Just a few short months ago, it looked like Nick Arbuckle's CFL career might be finished. Being a starting quarterback in the 111th Grey Cup in Vancouver would have been the stuff of wild dreams.
Yet that's where Arbuckle will find himself Sunday following a gruesome injury to starter Chad Kelly. He'll be the Toronto Argonauts' quarterback against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after an uphill battle to get to this stage.
There were no expectations that the 31-year-old would play a game this season and, frankly, he was not guaranteed to play in the CFL ever again.
After getting just two starts with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2023, Arbuckle was left sitting and waiting as free agency came and went last winter. He wasn’t sure where his career was going and was holding out hope that a call could come from a team around July or August for a potential opportunity.
That call did come, earlier than expected, when the Argonauts contacted him in May, just before the team opened its pre-season schedule.
Kelly was set to miss the start of the season after getting suspended for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy, and at the time, the team wasn’t sure when the league would reinstate him.
With Cameron Dukes and Bryan Scott as the only two quarterbacks on the depth chart, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie and the front office were looking for a veteran to provide some stability both on and off the field, and Arbuckle was at the top of their list.
“I’m very happy to be back here,” Arbuckle said when he joined the Argonauts in training camp. “Before free agency started, I told my agent that Toronto was where I wanted to try to continue my career. To have the opportunity to be back with coach Dinwiddie and some of the coaches and players that I’ve built relationships with, in a familiar environment is a blessing.”
Arbuckle’s first stint with the Argos didn't go as expected when he signed with the team in 2021 after he couldn't come to terms with the Redblacks, who had traded for his rights before COVID-19 cancelled the 2020 season. In 2021, Arbuckle was looking to establish himself as a starting quarterback in the CFL and hoped that reuniting with Dinwiddie, who was his quarterbacks coach during their time together with the Calgary Stampeders, would give him the best chance.
Unfortunately, he lost the quarterback battle with McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Toronto traded Arbuckle to the Edmonton Elks. Ironically, the Argonauts received the negotiating rights to Kelly as part of the return.
“I was a little hurt and heartened mentally and emotionally from what had transpired mentally and emotionally in Ottawa over COVID. I wasn’t as good as I could have been (when) I was here last time,” Arbuckle told reporters after the East final about his first stint in Toronto.
Unlike his first go-around with the team, Arbuckle had no expectations this year. Any opportunity to play was considered a bonus.
“I just want to make the most of whatever opportunities I get,” Arbuckle said. “I kind of got a good grasp of how coach Dinwiddie wants the offence to operate from those day-to-day meetings that we used to have in Calgary and my time in the league seeing defence and how the schemes work. So I just want to do whatever I can to help the team and our young quarterbacks succeed.”
To start the season, Arbuckle was listed third on the depth chart behind Dukes and Scott. A few times, the Argos would turn to Arbuckle to come into the game with Dukes struggling. This opened the door for Arbuckle to earn more reps.
“I listed Cam as the starter, but Nick’s doing some good things,” Dinwiddie said back on Aug. 3 before a game against Calgary. “He knows the system. He’s a little more developed as far as understanding the CFL game and what we’re trying to do. He’s got that edge, but Cam’s got some edge, too.”
That trust in Arbuckle’s experience led to Argos' decision to keep the veteran around when Kelly returned from his nine-game suspension. Scott would be the odd man out and was released by the team, though he was signed this week following an injury to Kelly.
Kelly’s return from suspension also meant that Arbuckle wouldn’t see reps in a game until the team’s season finale against the Elks when he threw for 378 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The game was meaningless to the Argos in the standings but gave the veteran some much-needed reps.
When Kelly went down with an ankle injury and was stretchered off the field in the East final, the Argonauts needed Arbuckle to come in and steady the ship at a critical point. Arbuckle did enough in Montreal to ensure his team would book its ticket to Vancouver. A lot of the credit goes not only to Arbuckle's ability to keep the offence going but also to his head coach for steering him the right way.
Dinwiddie is very familiar with Arbuckle’s situation as a quarterback moving into a starting role unexpectedly. Back in 2007 when he was a member of the Blue Bombers, starting quarterback Kevin Glenn suffered a broken arm in the East final. Dinwiddie was forced into action, starting his first career game in the Grey Cup after just 52 passing attempts in the CFL.
Unfortunately, it didn't go well for Dinwiddie, who threw three interceptions as Winnipeg lost 23-19 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Argos head coach has faith that his quarterback will be put in a better position than he was.
“I trust Nick, I believe in Nick,” Dinwiddie said about Arbuckle getting the start in the Grey Cup. “We didn’t change our game plan when he went in, we were aggressive. Fortunately, Nick’s played in big games, unlike myself as that was my first time starting. I just told him I’m going to give him an advantageous opportunity to be successful compared to what our coaches asked us to do in 2007.”
To be in that position is something Arbuckle knows he can’t take for granted, given where he was just a few months ago.
“God has been so great to me and my family and our life. Through the journey, we’ve been on the ups and downs, and I mean, just back in May and April, I didn't know if I was ever going to play football again,” he said. “I was just on the couch, calling coaches that coached me in the past down in college football and the NFL and figuring out where I could go next if I wasn’t playing. I didn’t have a team, I was on a couch training some quarterbacks in Ottawa, trying to make some kids better and keep myself ready."
Now, the Argos will have to hope that Arbuckle will be ready to play in the most important game of his career.
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