Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Zach Collaros attempts a pass against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during a pre-season game on June 6, 2019.Mark Taylor/The Canadian Press
Argonauts quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson didn’t mince words when asked what Toronto’s 0-6 start to the season has been like.
“It’s horrible. Losing is horrible. It’s been very tough,” Bethel-Thompson said on Wednesday morning.
Thirty minutes later, Argos general manager Jim Popp did something about the team’s losing skid, trading for former Toronto QB Zach Collaros from the Saskatchewan Roughriders for a fourth-round draft pick.
The trade returns the 30-year-old Collaros to the team he started his CFL career with seven years ago, when he backed up Ricky Ray as the Argonauts went on to win the Grey Cup.
“It’s a player that’s very familiar with this organization. He’s obviously a vet that has won,” Popp said. “One thing is that I always want is to have players that want to be on a team. I know he enjoyed his time here before and he’s expressed it in different ways in the past that he’d love to come back.”
Collaros has been out of action since a controversial hit in Week 1 of the season. He was placed on the six-game injured list on June 17 after taking a hit from Hamilton’s Simoni Lawrence on the third offensive play of a 23-17 loss to the host Tiger-Cats on June 13. The play earned Lawrence a two-game suspension, a ban that was later upheld by an arbitrator.
Popp wasn’t sure when Collaros would officially be cleared to play. Bethel-Thompson will start on Thursday night as Toronto plays host to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-1-0) and then the Argonauts have a bye week, giving Collaros more time to recover and get familiar with his new playbook.
“It’ll be a process,” Popp said. “He’s still got to get out and start practising. He hasn’t practised at all since he was injured. He’s still on an injured list. He’ll slowly make his way in to practice, learning our system.
“How many weeks away is he from playing? Don’t have 100-per-cent knowledge of that until we get him here. It’s going to be a day-to-day process. We’ll find out.”
Collaros adds experience to an Argo QB corps that consists of Bethel-Thompson, Michael O’Connor, Dakota Prukop and the injured James Franklin. Ray, who Collaros backed up in 2012 and 2013, retired prior to this season after a serious neck injury.
“What I want to see from our entire team is some consistency, not turn the ball over, protect the ball,” Popp said. “Let’s just have some real consistency and put some points on the board. Just like anything, the defence plays their part and will continue to improve.
“We’ve shot ourselves in the foot a lot this year. We’ve been self-destructive and we’ve got to clean that up.”
The Argonauts have the most two-and-outs in the CFL (44), the most interceptions (14), the most fumbles (7), the most turnovers overall (26) and - not surprisingly - Toronto’s opponents have scored 73 points off of turnovers, 28 more than the next worst team in the league.
Collaros spent the next four seasons in Hamilton, where he was the Ticats’ choice for the league’s Most Outstanding Player award in both 2014 and 2015.
He was traded to Saskatchewan in 2018.
The 2020 fourth-round pick can turn into a second-round pick selection, depending on playing time and contract-extension clauses.
Over his eight-year career, Collaros has thrown for 16,758 yards and 92 touchdowns, while rushing for 952 yards and eight touchdowns.