VANCOUVER — Nathan Rourke has returned to the CFL and will re-join the BC Lions. Rourke will join the club for Wednesday’s practice.
The team made the announcement on social media on Tuesday morning.
Lions head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell said that the team will move forward with both Rourke and Vernon Adams Jr. on their roster.
“From talking to Nathan, I know how excited he is to be back with the Lions and to get going,” Campbell said in a press release. “For this to happen, it also had to include Vernon Adams Jr. being here. Vernon will not be traded and is too good a player, too valuable a leader and a huge part of our team.”
Rourke, 26, returns to the Lions after spending the last year-plus pursuing a number of NFL opportunities. Between January, 2023 and up to this past week, Rourke has spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New England Patriots, the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons.
The Victoria, B.C. native was selected in round two (15th overall) of the 2020 CFL Draft and took the league by storm upon being named the starter for 2022, leading his team to the Western Final that season and winning the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian Award. He made 255-324 passes for 3,349 yards and 24 touchdown passes in that season through 10 games, before a foot injury took him out of action until the postseason.
He helped lead the Lions to a second-place finish in the West and the team’s first home playoff game since the 2016 campaign, returning from his foot injury to help take down the Calgary Stampeders in that year’s Western Semi-Final.
With a 436- yard performance in a win over Toronto in Week 3, Rourke broke Gerry Dattilio’s 41-year-old single-game passing record for Canadian quarterbacks. Rourke would then break his own record in back-to-back weeks with 477 yards in an Aug. 6 win over Edmonton and 488 yards in a thrilling comeback victory at Calgary.
He became just the third quarterback in CFL history to win the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian, joining Dattilio and Russ Jackson.
