These are heady times for the Canadian Football League.

Announced potential expansion into the Maritimes with the Atlantic Schooners, Edmonton crushing it as Grey Cup hosts, and talks of taking our brand of football to Mexico, and the appearance of a commissioner who actually knows the game.

The league appears to be in at least a solid footing.

However, I am not entirely sure just how solid. The league, despite outward appearances, does have some major issues that need to be addressed before they should get too excited about stretching the talent pool. This includes the dumpster fire that is the Toronto Argonauts, the disparity between the East and West Divisions, and a new stadium in Calgary.

The biggest concern is where the game should be strongest, it’s Canadian content.

Go out and ask any CFL fan who the face of the league is and the response will undoubtedly be a list topped by American quarterbacks like the Edmonton Eskimos’ Mike Rielly or Most Outstanding Player Bo Levi Mitchell of the Calgary Stampeders or future hall of famer Ricky Ray in Toronto, you may even have a few include the image-rehabilitating Johnny Football in Montreal. For my money there is not a better player in the league than Canadian running back Andrew Harris with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The problem is he plays the wrong position. He could not even get nominated for the Most Outstanding Player Award this season, despite dragging the Blue Bombers into the post season.

The CFL, as Canada’s league, needs a Canadian as a star at the most visible position in the game, at quarterback.

The fact Mitchell was able to double-down on his MOP with the Grey Cup’s MOP, despite other more deserving players, underlines my point.

This is important because it goes to the health of the entire league.

It took a major push last year to turn around falling TV ratings, but even then, according to a National Post story by Scott Stinson, the bulk of their viewership was not in the 18-49-year-old demographic, or the demographic that sponsors really care about.

Early reports out of this year’s Grey Cup game indicated a drop of one million viewers from last year’s game.

There was a time when the CFL legitimately competed with the NFL for talent and could even make the argument it was at just as high a skill and competitive level as the elephant to the south. But it has been 28 years since the Toronto Argonauts lured “Rocket” Ismail north, despite being the Heisman Trophy winner and projected No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

At best, the league is now viewed as a quirky developmental league for the NFL. But the players making the jump to the NFL, for the most part, turn into depth players — the CFL’s top receiver from 2017, Brandon Zylstra, has one reception for 23 yards with the Minnesota Vikings this season.

The Canadian league needs to embrace its Canadianess and develop a Canadian leader.

It has been two generations since Russ Jackson starred for the Ottawa Rough Riders. There has not been a legitimate Canadian QB star since — Brandon Bridge of the Saskatchewan Roughriders has a long way to go.

For a league with a required ratio of Canadian starters, the first step they can make is to have a roster and ratio exempt slot for a Canadian quarterback. This means each team needs to have at least one Canadian quarterback on the roster at all times, either in a developmental role or in a starting position. Making the position ratio exempt means if a Canadian starting QB is injured, there is no need to replace him with another starting-calibre Canadian player at the position or elsewhere on the roster.

What this does is it shows there’s a potential future for developing junior and college quarterbacks in the CFL. The odd U Sport QB will get a CFL camp invite, but generally are considered camp fodder. Some are able to crack the line up as a third-string or practice quarterback, but that is rare and they usually wash out after a couple of seasons. Few are even drafted into the league.

American quarterbacks have a massive advantage when it comes to coaching and development at a young age. It is the primo position and the NFL and colleges have invested heavily in its development. Canadians who are motivated to seek a pro football career head to the U.S. at the bare minimum for college and sometimes even for high school for those opportunities.

The CFL needs to extend the level commitment into that grassroots development process for Canadian talent.

In doing so you create that dream for Canadian kids to one day lead the Eskimos or Stampeders under centre instead of at centre or kicker or defensive back. Improve that depth and you make the game better.

If the CFL has expansion plans, that depth is going to be sorely needed.

jaldrich@postmedia.com