OverDrive - Willson on his experience in Regina, the delay at the Riders game on Friday, and ESPN’s top ten quarterback list

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

TSN football analyst Luke Willson on his experience in Regina, the delay at the Riders game on Friday, and ESPN’s top ten quarterback list

Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Bryan Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the Glorious Sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada.

The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app Angel if you went to the BS, I didn't go in I'll bet you Luke. I'll bet you Luke's not an ocean guy. I got him pegged. No, I think he is

He's not scared of the ocean I'll bet you scared of the ocean I'll bet you he's not going right. This is an amazing thing I've I remember when I learned that Jeff O'Neill doesn't like scary movies and that was amazing for me This is equal to that. That's soft This is lived experience. Is it did you get attacked as by a shark as a kid? I don't know. I worried about it I'll tell you what that's something that's that's changed a lot. Like in my lifetime, like people swimming in Lake Ontario, never as a kid. Like my parents, my mom would be like, you are not stepping foot in that lake.

It was so polluted. That's a debate for us because like I like go to the beaches and like your Lake Ontario guy, check the flag. The flag tells you if you're safe. Lake Ontario is a different beast, man. There was an E like I said go my pass on that one I like five you know ten toes and ten fingers I don't need more all right here's our main man Luke Wilson I'm putting money he's not an ocean guy I got I've got him pegged he's a biker he's a land guy Luke go ahead man do you jump do you like the ocean are you an ocean swimmer? You've got to correct.

Again, it's not that I'm anti-ocean here, but I'm not surfing, I'm not ocean swimming, you know, it's a one in a row thing for me. I'm much more of a land guy. Why? You've got to have fame man, all day. I mean, I get out there and it's like, what am I doing here? There's so many great things on land and I'm just lounging around out here. You know, once in a while, sure, but like, what am I doing?

Yeah, I appreciate that. I'll tell you what, man, I was in the Mediterranean, like in Greece, my wife and I, we took some boat and we're supposed to swim into, what are they called, the hot rocks or hot hot springs and I when we signed up I thought this boat was pulling up right beside I'm gonna cannonball into the hot springs they're like no you got a swim like 15 minutes dude I was freaking out because this was in the middle of the ocean and I had to go my wife's like you're getting in I'm like I guess but man I was bent out of shape I will never do that again and totally ruin the hot springs. Yeah, and here's my thing is we love to think of this ocean is like

this like real like friendly plague yada yada yada yes this is like you know these peoples or these fish and amphib amphibians or have their rates their home Yeah, okay. I can't control what they're doing next thing You know I do something to noise one of them And I got a jellyfish thing in me or bright me or whatever the proper term is or I mean I just don't want to deal with all that I agree man. It's like it's like going in the jungle like Yeah, it is because like why go in the jungle so scared of you Not all the Mart and you can't play on their playing field Jonas you're at you're at the sea level, dude

You can't you can't get down to where they are where they're comfortable like you're put you're fighting. It's such a disservice You're such a great cake. It's off. You can't rate you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I love that I knew the gun by a jellyfish. No, and I don't intend to because I won't put myself in that position You've been stung great. It hurts. Yeah, it's like it's not that bad It's bad enough like it can get you gets you in the wrong place. You can kill you Yeah, I didn't Steve Irwin dive. He got him. Yeah, but like that guy's gambling every day guys like Steve Irwin dive? He got hit with the heart. Yeah, but that guy's gambling every day. That guy's like swimming with crocodiles. I know that. Another thing you won't see me do. Anyway, how was Saskatchewan, Luke? Okay, I'll be honest, Hayes. So I, and I put a small video out there.

I had gone to Saskatoon for the first time. I've never been to Saskatchewan, probably two months ago. I was blown away. Again, it's not like, it's not Toronto as far as the size, but like the people there were great. The parts I were in Saskatoon were like very nice, kind of a cool weekend for me. And I'm like, wow, like, I never, I don't hear this place is amazing. I don't know what I was thinking. But I want to be very, very clear that the people of Regina were great. Everyone was wildly friendly. They loved the riders out there.

I'll be honest and say that walking downtown, I was told that Regina has cool spots outside of downtown, but the places that I was at, which was not that many places, was by far the worst city I have ever been to. I've never seen anything like this. I'm talking, this was beyond construction, Hayes. It looked like it was like war torn at places. And I mean, it was uncomfortable to walk around. There was a lot. I mean, they've seen better days. So Regina in itself was a little tough. Um, but I will say the people, especially those who waited for hours upon hours for a game Friday night that didn't actually happen were unbelievable. But I don't know what's going on with the local government in Regina, but they got to get it figured out because they're letting everybody down. Yeah, that's shameful, man. That's too bad.

Like I've never been there. So, you know know it's kind of got an ocean vibe to me. I don't know if I'm dying to get out there personally, but you're not really selling it. Wait, I have one more question. So will you guys go on like a hike? Because like there are certain places where you can go hiking. Are there grizzlies within? No, I'm not going on. Attacks? No, not happening. Okay. I walk down Yonge Street. I will view a hike, but that's another one where I'm just like, it's gotta be, it's gotta

be kinda like, specific, if that makes sense, and it's gotta be at certain times where there's not like, 10 million people on the trail, you know? It's very like, it's a curated ordeal for me. Yeah, and I like I Gotta have you gotta have some sort of protection if you're in a situation like that Hey, you're supposed to like go big and scream. Yeah with grizzlies. I don't think so, dude those things if you if you're in if you are in their like

Territory territory and they have it. They have a mood on're toast. So do you go camping? No. Absolutely not. Go ahead, Luke. I don't know. Are you a camper? I'm with you on that, Hayes. I'm an anti-camp guy. I'm a hotel guy. I'm an electricity guy and plumbing. I mean, that's not bad. That doesn't make you less than bad. Like we live in this world. For being like, hey, I want a nice shower and

the ability to turn on a light. Like, could you imagine getting into a time machine and going back three, 400 years from now and say, hey, just for the record, I'm going to experience what you're experiencing, even though I have these options. You know how mad those people would be? It's just to get away from it. It's quiet. Our ancestors would be like, are you insane?

You could take a shower every day and have plumbing and electricity and you choose not to? Are you stupid? No. You've never raised like the barrel up in which. No. Not interested. Not even remotely interested. I'd love to see like, overdrive from the Algonquin. Yeah, that actually would be kind of interesting. Luke, you'd be in for that. I'm sure you'd be in for that. but yeah, we'll see. Well, in terms of the game, I mean, that was crazy where you guys had to wait a day. You end up playing a game, but you know, the Argos, you know, on a local front, they were on a bye week this week. It sounds like Chad Kelly's right around the corner. Like, what's your read on the East? Because seemingly like every other year, it's it's wide open like the Argos are one and four yet I think they're they're probably thinking they could still win

the division. Yeah I mean having Chad Kelly come back will be a huge ordeal. The other one that I think people have stopped talking about that is very very good is Montreal but the problem is you know, they lost their starting quarterback. Now he's back this week, obviously. So that'll help. I think with Davis Alexander in there, they're, you know, right up there with Hamilton. The tough part with the Argos is, you know, they lose so many guys from last season. And for whatever reason, especially on a defense and like, even with

Chad Kelly back, like, is that really gonna, you know, push them over the edge? Uh, and Hamilton is right there. You know, I think Hamilton's up there right now. If I had to pick like my top teams in the league at this exact moment, I would go, you know, the West is pretty dominant. I would go Calgary, probably one, Winnipeg too. Even though they laid an absolute egg, I would go, uh, number three was, uh, Saskatchewan and then forward probably the Hamilton five would be, uh,

Montreal. And then it gets a little like, like Toronto's down there for me. Autumn was really down there for me. They're probably sitting at seven, eight. Chad Kelly's got definitely a tough task to like get the ship turned around. With Luke Wilson. So we were talking about, um, this list that came out of ESPN.com ESPN revealed their top 10 quarterbacks, the NFL season going into 2025. So they pulled execs coaches and scouts. I don't think anyone's surprised. Mahomes has won, Allen's too. Burrow three, Lamar four. Like those are always going to be the top four guys.

You know, you could argue who should be. I don't think there's an argument for who should be won personally. I think it's clearly Mahomes. But then is it Allen? Is it Lamar? Is it Bur a borough you know you can differentiate whichever way you see it but those are clearly the top four what I found interesting and I'm curious to get your take on this they had Jaden Daniels at five Daniels at five do you think as a second-year player he's prepared to take on that level of expectation no No, not yet. I mean, I think he's tremendous. I think that the future is extremely bright. But like, and this is where it gets weird.

And like we asked executives and yada, yada, yada. And I know they had, I believe Stafford was six. Yes, he was. And I'm like, I don't know many coaches right now that would take, if it was a playoff game, you know, we're gonna take Matthew Stafford or we're gonna take Jane Daniels over Matthew Stafford. I know it's a one spot different, but it's like I look at last year's playoffs, for example, and Philly pretty much rolled everybody except for

Stafford in the ramps. And there's an argument when Stafford had that two minute drive in the snow I might add okay a game that with the weather should have heavily favored the dominant run team of Philadelphia Okay Stafford goes down drives the field and if you watch those last two plays Back or Jalen Carter makes you know two huge plays there it's an identification issue on the offensive lines with the Rams. Like, I think if they just block that up correctly,

it wasn't like you beat somebody. Stafford probably has a shot at knocking off the Eagles. So when I see these lists, I'm kind of like, man, it's not taking anything away from Jay and Daniels at all, but I'm like, I don't know, like when you use the term NFL executive, who does that entail? Is that a GM or is that a front office guy that is in charge of sales? Like, that's where I get with this list where I'm like, ah, you know, another one on

there that was kind of a bit surprising for me was Herbert, I believe, came in. Was he seven or eight? Yeah, Herbert was seven, Goff eight, Hertz nine, Baker Mayfield ten. Yeah, and I'm just like, you know, I look at, take Baker at ten, and it's like Baker took the Cleveland Browns to a playoff game and they beat Pittsburgh a few years back. He gets bounced around a little bit and he was absolutely on fire, you know, the last two seasons and it's really taken Tampa into a very legitimate team. And I'm like, uh, you know, I'm not trying to take a shot at Herbert. We're like, what is Herbert really like down as I know, Oh, you know, he's got

some stats here and the stats say this. And at one point he's 500 and yada, yada, yada. But I'm like, I don't really like watch Herbert and say like, Hey, you know, I'd rather this to go win a game. Like I'd rather him than Baker Mayfield. I'm not sure. I maybe that makes me insane. But that's kind of why I saw this list. I'm like, I thought it was pretty easy to poke some holes in.

Yeah. And I'll say is like the top four are the top four. Yes. You know, and you can, you can point wherever you want. I think everybody would probably go to Holmes Allen outside of Buffalo fans. And the only reason, now I shot at Josh, the only reason is simply the wins, which is not Josh's fault or not his fault.

It's just like, it's hard to put Josh in front of Mahomes when Mahomes has this pedigree of beating the Bills in the playoffs consistently. But I think the top four is the top four. Then after that, I thought it was pretty suspect. Yeah, but I do think there is a big gap. I mean, I guess, you know, I know you love Stafford and everything you say about Stafford is accurate

in terms of he's tough, he wins, when he's got weapons, he's got a line. Like, you can make the argument for him at five, but I wouldn't be surprised, like if Daniels continues to play the way he, if he just basically repeats what he did his first year, then I think he'd probably get to a point where he would define himself as the fifth best quarterback.

Like I don't see, yeah, like he was phenomenal, man, and he was great in the playoffs. Like what he did to Detroit was wild, crazy, man. Wild. Yeah. Hey, I totally agree. what he did to Detroit was wild, crazy. Wild. Yeah. Hey, I totally agree. I'd like to see another year. Like, for example, I think he was voted

but didn't make the top 10. Like CJ Stroud, I think everybody would have had like, oh, he's gonna be a top 10 guy after his rookie year. And like that didn't come to fruition. Now he's obviously a top half of the league guy. And I saw Dan Rolofsky was really agitated, you know, that he wasn't in the top 10 and there's an argument for him. Sure.

But it's like, to me, Jayden Daniels is not five yet. He has another year like he just did. He's a hundred percent five and maybe he's depending on how those other four do, maybe he's inching into the conversation of being in the power for But it's just not a big enough, you know sample size for me to be like he's the fifth best guy All right, well we're getting close man like camps are opening we got rookies I think reporting later this week the big boys will be in town before you know it We're gonna have the Hall of Fame game in like, what, two weeks?

Like, just over two weeks, man. We're here, August is when, end of July is when guys would report. Yep. You know, I was out golfing this morning thinking to myself, a couple years ago I would, you know, stress would be 10 out of 10 because we were nine, eight, 10 days away from showing up to camp where it's blood on the moon.

Instead I'm out here in Uxbridge swinging the stick. I love it. I love it. Times have changed. Welcome to the dark side, my friend. It is a beautiful thing. Just feet up, a little golf, staying on land. It's a beautiful thing, man. It's a beautiful thing. Staying on land. We're land guys. There you go. We connected. I love it. All right, buddy. We'll do it again soon. Sounds good. There's Luke Wilson, our CFL. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the Gloria Sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado.

Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeart Radio app.