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The Ottawa Redblacks found their No. 1 quarterback Friday, agreeing to a two-year deal with Nick Arbuckle.

The Redblacks will pay Arbuckle a $210,000 signing bonus; he will potentially earn $470,000 in 2020 with incentives. His salary, with incentives, in 2021 could be $495,000.

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“We’ve been going back and forth for a while, being patient with the process,” Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins said. “It came to fruition early (Friday). We just had to wait for the paperwork to come back. This is the first step of many as it relates to getting what we expect out of this team on the field.”

“I am very excited to become an Ottawa Redblack, and I can’t wait to get there and get to work as soon as possible,” Arbuckle said. “It’s an incredible feeling knowing that my wife and I will have the opportunity to start our family in such an amazing city.”

To get Arbuckle in a trade with the Calgary Stampeders a month ago, the Redblacks gave up a third-round draft pick and will now also give up the first overall pick in the 2020 college draft — they’ll get back the sixth overall pick — because they were able to sign him. The CFL begins a week-long negotiating window at noon Sunday when the nine teams can talk to potential free agents and exchange contract numbers. While seven of the other CFL teams have No. 1 quarterbacks in place, it’s believed the Argos were ready to make Arbuckle a substantial offer to play in Toronto.

“You never know how it’ll work out,” Desjardins said. “Sometimes you have to roll the dice a bit and that’s what we did. We didn’t have any inside knowledge as to how this would play out. But we had confidence in what we, as an organization, could provide from ownership on down — also what our facilities are like and what living in Ottawa is all about for a young man and his wife who are going to have a baby.”