OverDrive - Naylor on the Argonauts' downward season, Kelly's injury timeline and the Roughriders trending forward

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor joined OverDrive to discuss Taylor Elgersma's possibility to make the Packers' roster, Micah Parsons' conundrum with the Cowboys, the Roughriders leading the pack, Nathan Rourke's prime season with the Lions, the Elks' winning ways, the Argonauts' tough year and more.

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Alpine Credits, where homeowners get approved. Fisrael License 12-616. Let's bring in Dave Naylor from CFL and NFL, our insider at TSA headquarters. Mr. Naylor, how are you today, sir? Very well, Todd, man. Good to join you in a different platform. Yeah, different, absolutely. But everything's the same.

So here's what I want to ask you. Here's what I want to ask you off the top. There's many topics that we'll get into. But the young Canadian quarterback, Taylor, Elgersma, with Green Bay, I mean, clearly this guy looks like an NFL quarterback. What do you think his chances are? Oh, I think he's in the mix for the number three job, which will probably land him on the practice roster.

Most NFL teams keep the third quarterback on the practice roster and only activate him on game days if one of their other two has an injury. But look, I think that game last week against Indianapolis was really critical because he got, he went in for the final three minutes of their opening preseason game against the Jets, and he was the fourth quarterback in. Last week against Indianapolis, he was the second quarterback in. Jordan Love didn't play. Malik Willis played the first quarter in about nine minutes, and six minutes left in the first half, Taylor Algisma came in, and he stayed in the game until there was seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. So they gave him a good run. He engineered three scoring drives, two touchdown drives and a touchdown drives. One of them was 14 plays, 80 yards. The other one was 70 yards, nine plays. And on that drive, he completed an 18-yard pass on fourth and three. Had one touchdown called back by a penalty, had one interception called back by a penalty.

So that was kind of a push. But I think the big thing, Jim, was he didn't look out of place. And then when I talked to Michael Fault's, his coach at Laurier about a month ago, what does Taylor have to do to make an impression on the Packers? He said the first thing he's got to be able to show he can orchestrate an NFL offense. And it's not just stepping up from the OUA to the NFL. It's playing a different game. I mean, the timing, the angles, everything's different.

So, look, he's a big stick. I mean, he's 6-5-227. He looks like an NFL quarterback. He's got an NFL quarterback's arm. It's all going to come down to, you know, processing and decision-making. But their number three is a guy named Sean Clifford, who played at Penn State. He's a draft pick, fifth-round pick from two years ago, has one NFL pass on his resume. And last year, he was kind of in line for the number two job, and they didn't seem to be comfortable with that,

so they ended up bringing in Malik Willis. So the competition is not difficult. I can tell you this. I think a week ago, if he'd got in there and sucked, and believe me, I'm sitting in the press box, the very first drop back he makes, he gets sacked. And I'm thinking, oh, boy. And that was the only sack he took.

You know, from there it all got better. He could have played himself right off the roster last week. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But he didn't. You think he played himself into the mix for the number three job. And here's what it comes down to potentially why he could make this, I say, the practice roster. don't think he'd be on the active.

Whoever gets the number three won't be on the active. But here's where he has an edge. I think they know what Sean Clifford is. You know, he played at Penn State. He's been in their system for two years. They obviously haven't trusted him to play at all. Taylor Algersma, you don't know what the high side is. I mean, this kid was playing in the OUA last November.

So if you invest in him, what's his potential? I think that's the intriguing part of him. Well, one player in this league, nailer that nobody disputes the value or what they can get out of him is Mr. Micah Parsons and of course his contract situation or lack thereof

has been a daily soap operas. It's been a subject of a Netflix special down in Dallas and there's a new development. We have some new audio of Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones discussing the

never-ending saga of this negotiation or negotiation. Let's play that. Let it go at that. I'll drop this one thing on you because this I remember. When we wanted to send the details to the agent, the agent

told us to stick it up our ass. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now, see, I was sure. Just so you're clear. Wait, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean? So, so we like, what do you mean? Because people on that and I? Mike and I talked. Mike and I talked. and then we were going to send it over to the agent.

And we had our agreements on term, amount, guarantees, everything. We were going to send it over to the agent. And the agent said, don't bother because we've got all that to negotiate. Well, I'd already negotiated. I'd already moved off my mark on several areas. And so the issue, very frankly, is we've had the negotiation in my mind. And the agent's trying to get his nose in it right now and try to come in there and improve off the mark that we'd already said. It's the mama daddy deal.

You go into Mama and she won't do it. And she's the boss. So she won't do it. So you run into Daddy, Daddy says, do it. And then you go back in and say, Mama, Daddy said it was all right. So, oh, Mama Daddy deal. We've all been there and done that. Well, we've got this thing resolved in my mind for the Dallas Cowboys.

What do you make of that, Naila? Great reality TV or reality audio or whatever it is. I mean, he's trying to do divide and conquer, right? And basically trying to cut the agent out of the process or make the agent the villain in the process. But the point is the agent is hired by the player. And that's – I'm not telling you guys anything. you don't know. That's how this works. But, you know, look, I saw the comments recently, you know, from Schottenheimer

about that he thinks Michael Parsons will play in week one. Now, you know, again, his issue may be with the Dallas Cowboys ownership and not with the head coach. And I don't think Schottenheimer would come out and say that unless he had some indication or reason to believe that that's true. And, you know, the history of guys missing regular season games in situations like this is pretty limited. I mean, there was a ridiculous Levi-on-Bel thing that ended up basically

ending his career with the Steelers a few years ago. You go back 30 years ago when Emmett Smith sat out a couple of games, and fortunately for him the Cowboys went 0-and-2. The danger is if you do it and they keep winning, your leverage goes away and it costs you money.

And even on a fifth year of a rookie contract for a guy who's a first-round pick, you're talking about significant amounts of money. So I expect that Michael Parsons will play. Look, I expect it actually he'll get signed because this is just the way Jerry does everything. He takes it right to the edge. He inflames the situation, and then he pays the guy.

That's the history. So I think probably eventually that's where this will go. Now, so when you look at some of the young players in the league rookies, Cam Ward, what would your expectations be for him this season? It's a real tough one because you got, you know, you got new everything. and the new head coach knew so much in Tennessee. And I think there's a kind of, the quarterback class this year was weird, right? It wasn't like the class where everybody felt that there were these kind of pro-ready guys.

You know, there wasn't a Caleb Williams. You know, there wasn't a Bryce Young as much as he's kind of struggled in the NFL. When he came out, he was considered sort of, those guys were, you know, very highly graded. And Cam Ward was, I don't say he's a one-year wonder, but he was a guy who kind of really elevated his stock last season. And he moved around a little bit in college and things like that. So I think it's very difficult to kind of project him, just with all that, given the place he's going. And I think one of the things that's happened, I think is there's this expectation that whoever the top quarterback is in the draft, you know, that guy, that guy should be pro-ready.

And it doesn't necessarily work that way. And I think we've seen a lot of cases even of guys who were considered higher graded than Cam Ward who weren't necessarily hitting the ground running and then kind of on the back side with another opportunity whether it's a Sam Darnel or Baker Mayfield or somebody like that you know these guys still have it they just didn't have it coming right out of college

so I would have tempered expectations for Cam Ward in year number one Nails let's go to the CFL and clearly Saskatchewan at 8 and 1 is the class of the CFL in the first half is there anybody that you could see emerging in that second half that could take a run at that? Yeah, the team they play this week, the Calgary Stampeders. I mean, look, Calgary's lost three games, and they beat, they're the only team to beat Saskatchewan.

That's the most important point I'm trying to make. But even Calgary's losses, like one of them was in a monsoon, you know, it was one of these ridiculous games where the wind was blowing, the rain was blowing, and there's no passing yards. They lost to Ottawa in that game. They lost another game to Ottawa starting PJ Walker in his first CFL start. And PJ Walker's a guy who's, I think, like he had, you know, a dozen or so NFL starts and he played the XFL.

He's not a kid. But CFL football is different, and Ottawa defensively played that game really well. They took away the run and forced PJ Walker to throw it and he threw three picks. And that's, which is about what you'd expect to be a first-time starter and you take away his running game. You're going to get three picks. They did. So they lost that game.

And then the other game against Montreal, you know, like Bernard Adams went out of. So, you know, this team doesn't really have an honest loss on its resume. And they beat Saskatchewan. And the thing that's just so surprising is, like, you know, look, the development cycle for a roster in the CFL is faster than it is in most pro sports leagues. Because there's more fluidity, there's more free agency, all those kinds of things. But you usually don't see a team go from like the absolute bottom of the league, which Calgary was without a doubt a year ago, you know, to what they'd been this year, and particularly on defense. I mean, they've just, they got a whole bunch of horses on defense, guys that were on

practice roster last year or played, you know, limited starts. And they've, they've really, it's not like they went and got a bunch of retreads from elsewhere around the CFL. These are new players to the league that have really, you know, had a strong presence. And, of course, you know, the other thing Calgary had is most teams don't get is when you're at the bottom of a rebuilding cycle, there's usually not a Vernon Adams Jr. in his prime available, which he was because of the weirdo situation with him and Nathan Rourke in BC. I mean, it was the greatest time ever to start rebuilding your roster because you could start

with a guy who's, you know, an absolute A1 quarterback and also a culture center. I mean, he's a real, Bernard Adams is a leader. So, you know, you're able to bring him in. He gives you stability of the most important position, help set your culture and, you know, the stamps absolutely, I think, can challenge Saskatchewan in the West. Well, you talk about the weirdo situation in BC, Nailer. We just had Nathan Rourke on the show. And we were just pointing out that, hey, they're five and five.

And he's had his ups and downs over the past couple of years, you know, with his dalliance with the NFL and coming back from that and then various injuries. But since he came back from this oblique injury, July 5th, they're four and two. And he's starting to look like the old Nathan Rourke. He's the reigning player of the week in the CFL. He and Keon Hatcher becoming a really intriguing dynamic duo. What do you see out there in BC as a potential? third party in that Western

fight? Well, I think the Winnipeg Blue Bombers should be nervous. I mean, Winnipeg's finished first, four years in a row in the West Division, and they've been in the Great Cup five years in a row. But they got a half-game lead over Edmondson, and so much in football, you know, when you're trying to project

what's likely to come ahead, a lot of it has to do with schedule. And Winnipeg, they've got Montreal tonight, and, you know, a very depleted Montreal team. But after that, for their next five are against either Saskatchewan or Hamilton. So they got a real

tough schedule over the next sort of five weeks after tonight. And B.C. is kind of the opposite. Like, they got a bunch of games left against Ottawa and Edmonton and Hamilton. I think five of their remaining, of their nine remaining games are against those three. And none of those teams have more than three wins.

And the Argo's defense, particularly past defense, has not been stopping anybody of late. And when you watch the way Nathan Rourke threw the ball last year, look, I think Nathan Rourke can still be the most devastating player in the league. You know, and I, you know, there's such a thing of coming back in the NFL from mid-season. I mean, you've been in a different league.

You've been in a different game. I think there's an emotional disappointment when your time there ends. And for Nathan Rourke, it's probably not ever going back just based on, you know, looking at history and the way this stuff works. And, you know, dropping him into, into BC in mid-September last year, whenever that was late August, it just didn't work. But I had absolute confidence that he would have a good season this year. you're right since he's come back from the injury he's looking a lot like the guy that we

remember for 2022 so i think bc can can take winnipeg in the standings um i think they can do some damage and look if you get nathan morck rolling here i mean i look with all due respect to bo levi mitchell and bernan adams and trevor harris who's having a great season end of game final few minutes i'm not sure there's a quarterback i would trust more than nathan rourke but just particularly because of the dual threat thing i'd like if if somebody's not open on that big field he can tuck it and run and get you those yards as you want in the clutch. So, no, I've been really impressed with what I've seen with him the last of a while. It's taken a while, but it looks like the Elks are starting to get the momentum they want with their new coach and G.

Here we go. And President and all that stuff. So is there enough runway left for them to actually take a run up the standings and maybe challenge some of those teams for, you know, further up the lineup in the Western Conference? Well, and they know they could be the crossover team, right? That's the why the FFL brought in this rule like 25 years ago, so you don't get screwed over by your division, right? If you look at it, I mean, I think Hamilton should run away with the East. But after that, I mean, Montreal is starting quarterback number four tonight, right?

And number three is done for the year. Two is out for a while. And one, they're afraid to bring back because the last time they brought them back off a hamstring injury, re-agravated it. And if you do that again, you know, like, not see him again this year. So, you know, Montreal's got big problems. The Argos, you know, obviously have big problems. I still think Ottawa is a better team than its record, but they, there's one of these teams that seems to find a way to lose every week. And Drew Brown, their

quarterbacks, not expected to play this week. He's been in and out of the lineup. So, yeah, there is a runway for Edmonton. All that money they spent on defense on the front seven is finally starting to show up. That took a while. You know, I mean, they were for the first half dozen games of the year. I mean, almost statistically impossible, especially on a, you know, what was on paper, a pretty good roster. But, I mean, I went through, I went through the league, you know, the different rankings, different defensive categories. It was, I never seen anything like it. Like, there's this statistically, the worst defense I've ever seen in my life. And I've been doing this for a while, but the first six weeks of the season. But they've started to come along.

And a quarterback change has been massive, right? It's just, and like, I feel bad for Tray Ford because everybody wants to see him get the opportunity. But it's not like the guy who is sitting in the wing sucked. Like Cody Fajardo was the betting favorite to be an outstanding player in the CFL until October of last year. And if they hadn't fallen in love with Davis Alexander, who's, you know, 26 years old and they're going to lose him to free agency, I mean, he didn't lose his job because he wasn't good.

He lost his job because they just had to make a choice on a guy who they saw a very bright future with that they could hook their wagon through for 10 years. So Cody Fajardo pops free. And the Elks did something that you don't see very often, and maybe this is why you don't see it very often. their quarterback situation in training camp was not a competition. And that's very rare. Usually, you go to camp with Beau Levi Mitchell.

He's your started, right? But when you've got a guy like Trey Ford who's never held the number one job, you know, for a very long period of time, to, you know, to make him your number one. And, you know, Farhan Lodge, I reported this that at training camp, if it had been a competition, Cody would have come out of camp with the number one. number one job. And they wanted to give Tray the runway and the opportunity. Again, all new staff. They got a long leash. There's not pressure rate away. But I think looking back, they certainly would have been better off to come out of camp with Cody Fajardo. He's given a much better level

of play at quarterback. And you can see the confidence of this team growing. So yeah, I think it's nice to see, right? Even if this is just a building year for Edmonton, for a while, it looked like it was going to be a lost year. And there's a big difference between a lost year and a building year. And now it looks like it's going to be the latter. Dave, that'll bring us to the Argos, who said a 2 and H, and if BC does what they're supposed to do, that'd be 2 and 9. So the ultimate question, sort of twofold, is what do they do about that, and how much of this is on the absence of Chad Kelly?

Well, I think some of it is on the absence of Chad Kelly, but you've got to go back to last year and say, well, wait a minute, these guys dealt without Chad Kelly for a different reason for the first half of last season. So what's the difference? The difference has been, and I actually, I think they're getting better quarterback play out of Nick Arbuckle this season than they did out of Nick Arbuckle and Cameron Dukes last year. So the offense has actually been better without Chad Kelly this year than it was a year ago.

What hasn't been better is defense and special teams. And those really picked up the slack. It was sort of classic complimentary football for the Argos last year. In fact, it felt like every week, you know, they were getting a Janarian grant return touchdown and a Winton McManus pick six. You know, and you get a defensive and special teams touchdown every week. one or both, you know, you're going to win some games, and that's really what picked up the slack. That hasn't been happening this year. They've been bad on special teams. The defense

has been getting shredded. You know, they've been able to put some pressure on the quarterbacks, but the secondary has really been vulnerable. And I say, I'd actually think Nick Arbock was playing quite well. I mean, unfortunately, he's doing the opposite of kind of sometimes what you want to see your quarterback do, and that is, you know, if he struggles all game in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, you know, he's money. He's out a few games where he's been really good for three or three and a half quarters and just hasn't played his best football in the fourth quarter last week being one of those. But I think we're getting near the time guys where the Argos are going to punt on Chad Kelly till 2026. And I think here's why. The thinking

like this season is what it is. I don't think the Argos are going to do a great U-turn on their season and make a run here. Chad Kelly missed training camp in 2024 because of the suspension. He missed training camp in 2025 because of the injury. And the last thing they want at this point is Chad Kelly to miss training camp in 2026. So I think the idea of like, hey, let's give Chad Kelly a year and a half off that injury, as opposed to rushing him back at the end of a dead season and risk him. And obviously the injury has some complications because they thought he was coming back a month ago. And now it's now indefinite.

But I think there's a point where Ryan Dinwood is thinking about the priority for Chad Kelly becomes training camp at 2026 as opposed to this season, and I don't think we're that far away from that. Wow. Well, what a change. What a difference a year can make. Dave, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

Hey, my pleasure, guys. Thanks so much. Thank you. Dave Nealor, CFL, NFL Insider. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams.

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