Breaking down the best QBs in the CFL

There have been some great CFL QBS throughout history: Russ Jackson, Tracy Ham, Warran Moon and of course, Anthony Calvillo and Doug Flutie.

And there are great QBs playing in today’s game as well. Lead by Bo Levi Mitchell, the Calgary Stampeders are at the top of the list (5/2) to win the Grey Cup once more, but does that make him the best QB in the business right now?

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The Champs

When I say the champs, I don’t necessarily mean the Stampeders. I mean the East and West team leaders, Trever Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell. Being considered the best shouldn’t be purely reliant on stats. A lot of the consideration comes from what you do for your team. And both of these guys did a lot.

Bo Levi Mitchell

Bo led the Stampeders to a 13-5 regular season and through the playoffs to win it all. He also was the two-times the top performer of the week, the Stampeders 2018 most outstanding player, and one of three All-Canadian All-Star selections.

Mitchell had a QB Rating of 78.00 while putting up 5,949 net yards and 35 touchdowns against 14 interceptions and just 21 sacks/fumbles. The Stampeders average margin of victory was over 15 points, whereas their average loss margin was just over 7 points. Those are pretty incredible numbers.

Trevor Harris

The Redblacks are listed at 11/2 to win the Grey Cup in 2019 and a lot of that has to do with the fact that they have one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Harris. At 11-7, the Redblacks season wasn’t as decisive as the Stampeders’, but they made it through the playoffs and won the East.

Trevor has the third highest QUAR in the league at 81.4 and picked up 5,598 net yards and 22 TDs against 11 INTs and 36 sacks/fumbles.

Although Harris is ranked higher on QUAR ratings, I would still have to go with Mitchell. The same can be said for a few of the other top QBs of such as Ricky Ray.

Ricky Ray

Ray posted a whopping 6,585 net yards and sits above Bo Levi on the QUAR, but he took a huge amount of sacks/fumbles. 43 to be exact. Some would argue that this can be blamed on the O-line, but when you are posting numbers that are just as high as anyone else in the league, you actually can’t blame it on the line. You have to look at it as an inability to avoid taking sacks. In short, Ray simply doesn’t get rid of the ball as well as guys like Jeremiah Masoli or Bo Levi.

I am going to take this argument up the chain to Matt Nicholes and who many consider to be the best QB in the CFL, Mike Reilly.

Mike Reilly

Mike Reilly is an amazing playmaker. The 7,099 net yards last season along with an outstanding 87.1 QUAR shows that quite clearly. But he only led his team to 9 wins. When he was hot, they would win by putting up numbers in bunches. But, the defense can’t be blamed entirely for the losses because Edmonton’s average losing score was 18.56. That is on Reilly.

Fantastical plays … huge bombs and some amazing rushing TDs, but Reilly put took almost double the sacks/fumbles (37) that Bo Levi did. To me that means that he is not as good at managing the ball and protecting field position. This stat directly relates to turnovers and having to punt the ball away. And of his 30 TDs, he was picked off 18 times. This means for all his spectacular plays, he was intercepted once per every 1.6 touchdowns.

So, despite Reilly’s 7,099 net yards and the top QB rating, Bo Levi Mitchell is currently the best QB in the CFL. He has 5 more TDs, takes fewer sacks, and throws fewer interceptions. Now, hopefully, he doesn’t get snatched up by the NFL.