that he could be the next Steven Jyles. Remember, Jyles had an impressive season in relief for part of 2010, was acquired by Toronto in a high-profile trade, struggled with injuries and terrible play throughout 2011 and then was sent packing by the Argonauts in exchange for Ricky Ray. The point is that although Tate's been promising so far, we're dealing with a very limited sample size in regards to what he can do, and that sample size itself isn't overly mind-blowing.

From an age perspective, though, there is a significant advantage here for Calgary. With Tate and star Canadian running back Jon Cornish (who signed an extension of his own earlier this offseason), the Stampeders have a pair of 27-year-old building blocks at crucial offensive positions. They have plenty of other young talents as well, including outstanding 26-year-old guard Dmitri Tsoumpas and 26-year-old defensive back Geoff Tisdale. It sounds like Tate's extension is for less money per year than the $400,000 Burris (seen at left above) was pulling in annually, so that should give Calgary further cap flexibility to continue building a team of young stars, one that can compete both immediately and down the road.

What about Burris? Well, it sounds like he's on his way out of town. Here's what he told Madani in response to the news of Tate's extension:

The question is where Burris will move on to, though. Hamilton looks like the only place that will appear to have a starting quarterback vacancy, but the Tiger-Cats are still trying to sort out their coaching situation. Winnipeg could potentially be in play if the Bombers want to move on without Buck Pierce, but they've stuck with Pierce for a while and they also seem quite impressed with understudies Joey Elliott and Alex Brink. Edmonton theoretically could make a move for Burris, which would be hilarious given the typical rivalry between the Eskimos and Stampeders, but that's unlikely to happen; they justified the Ray trade as a means to get younger, so it's highly unlikely they'd want to replace a 32-year-old pivot with a 36-year-old. They've also anointed Jyles as their starter, and they're confident in backups Kerry Joseph (just signed to an extension himself), Eric Ward and Matt Nichols.

Thus, the only real starting opening seems to be in Hamilton, and it's far from certain the Tiger-Cats will want Burris as their starter. If they don't, he might go from 2010 MOP to 2011 bench-warmer to 2012 backup, or even out of the league completely. The Stampeders have clearly indicated they want to go with a young quarterback with this Tate extension. Now, the question is if the Tiger-Cats will follow suit, or if they want an experienced veteran like Burris.