The Edmonton Elks have reworked the contract of quarterback Nick Arbuckle for the 2022 season.
TSN reporter Dave Naylor has the details: The Elks have redone the contract of QB Nick Arbuckle who originally signed for ‘22 under previous GM Brock Sunderland. New deal pays him same salary ($328k + plus $12k for housing) but $100k as a signing bonus. One year deal.
Edmonton acquired Arbuckle in a trade with the Toronto Argonauts on October 26, 2021 in exchange for a conditional 2022 CFL Draft pick and the rights to negotiation list QB Chad Kelly. Arbuckle re-signing in November meant the Elks gave the Argos Edmonton’s second round pick in the 2022 CFL Draft.
Early in training camp last year, Arbuckle was hampered by a hamstring injury, however he returned to full health, but was watching from the sideline as McLeod Bethel-Thompson led the Boatmen as the starter at QB prior to being dealt from The Six to Alberta.
He signed a one-year contract last February with more than half of his compensation paid upfront in the form of a $150,000 signing bonus. Also included in his deal was a base salary of $109,000, which worked out to approximately $6,055 per game, weekly housing payments of $666.67 and a $300 bonus every time he played 51 percent of the offensive plays in a game.
Arbuckle has intriguing upside and ability, evidenced by his performance in beating Winnipeg during Week 3. He completed 23-of-32 passes (71.9 percent) for 310 yards and one touchdown with another on the ground in a 30-23 win. That was one of only three losses the back-to-back Grey Cup champion Bombers suffered in 2021.
During seven games with Toronto, four starts, Arbuckle passed for 1,158 yards, five touchdowns against six interceptions with a 62.7 completion percentage. The California native spent his time in Calgary learning under current Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie, who was the Stampeders quarterbacks coach from 2016-2019.
An injury to Stamps starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell in Week 3 of the 2019 CFL season put Arbuckle into the starting role. The six-foot-one, 214-pound signal-caller won four of seven games under centre, completing over 73 percent of his passes for 2,103 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions, while adding another four scores on the ground.
Arbuckle spent 2020 with the Ottawa Redblacks after being traded to the nation’s capital from Calgary in January. He was released by Ottawa prior to a $150,000 roster bonus on Monday, February 1 after the two sides reached an impasse in contract renegotiations.
The 2018 Grey Cup champion spent two record-breaking seasons at Georgia State University (2014-2015) where he was a two-time All-Conference quarterback and Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year in 2015.
Arbuckle left GSU as the school’s career passing leader with 7,651 yards and 51 touchdowns, while also adding eight rushing touchdowns for a school record 59 total touchdowns.
He set conference records for passing after a senior season with 4,368 yards, as well as single-season school records for completions (307), touchdown passes (28), total offence (4,273) and total touchdowns scored (34). Arbuckle is one of only three NCAA Division I quarterbacks in the state of Georgia history with two 3,000 yard passing seasons.
Prior to his time in Georgia the quarterback played two seasons (2012-2013) at Pierce College in California where he threw for nearly 7,000 yards and 73 touchdowns.
