The B.C. Lions made pitches this off-season to free agents Tre Ford and Dustin Crum to join their quarterback room, but returnee Chase Brice was always going to get a crack at being the No. 2 man behind Nathan Rourke.
That was the word from Lions general manager Ryan Rigmaiden as part of him talking up the progress that Brice, 28, has made going into his fourth season with the club.
Preseason Performance
Brice got the start in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Edmonton Elks in Langford. He was 8-of-10 for 77 yards, highlighted by a 14-yard touchdown toss to Hergy Mayala, in a 34-16 loss.
The Lions went with second and third stringers almost exclusively in their visit to Vancouver Island. The top units will see action Friday when the Lions close out the preseason with a visit to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. But their playing time will undoubtedly be carefully managed by coach Buck Pierce, considering B.C. has extra runway until games start counting in the standings, with a Week-1 bye putting their regular season debut on June 13 with a visit to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Rourke will undoubtedly get a series or two under centre versus the Blue Bombers. Brice will get a more extended run at the controls than he did last week, offering another opportunity to see how far that Grayson, Ga., native has come along. In the regular season with B.C., Brice is 25-of-33 for 261 yards, with a one touchdown for his 36-game career.
GM's Confidence in Brice
“We certainly did look at Dustin Crum and Tre Ford, but Chase was coming back regardless,” Rigmaiden said. “We got his deal done before free agency had started and Chase was going to come back and battle for that job. We really believe in him, as the previous staff did and Buck does as well. And so to watch him come in and get more of a command was something we wanted to see from him and he bit from Day 1.
“He looks like a different guy. He has a different style of leadership. You could just see that he wasn’t taking long to process on the field. He was getting the ball out, executing the offence. He knows what Buck expects and having a year in that system is really, really good for him.”
Crum, 27, made six starts last season with the Ottawa Redblacks. He signed a one-year deal with the Montreal Alouettes in February. Ford, 27, who made five starts with Elks in 2025, inked a two-year contract at the same time with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Montreal’s starter is Davis Alexander, 27, who missed 10 games last season due to a hamstring injury. Hamilton’s No. 1 quarterback is a 36-year-old Bo Levi Mitchell. Those are both teams that would seem to have more opportunity for passers than B.C. with a reigning Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian in Rourke, 28, and they’d both have more money to spend under the salary cap.
Previous Backup Situation
B.C. had brought in a 36-year-old, 12-year CFL veteran Jeremiah Masoli to be Rourke’s back-up last season. He made a pair of starts midseason due to a Rourke injury, but was No. 3 on the depth chart by season’s end, behind Brice. B.C. didn’t opt to bring him back.
The 6-foot-2, 236-pound Brice signed initially as a free agent with the Lions in June 2023. He inked a two-year extension with B.C. in February. He played collegiately at Clemson, Duke and Appalachian State.
“We always want to improve every room. I don’t care if it’s the quarterback, receiver, whatever…we always want to get better,” Rigmaiden said. “There’s always going to be a balance between finding the right fit and the right talent in that.
“Unfortunately for us, those players (Crum and Ford) opted to sign elsewhere. But that’s OK. We have a very high opinion of Chase and it’s good to see that coming to fruition.”
New Additions
The Lions inked a quarterback with CFL experience 10 days ago in Jarret Doege, 28, a Lubbock, Texas product who dressed for 18 games for the Toronto Argonauts last season and made three starts. For the season, he threw for 905 yards, completing 97-of-142. He connected for four touchdowns, he threw seven interceptions. He had dressed for 20 games and made a single start the previous two years with Edmonton.
Toronto had released three days Doege before B.C. signed him as part of getting down their preseason roster limit.
It’ll be interesting to see how quickly he picks up Pierce’s offence and whether he can push Brice for that No. 2 spot. He’s a 6-foot-1, 210 pounder who played collegiately at Bowling Green, West Virginia and Troy.
Doege was 6-of-10 for 67 yards against Edmonton.
The other quarterback on the roster is rookie Kaidon Salter, 23, a Dallas native who started nine games last season for coach Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes’ NCAA squad. Salter was 7-for-14 for 67 yards versus the Elks.
Upcoming Schedule
B.C.’s first two home games of the regular season will be at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna, starting with a June 27 visit from the Calgary Stampeders. The Lions’ usual B.C. Place home digs are being used for the FIFA World Cup until then.
“I truly am excited about Kelowna and how we approach it. I think that’s going to be a great opportunity for the team to bond and stay together and have that experience,” Rigmaiden said.
“Ultimately, you’d always like to play Week 1, but this isn’t something so outlandish that we think it’s going to have a super negative effect on the team.”
B.C.’s first game back at B.C. Place is a July 25 match-up with the Toronto Argonauts.
