The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have traded quarterback Dru Brown to the Ottawa Redblacks for a fifth-round pick in the 2024 CFL Draft, per sources.
Brown is scheduled to become a free agent on Tuesday, February 13. By trading for him general manager Shawn Burke can negotiate a contract with Brown prior to the market opening. That allows Burke to know his salary cap space with a presumptive No. 1 QB solidified.
“Under the right leadership and coaching and play calling and all those things, I think he can be one of the best if not the best guy in the league. I truly feel that way about Dru,” veteran quarterback Zach Collaros told 3DownNation‘s John Hodge during Grey Cup week in Hamilton.
Bombers general manager Kyle Walters expected Brown to leave the Manitoba capital.
The 26-year-old attempted only 14 passes in his rookie season as the third-stringer behind Collaros and Sean McGuire. He took over the primary backup job with Winnipeg in 2022 and made his first career start late in the season, throwing for 325 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in a 40-32 loss to the B.C. Lions.
Brown won both of his starts in 2023 and finished the year completing 69.7 percent of his passes for 983 yards with nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. He set a new single-season CFL record for the most touchdown passes without registering a single pick.
The five-foot-11, 191-pound QB signed with the Bombers in 2020 after a collegiate career that included stints at the College of San Mateo, University of Hawai’i and Oklahoma State University. He didn’t receive any NCAA Division I scholarship offers out of high school in California.
Brown joins a Redblacks team that has Dustin Crum, Jeremiah Masoli, Tyrie Adams, Tyrrell Pigrome and Jake Dunniway as quarterbacks under contract for the upcoming season. Nick Arbuckle is scheduled to hit free agency on February 13.
The Redblacks will begin their 2024 season when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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