With week 3 in the books let’s look at how the quarterbacks did and how it affects the quarterback rankings.

These rankings can help provide insight to give you an edge in CFL fantasy football games. Although week 2 is over you can still set up a head-to-head fantasy football league and draft a team in a league with your friends. Our friends at 110yards.ca are able to accommodate a CFL fantasy football league starting mid-season.

1. Zach Collaros, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Previous Ranking #QB1

Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris put on a show to be remembered in Winnipeg’s visit to Saskatchewan. Collaros had a 127.5 efficiency rating while Harris had a 127.4 efficiency. 

Collaros completed 23 of his 31 passes for 293 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also picked up a rushing touchdown. Collaros rarely scores rushing touchdowns but he was pressured on a play at the 4-yard line and scrambled into the end zone. 

After 2 weeks of play, Collaros leads the league in passing yards with 647 and in touchdowns with 5. He is among only 3 quarterbacks who have started a game and not yet thrown an interception this season alongside Cody Fajardo and Chad Kelly who have both played in only 1 game so far.

2. Cody Fajardo, Montreal Alouettes, Previous Ranking #QB2

Cody Fajardo and the Montreal Alouettes were on a bye this past week. He did have the 2nd highest QBR in week 1 as he threw 14 of 21 passes for 261 yards. People forgot how good Cody Fajardo can be after a down year last year during which he was playing through injuries. He was a CFL All-Star in 2019 during which he led the league in passing yards. He is very dangerous with his legs as he was 2nd in rushing yards last year among quarterbacks and first the year before.

For right now I am going to leave Fajardo at #2 as he does still have the 2nd highest QBR and has shown in the past he is one of if not the most dangerous rushing quarterbacks in the CFL. He will need to continue to pass at a high level coming off his bye week to maintain his position at #2. In my mind, Vernon Adams Jr, Trevor Harris, and Chad Kelly are all very close behind him. I need to see fewer interceptions from VA and Harris, and a greater body of work from Kelly before I move Fajardo lower.

3. Vernon Adams Jr., BC Lions, Previous Ranking #QB3

Vernon Adams Jr. had a strong game against Edmonton. He completed 25 of 35 (71%) for 312 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Edmonton’s defense played well overall against Vernon Adams overall despite being on the field for what felt like the entire game. The Lions did not score a touchdown until their 11th drive but did do well moving the ball down the field and scored 5 field goals on the day.

Despite the Lions’ offense missing Keon Hatcher and Lucky Whitehead in this game who both had 1,000-yard receiving seasons last year, the Lions passing game looked very good and demonstrated great depth at receiver. Adams was able to connect with each individual starting receiver at least 3 times each.

4. Trevor Harris, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Previous Ranking #QB9

Trevor Harris had arguably the most impressive quarterback performance of the season. I was wary of how well Harris could do with Saskatchewan based on 2 factors. Saskatchewan last year gave up by far the most sacks in the CFL and Harris is a pocket passer who is not known for his mobility. Because of this, I was skeptical if this could produce success for Saskatchewan’s offense.

I no longer have such concerns after Harris put up an astonishing 413 yards and 3 touchdowns. Harris completed 41 of his 29 passes (71%).

Last year Winnipeg and BC tied in allowing the fewest passing yards while Winnipeg allowed the fewest points scored by the opponent’s passing game. To have the CFL’s first 400+ yard passing performance of the season, and to do so against Winnipeg is highly impressive. 

The most impressive play to me by any quarterback of the week was a long pass to Shawn Bane Jr. who was streaming down the right side of the field. Despite being covered by CFL All-Star Deatrick Nichols the ball was dropped perfectly into Bane’s hands leading to a 45-yard gain. Harris bravely stepped into the throw and took a heavy hit from defensive tackle Ricky Walker just after he threw it. There was arguably a missed roughing the passer call on this play due to the fact that Walker landed on Harris with the entirety of his weight.

It was overall a very good performance by Trevor Harris despite the fact Winnipeg won 45-27.

Vernon Adams stays ahead of Harris at this time on the rankings as Vernon Adams threw for over 312 yards against Edmonton, whereas when Harris played Edmonton he threw for 179 yards.

5. Chad Kelly, Toronto Argonauts, Previous Ranking #QB7

Chad Kelly looked very good in his second career CFL start. He demonstrated a good ability to push the ball downfield hitting receivers accurately as they were open. Swag Kelly did not have any passing touchdowns but he did have 3 rushing touchdowns.

His first touchdown came off a play on Hamilton’s 7-yard line when a linebacker quickly appeared in front of him unblocked. Kelly did a pump fake and juked inside before bouncing outside and charging toward the endzone. 

He finished the day completing 14 of 23 passes for 213 yards. He also added 28 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns. 

6. Jeremiah Masoli, Ottawa Redblacks, Previous Ranking #QB6

Masoli looked good last year before a season-ending injury sustained against Saskatchewan. With Ottawa’s passing game struggling as it has in the first 2 games, Redblacks fans will be really hoping Masoli can make the start in week 4 following their bye week.

7. Jake Maier, Calgary Stampeders, Previous Ranking #QB8

Jake Maier had a much more productive week than what he had in the season opener against BC. Maier completed 22 of his 33 passes for 332 yards and 1 interception in the win against Ottawa in week 2. Calgary’s offense looked very good as both Malik Henry and Reggie Begelton had 100 yards receiving on the day.

Maier is back to a higher rate of production after throwing only 166 yards in week 1. A lot of the lower production could have been attributed to playing BC in week 1 who followed up their defensive performance in week 1 by limiting Edmonton to 98 passing yards in week 2. We will likely see a trend of quarterbacks struggling against BC this season.

8. Bo Levi Mitchell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Previous Ranking #QB4

Bo Levi Mitchell made 2 costly mistakes in week 2 and that was in the form of 2 interceptions thrown into Hamilton’s end zone. Both of the interceptions he threw ended drives that looked promising and consisted of 40 yards passing each. Both of the interceptions were very risky throws essentially just lobbed to the end zone. Had he played sharper and demonstrated better decision-making on the interceptions both of those drives had good potential to become touchdowns based on where they were.

Bo Levi completed 10 of his 14 passes in the first half for 118 yards with 2 interceptions. Aside from the interception plays it could have been a pretty good half.

I saw enough upside to disagree with anyone saying he is washed but he needs to be better. He finished the game 16/24 with 158 yards and 2 interceptions.

9. Taylor Cornelius, Edmonton Elks, Previous Ranking #QB5

This game was just hard to watch for Elks fans. In fairness to Taylor Cornelius, the BC Lions were playing great on defense applying pressure to him and multiple times he was getting rid of the ball within 3 seconds of the snap.

He simply has to be better. He was in a tough position against BC who was playing a really good game defensively, but if he cannot put together some better performances Edmonton will look to Kai Locksley or Tre Ford to take over the quarterback position. In week 2 he completed just 13 of 22 passes for 98 yards.

Last year he was producing at a pace that was on track for 4,000-plus yards in a full season. He needs to show something this season now to get the fans to believe in General Cornelius again. This season he has looked like a different quarterback. One of the reasons he was so dangerous last year was the fact he had 502 rushing yards in 12 games (41 yards per game). So far this season he only has 22 yards rushing in 2 games (11 yards per game).

10. Matthew Shiltz, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Previous Ranking Unranked

Matthew Shiltz came into the game late against Toronto in relief of Bo Levi Mitchell after he appeared to sustain a groin injury. He put up very impressive numbers in a very short timeframe. He didn’t throw a pass until there were less than 6 minutes left in the game. During that span, he completed 13 of his 14 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. His first pas he hit Tim White in stride for 29 yards.

Matthew Shiltz’s performance in week 2 was impressive and Tiger-Cats fans may feel excited to see more of him if Bo Levi Mitchell needs to miss time.

I named Schiltz to my preseason East Division All-Star team following his 12 completions on 16 passes and 2 touchdowns. He also possesses secret speed as he rushed 1 time in the preseason for 51 yards.

11. Tyrie Adams, Ottawa Redblacks, Unranked

Tyrie Adams entered the game in relief of Nick Arbuckle in the final 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter. He completed 9 of his 17 passes (53%) and finished the day with an interception on his final play. Adams did throw a completion on a 2-point conversion following a punt return touchdown by Brandin Dandridge. After 2 games Ottawa has not scored any touchdowns outside of the punt return touchdown. Adams also added 19 yards rushing on 4 carries with his longest being 11 yards. His best play of the day was a pass to Quan Bray for 50 yards.

Redblacks fans likely cannot wait to get Jeremiah Masoli back from injury after the offense’s struggles through 2 games. Should Masoli be unable to play in week 4 I would suspect Adams may get the start after Arbuckle has struggled in his absence. Ottawa may want to see what Adams can do in a game that he gets the start in. Adams is a very mobile quarterback who can attack defenses with his legs.

In the preseason Adams completed 11 of his 15 passes racking up 244 yards and 2 touchdowns so there may be potential for him to become a dangerous passer.

12. Nick Arbuckle, Ottawa Redblacks, Previous Ranking #10

At first Ottawa’s offense appeared to be heading in the right direction as they were putting a nice drive together as they marched down deep into Calgary’s territory. Nick Arbuckle completed his first 5 passes on the drive none of which were thrown deeper than the first down marker. Ottawa made it down to Calgary’s 4-yard line before Arbuckle threw 3 incompletions leading to Ottawa turning it over on downs. Calgary did a good job here applying pressure but he did not step into any of his throws on these 3 incompletions.

Later in the game, Ottawa recovered a punt return fumble at Calgary’s own 11-yard line midway through the second quarter but they were only able to turn this golden opportunity into a field goal after an incomplete pass was followed up by a 4-yard completion.

Nick Arbuckle’s level of play was not good enough against Calgary as nearly all of his completions were short passes. In week 2, he continued the pattern that was seen against Montreal, where he was frequently not stepping into his throws, throwing off his back foot, and playing with poor footwork. Overall he completed just 12 of his 21 passes for 109 yards with 1 interception on the day.

I don’t believe Arbuckle is a bad quarterback, but he has been playing like a bad quarterback.

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Stay tuned for my updated running back and wide receiver rankings!

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