I want to ask this question right off the hop before we even know if Winnipeg is interested in Dukes; Montreal has released him, should Winnipeg sign him?

I have not looked at Dukes stats, I am about to, but I have not yet…because I want to say what I am about to say without looking at his stats. Watching almost all of the CFL football games this year, I do not recall Dukes sticking out and thinking that he was an amazing player.

Having said that, if Wilson – for the Bombers – is so bad that he could not even crack the line up after Streveler laid and egg…then why not sign Dukes? Ok, now we and I can look at Dukes stats.

In 2024, Dukes was the guy that got the most reps after Kelly.

But it was Arbuckle that played in the Grey Cup for Toronto.

And then, this year Montreal signed Dukes, but after three weeks they cut him lose. So I do not think that Dukes is going to be the next big thing in the CFL. But I still have to wonder if he is better than the Bombers’ third string quarterback, Wilson. Streveler has not played well this season. Some will point to the most recent game that he won…but that is not sustainable. And despite all of that, Willson did not see the field.

I do have to wonder if the Wilson situation is like the Mitchell situation. For a long time we speculated why the Bombers shelled out a lot of up front money for Mitchell and Mitchell was not seeing any playing time. But this week here is what the Bomber’s Head Coach said about Mitchell, “He’s good. He’s always been good. It was just a matter of him knowing what we’re doing and getting comfortable in the offence.

“We’ve always known he’s a good player. I’m happy for him personally to have success and feel good to have your work pay off for you. But you could see some of the other things he does — he’s hard to bring down, he’s got a strong lower body; he’s got some greasiness to him, some shift that makes him hard to tackle. We’ve seen him get whacked and pop back up like nothing’s happened. He’s got good hands… all that stuff.”

So if we take O’Shea at his word, the only issue was that Mitchell was taking more time than they anticipated to be ready. But I am not sure that I believe that. The Bombers got so thin at receiver that in once case Streveler was playing receiver out of necessity. But again, much in the case of O’Shea defending Streveler…what is O’Shea supposed to say about Mitchell?

If O’Shea was being transparent, which I am not sure he was, could the same thing be true about Wilson? I think Bomber fans have to hope so. Because Winnipeg cut their other quarterbacks early in the season, and in the Bombers’ game against Edmonton on Friday night, Collaros did not look great.

I am not suggesting that the Bombers should sign Dukes and play him over Collaros. But what do you do in the playoffs – if Winnipeg makes the playoffs – and Collaros is struggling? In that case, the Bombers likely keep Collaros in. But what if the game quickly gets out of hand in the second half of a playoff game, and the game is slipping away from the Bombers? Again, I think the Bombers would keep Collaros in…but should they? The CFL playoffs are win, or go home; there is no game two…there is no series.

As of today, the answer would be yes…because Streveler has shown that he cannot win the game. And we have to assume the same is true for Wilson as he has not even seen the field…except for the 2024 Grey Cup which was disastrous. That is why they put Collaros – with a gimpy finger – back in that game.

What if the Bombers get into the playoffs and Collaros gets hurt; now what? If it is not Dukes, the Bombers should sign another quarterback – even if just for the stretch run – and put Wilson on the practice roster. Get a quarterback that they could realistically use, get him in now to learn the system…and hope they never have to play him this year.

In a year that Winnipeg is hosting the Grey Cup, the Bombers have refused time and time again (no moves at the trade deadline either) to go all in with their roster on a season that the Kyle Walters, the General Manager was not ever sure about at the beginning of the season.

Because, as of right now…the Bombers are not good enough to even get to the Grey Cup.

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