On Thursday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced a list of players that they had recently signed that included several American skills players. A name that was left off that list was American quarterback Kevin Thomson. According to the CFL Transactions list, the Tiger-Cats have signed Kevin Thomson, and he is coming to Hamilton from the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL after not being selected during the UFL player allocation process during the XFL/USFL merging process. Adding Thomson to a quarterback room includes CFL veteran Bo Levi Mitchell and 2023 CFL rookie sensation Taylor Powell.
The addition of Thomson may indicate that the Tiger-Cats will not pursue Hamilton backup quarterback Matthew Shiltz when free agency starts on February 13th. Shiltz is due to become a free agent and could have a chance to move on to more significant opportunities after successfully helping Hamilton make the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. Historically, the Tiger-Cats have injury issues with quarterbacks during the long CFL season, so adding quarterback depth is vital, especially if Shiltz does not return to Hamilton in 2024. The downside of Thomson is that he also has a poor history of injuries that he suffered in 2015, 2018, and 2022, which led to him being unable to play during those seasons.
Thomson is a 6’1″, 200-pound native of Auburn, Washington. In 2021 and 2022, Thomson was a backup quarterback with the BC Lions. Still, while competing for a backup position in the pre-season of 2022, he suffered an injury that led to him not playing for the Lions during that season. Most recently, Thomson was on the 2023 roster for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL.
The 28-year-old quarterback chose to pursue his career in professional football after leaving the University of Washington after not appearing in a game for the Huskies during the 2020 season as a graduate transfer. Before coming to Washington, Thomson played at Sacramento State for four seasons and spent two seasons at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Throughout seven seasons, Thomson played in 27 games and completed 441 passes out of 770 attempts, resulting in 6,424 yards and 52 touchdown passes with only 12 interceptions. He also ran the ball 257 times for 1,247 yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.
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