Roughriders trade Zach Collaros to Argos

The Saskatchewan Roughriders traded quarterback Zach Collaros to the Toronto Argonauts on Wednesday.

The Roughriders got a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2020 CFL draft for the 30-year-old pivot. The selection can improve to a second-rounder if Collaros reaches certain levels of playing time in Toronto.

“When you look at where we’re at and how we’re playing and how Cody (Fajardo) is doing with the offence, it certainly makes the decision (to trade Collaros) a little bit easier,” Saskatchewan general manager Jeremy O’Day said.

“But again, the quarterback position is something that you want to have as much depth as possible and good players around. As far as the decision from the organization’s standpoint, we just felt that it was the best thing for the organization.”

Collaros joined the Roughriders in January of 2018 after being acquired from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played 14 games for the Roughriders in 2018, completing 234 of 382 pass attempts for 2,999 yards with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

His 2018 season was interrupted by injuries, but the Roughriders signed him in the off-season anyway. He suffered a concussion in Saskatchewan’s regular-season opener against Hamilton on June 13 and hasn’t played since.

The Roughriders placed Collaros on the six-game injured list after he sustained that injury and he was on that list at the time of the trade. O’Day and his cohorts didn’t have to make the decision about putting Collaros on the field given his concussion history.

“We were at the point where it was getting close because he was still on the six-game and the conversation wasn’t at that point,” O’Day said. “Our first initial response to his injury was, ‘Let’s worry about his health and get him back.’

“Zach was very adamant that he wanted to continue playing and days after (the latest concussion), weeks after and even now, he wants to continue playing.”

O’Day said the Roughriders hadn’t been shopping Collaros around the league, opting instead to worry about his health. He recently reported that he wasn’t suffering any symptoms and had passed his baseline tests.

But after the Argos called within the past week asking about Collaros’ availability, the Roughriders pulled the trigger.

Asked if he felt like his team was cutting its losses by moving Collaros now, O’Day said: “I don’t know if I’d call it that.”

“When you look at what we did, we knew the risks that were involved with signing Zach back,” O’Day added. “But we also wanted to bring in some guys who possibly could develop into starters in our league. That’s kind of the philosophy that we had coming in.

“We certainly didn’t expect (an injury) to happen a play or two into the season by any means. It happened a little bit sooner than we anticipated and we were hoping that we wouldn’t be in that position to start with. Unfortunately it did happen and it allowed a guy his opportunity to come and play and he has done a great job.”

Fajardo now is the undisputed starter, with Isaac Harker and Bryan Bennett as his backups. O’Day said the Roughriders would not be adding a fourth quarterback at this time.

Fajardo will make his sixth straight start Thursday, when the Tiger-Cats visit Mosaic Stadium. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray