‘Guys are hurting right now without getting paid’: Bombers QB Zach Collaros

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros has accepted there won’t be a CFL season in 2020, however, there was a feeling it was going to happen.

The three-down league had chosen Winnipeg as its hub city for a shortened six-game schedule plus playoffs, although the football wasn’t put in the end zone to finish the drive.

“From talking to people on the players’ side, I think they exhausted everything. They went down the avenue of looking at every option that they had. Talking with a couple of people that are really close with the situation, everybody thought there was going to be a season,” Collaros told The Herald-Star reporter Joe Catullo. 

“I think it came down to federal backing, and we didn’t get it. It is what it is. It was tough when we heard the news about it. It finalized what the worst case scenario was. That coming to a halt definitely hurts. I know a lot of guys are hurting right now without getting paid.”

The 32-year-old Collaros timed his new contract with the Bombers well without knowing the COVID-19 pandemic was coming. After helping lead Winnipeg to their first Grey Cup since 1990, Collaros signed a two-year extension in January. His signing bonus checked in at $225,000, according to 3DownNation insider Justin Dunk. Following putting pen to paper, Collaros was preparing to defend the Bombers’ CFL title.

“I just tried to keep myself in shape. Our gyms are closed, so I’ve been doing a lot out of my garage. I’ve been throwing the football a lot at the back of a soccer net or through a field goal post,” Collaros said.

“I’m just trying to get adjusted to the precautions we have to take every day. I’m not special by any means. Everybody has to adjust and make the best of it.”