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But what is it about Reilly that makes him such an attractive roster addition?

“How much time do we have? I mean, that’s the honest answer,” Eskimos general manager Brock Sunderland said. “Breaking it down from a physical standpoint, there’s nothing he can’t do. I think he’s got amazing arm talent, he can make every throw that you want, he can drill it between the windows, he can make the touch passes.

“His leadership and presence on the field, how he controls the huddle and settles everybody. You really can’t put a price on leadership and that experience. So when you combine his physical talent, his leadership and just who he is as a person: He’s honest, he’s a straight shooter. If you could build a quarterback of what you want, it would be Mike Reilly from top to bottom.

If it comes across as simply lip service, it’s not. Sunderland and other Eskimos brass regularly tell Reilly as much, having already offered the face of the franchise “record-breaking” figures to re-sign.

“When I was on the road all the time in the NFL and again in the CFL, when you go to talk about quarterbacks, the first thing you say is, ‘Is he a gym rat? Is he the first guy in, the last guy out?’” Sunderland said. “It’s very cliché, but with Mike it’s real. We have to kick him out. So there’s not many, if any negatives I could say about Mike.

“The only thing negative I could say about Mike is he hasn’t signed with us yet.”

Of course, Reilly wasn’t the only Eskimos pending free agent to make the list.