The Montreal Alouettes made a bold gamble this weekend, trading a 2017 first-round pick to the B.C. Lions for the rights to American quarterback Vernon Adams. For the Lions, this is a logical deal; they were unable to come to terms with Adams, it probably wasn't worth paying him what he wanted given that they have two established quarterbacks ahead of him (Jonathon Jennings and Travis Lulay), and they get a very good return for a player who hasn't played a CFL down or even agreed to terms. For the Alouettes, there's much more risk involved, but there's a chance of a huge payoff too. Much depends on where Adams winds up fitting in with the numerous other quarterbacks Montreal has under contract, though.

The Alouettes' quarterbacking situation might be the most interesting in the CFL at the moment. They have 36-year-old veteran Kevin Glenn, who they acquired from Saskatchewan at last October's trade deadline for a fifth-round pick. Glenn has the seventh-most passing yards in CFL history, and he played pretty well after being acquired by Montreal (756 passing yards, seven touchdowns versus four interceptions, and a 67.0 per cent completion mark in three games) last year, so he's likely the presumed starter heading into training camp, but he has perhaps the shakiest grip on that role of anyone across the league. That's partly to do with Glenn's age and the decent but not spectacular showings he's delivered in the last two years (with B.C., Saskatchewan and now the Alouettes), but it also has a lot to do with the impressive cast of characters looking to potentially replace him, which goes well beyond just Adams.

Montreal has two guys who have previously been counted on as the team's top starter, Jonathan Crompton and Rakeem Cato, and both had impressive college careers (at Tennessee and Marshall respectively). The Alouettes also have Brandon Bridge, a rare Canadian quarterback who played in the NCAA (at Division I FCS Alcorn State and South Alabama) and received NFL interest, a rare Canadian QB to be drafted (in the fourth round of the 2015 CFL draft) despite the rules that hurt Canadian QBs, and a guy who showed off substantial potential in his first career start in last season's final game. Those are the primary contenders (especially with the team cutting Duke's Anthony Boone, another guy with potential, earlier this offseason), but the team also has another former NCAA star (Clemson's Tajh Boyd) who might make a push for a spot. (Crompton is coming off shoulder surgery and will come to camp on the injured list, but remains in the long-term QB picture for now.)

The Alouettes also announced this week that they signed two more Canadian quarterbacks from the CIS ranks, Saskatchewan's Drew Burko and Calgary's Jimmy Underdahl. Beyond that, they'll have a third (St. FX's Dante Djan) participating in training camp. Given the rule challenges, the Canadian QBs other than Bridge will likely be there just for training camp, the way many before have been. However, with an outstanding camp performance, one of them might be able to work their way into the crowded Montreal quarterback situation as well.

Of course, there are reasons to think that Adams may be able to rise above the crowd, and that it may well have been worth trading a first-round pick for him despite the team's depth at QB. While the Alouettes have a lot of quarterbacks, they don't have any who have really have dominated at the CFL level yet, so there's more opportunity and an easier potential path to a starting job in Montreal than there is anywhere else in the league. That also makes them more willing to pay a significant price for a guy like Adams, both in the pick they spent to get him and in the kind of money and term he reportedly wants. (Alouettes' general manager and head coach Jim Popp told Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette “I’ve spoken to him and he’s gung-ho. I’m not worried about getting a deal done.") Thus, this looks like a potentially-good situation for both sides; Adams has wound up in perhaps the only CFL city where he could get a significant playing shot this season even without injuries to those ahead of him, and the Alouettes have added another high-profile quarterback, one with possibly even more CFL potential than the guys they already had.

Story continues