Rourke continues to search for NFL home as CFL beckons

Roughly a year and a half and three NFL teams after he left the Canadian Football League, Nathan Rourke is looking for a home.

And while CFL fans may be tantalized by the idea of an imminent Rourke homecoming, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards – at least not yet.

Rourke cleared waivers Monday afternoon, a day after being placed there by the New York Giants. He spent all of three days of training camp with the team, barely participating in practice as the fourth quarterback behind Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito.

The Giants, who claimed Rourke off waivers in the spring when it was unclear if Jones would be fully recovered from an ACL injury in time for the start of camp, had a roster crunch created by players coming off injured lists, making Rourke the expendable piece.

It was another move that had nothing to do with Rourke’s abilities or lack thereof, just simply the experience of an undrafted quarterback trying to find his way in a league where opportunities for players like him are rare.

History tells us that late-round or undrafted quarterbacks in the NFL only get opportunities when those in front of them either get injured or fall on their faces. So, Rourke moves on, searching for a place where the depth chart might melt down in front of him.

Atlanta, which has Kirk Cousins and recent first-round pick Michael Penix at the top of its depth chart, would seem about as far away from that as possible, but Rourke will work out there on Wednesday, likely the first of many look-sees he’ll undergo over the coming few weeks.

It’s a far cry from the existence he enjoyed in the CFL during the 2022 season when he was the league’s marquee attraction, winning games and becoming as well-known as any player in the league.

The reasons Rourke left all that behind at age 24 are well understood, given the rewards that come with making it in the NFL, and how he’d dreamed of playing at that level since he was a small child.

His signing with Jacksonville during the winter of 2023 was curious because the Jags had and have former first-round pick Trevor Lawrence at the top of the depth chart.

But since Rourke was one of only three quarterbacks in camp, he got some decent practice reps and played admirably in four quarters of preseason action, engineering touchdowns on five of nine drives and looking every bit like he belonged.

But the Jags slotted him into the No. 3 role behind Lawrence and veteran C.J. Beathard before camp ever opened, leaving him to spend most of the season on the practice roster before being claimed by New England late in the season when the Patriots ran out of healthy quarterbacks.

New England spending a first-round pick on quarterback Drake Maye and taking another (Joe Milton III) in the later rounds was the writing on the wall for Rourke. But the situation with the Giants was hardly better.

At age 26, he’s got time to find his footing in the NFL, but Rourke hasn’t played meaningful football in nearly 20 months.

And with his opportunities now down to workouts with teams that have full rosters, it’s fair to wonder at what point he’ll decide it’s time to go home.

That isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Though there would be no shortage of options for Rourke in the CFL, he’s made no secret that his No. 1 choice would be the Lions, the team that drafted him and for which he was the backup in 2021 before starting the next season.

He stated as much during a visit to the TSN broadcast booth during the course of a Lions game roughly two weeks ago.

Rourke has family in the area, recently bought a house there and has strong relationships with the coaching staff and management.

The Lions, however, are 5-2, with the league’s highest-scoring offence under the direction of quarterback Vernon Adams, who is the early favourite to be named the league’s Most Outstanding Player.

Could the Lions really add Rourke to that mix mid-season? The dynamics would be challenging economically and awkward in every other sense.

That’s why Rourke continuing to seek employment south of the border not only keeps his NFL door open, it also sets up a cleaner return to the Lions, should he decide to come back to the CFL this off-season.

There’s been no doubt since Rourke left for the NFL that the Lions would clear the way for his return, no matter what.

It just makes a whole lot more sense for everyone involved to contemplate that for 2025.