MONTREAL — Ryan Dinwiddie said a dark cloud hung over the Ottawa Redblacks after Dru Brown lost the starting job to Jake Maier and asked to be traded.
Now the Redblacks hope they can turn the page.
Ottawa sent Brown to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week, finally granting the request he made when Dinwiddie named Maier as QB1 out of training camp.
“Dru wasn’t happy and I think everybody knew he wasn’t happy,” said Dinwiddie, Ottawa’s coach and general manager. “The coach-player communication and relationship obviously was never going to be there after the request, right?
“Everybody around the building was kind of walking on eggshells, and so that’s not there anymore.”
The Redblacks (0-2) sit last in the CFL in average points for and against heading into Sunday’s visit with the Montreal Alouettes (2-1). They’re still in search of their first win under Dinwiddie, who left the Toronto Argonauts last off-season after five years as head coach.
Dinwiddie had hoped to run with two capable quarterbacks in Maier and Brown until it became clear the latter would not accept a secondary role. He then turned to a veteran he trusts, signing McLeod Bethel-Thompson hours after completing Brown’s trade to the Bombers.
“We had to move forward and find an answer and have a plan,” Dinwiddie said in a phone interview. “McLeod obviously played good football for me, we won games. So that was our answer.”
Bethel-Thompson and Dinwiddie won a Grey Cup together with the Argos in 2022. Dinwiddie said the 37-year-old will join the Redblacks next week and fill a support role behind Maier, who has yet to find his footing in the nation’s capital.
Maier, once a starter for the Calgary Stampeders, signed with the Redblacks last winter after backing up Trevor Harris on the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Through two starts in Ottawa, Maier has completed just 61 per cent of his throws for an average of 6.3 yards per attempt — both CFL lows — with two touchdown passes and two interceptions as the Redblacks dropped home games to the Argos and Edmonton Elks.
“That’s obviously super frustrating. I hate losing. I wouldn’t get to this point in my playing career if I accepted losing or felt OK with it,” Maier said over the phone. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure that I can crack the code on some of our shortcomings.”
Maier said Brown’s departure doesn’t change his approach, nor does he expect to be looking over his shoulder once Bethel-Thompson enters the quarterback room.
“If you ask any of the nine quarterbacks in the league, they would tell you the same thing,” he said. “You’re week to week, month to month, year to year … there’s no shoulder watching here, man. It’s totally out of my control. I’m just trying to play as well as I can.”
Dinwiddie said there are plays Maier should want back but pinned the blame on Ottawa’s offence as a whole. Running back Greg Bell, for example, rushed for only 29 yards against the Argos.
“It’s tough to play quarterback and play at a high level when your teammates aren’t doing their part as well. We gotta run the football to help him out, we gotta stay out of second and long,” he said. “We just gotta be more efficient, more consistent.”
That’s why Dinwiddie simplified his playbook to roughly 50 plays this week — down from his usual 90 — as the Redblacks look to avoid another losing season.
“You can be a jack of all trades, master of none,” Dinwiddie said. “We had all this stuff in, but we’re not very good at any of it right now. So let’s find out what we’re good at.
“As the season goes, as we start playing better, then start adding.”
Even without star receiver Eugene Lewis, on the one-game injured list with a shoulder ailment, the Redblacks will have a chance to break out offensively at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on Sunday.
The Alouettes’ defence, long considered a strength, has surrendered 89 points through three games. Montreal held a shutout until 29 seconds remained in the first half last week against Edmonton, but ultimately fell 32-29 in overtime, with Elks running back Justin Rankin repeatedly making defenders miss tackles in a leaky second half.
“We beat ourselves,” defensive back Najee Murray said. “There was even that play with myself. I make that tackle nine times out of ten, don’t miss that tackle. Rankin’s a great player, he’s having a great year. Made me miss. He made us pay.
“We make that play, game’s a totally different game.”
The Alouettes will welcome back star linebacker Tyrice Beverette after he missed last week’s contest, but will be without starting cornerbacks Lorenzo Burns (head) and Kabion Ento (hamstring). Don Callis and rookie Faion Hicks will fill in.
“I’m not worried about it,” coach Jason Maas said of the defence. “We have standards on our defence we want to play to every single game … Every time they touch the ball, you want them to pay for it. They cross that goal line, you want them to pay for it, and that’s what we want to live up to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2026.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
