Dave Dickenson, the wily ol’ quarterback that he is, stepped up in the pocket to deliver a major move Monday for the Calgary Stampeders.
The Stamps GM/head coach inked QB P.J. Walker to a contract, giving rise to believe a big shift at football’s most important position is in the works for future seasons.
“We made the trade for P.J. for a reason,” said Dickenson of the former NFL helmsman.
“We’re doing everything we can to make our team better, and that includes having a strong quarterback room,” continued the sideline boss. “P.J. is going to be a big part of that.”
The Stampeders acquired Walker’s negotiation-list rights in a Sept. 26 trade with the Toronto Argonauts.
Walker then signed with the Stampeders on Oct. 8 and spent the final three weeks of the 2024 season on Calgary’s practice roster.
“Calgary is a beautiful city with a great football culture and a great fanbase,” Walker said. “The opportunity to continue to grow as a player and compete helped me make my decision to sign with the Stampeders.”
The Stamps should be happy to have him, because Walker is, indeed, bona fide at the pivot position.
The 30-year-old native of Elizabeth, N.J., played in 21 NFL games from 2020-23, making nine starts along the way. Seven came with the ho-hum Carolina Panthers, before two more — of marked significance — came for the Cleveland Browns during their resurgence last year.
He was an integral part of team’s Weeks 5-7 of the NFL schedule, helping the Browns to wins over the visiting San Francisco 49ers — 19-17 — and the host Indianapolis Colts — 39-38 — before a 24-20 loss to the host Seattle Seahawks. In those respective games, Walker went: 19-of-34 for 192 passing yards and two interceptions; 15-of-32 for 178 passing yards and one INT; and 15-of-31 for 248 passing yards with two touchdowns and one INT.
But most important is he has big-league pedigree.
“We know he’s a good player,” Dickenson said. “He can move — he can throw. He’s confident. He’s had success.”
And that’s exactly what the Stamps need help in finding.
Stamps in midst of making major changes
After back-to-back sorry CFL seasons with just 11 combined wins, including just five this past campaign — which saw them miss the playoffs for the first time in two decades — the Stampeders are in full rebuild mode.
Coaches have been canned, and Dickenson and president Jay McNeil have both announced there will be major changes moving forward.
The signing of Walker constitutes just that, because he could easily be their starter heading into the 2025 CFL season.
Jake Maier, the Stamps’ two-plus-year starting QB, has been afforded plenty of opportunity to lead the team but has fallen short in becoming a winner.
Walker’s signing also means he can’t re-join the NFL this season, so he appears committed to the CFL and to the Red and White.
“I know a lot of guys that have been playing here around the league,” said Walker, who brought his family with him for his short time spent in Calgary the last few months. “So for me, it’s just trying to communicate with those guys and pick their brain as much as I can.
“You need that leadership role here, for sure, but you also need to be able to throw the ball around the field and be able to spread because it’s a bigger field,” continued Walker. “So for me, it’s about trying to be accurate and be on time and just go out there and create plays whenever we need it — it’s just try to go out there, play my game and try to be smart and just be decisive and help the team.”
All told, he completed 185-of-339 passes for 2,135 yards and six touchdowns while rushing 31 times for 80 yards in his NFL tenure.
Before that, Walker led the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks to a 5-0 record in 2020 and was leading the league with 1,338 passing yards and 15 touchdowns when the season was cancelled because of the global pandemic.
In college, Walker played 49 games and made 47 starts over four years with the NCAA’s Temple Owls and finished his collegiate career as that school’s all-time leader in completions (830), passing yards (10,668) and touchdown passes (74).
Walker was the most outstanding player in the 2016 American Athletic Conference championship game — in a 34-10 win over the Navy Midshipmen — and was the first Temple quarterback to lead the school to multiple bowl-game appearances.
For his university career, Walker completed 830-of-1,456 passes for 74 touchdowns and also had 342 carries for 763 yards and nine majors.
“Like a lot of guys, he’s looking for a home,” Dickenson said. “When you’ve played the game for seven years professionally, you just kind of want to find a spot you can fit in at.
“He’s a guy that — for me — I needed to look at,” added Dickenson, who reportedly sent two neg-list players to the Argonauts to get Walker’s rights from their negotiation list earlier this season. “I’m at least glad he’s giving us that opportunity. And we’ll see it goes from there.”