The Edmonton Eskimos signed another quarterback Wednesday, ahead of their East Division final game against the Ottawa RedBlacks Sunday.
The Eskimos signed Thomas Demarco, who was with the team earlier this season, calling the move an insurance policy.
The additional came after starting quarterback Mike Reilly left the East Division semi final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the fourth quarter with an apparent wrist injury.
“Any time your quarterback goes down in a playoff game it makes you reevaluate what positions you have on your football team and Thomas knows our system very well,” head coach Jason Maas said.
“Going forward, it’s probably something we’ll do for the rest of the year.”
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Reilly didn’t return to the East Division semi final game last weekend, but said he would play against Ottawa Sunday.
“I’ve played through worse than whatever it is that I’ll be dealing with,” Reilly said following the game.
READ MORE: Edmonton Eskimos’ QB says he’ll be OK to play in Ottawa
Reilly was at practice Wednesday, throwing the football without trouble without tape on the wrist he was clutching last weekend. After practice, the QB said he didn’t feel injured.
“It’s good to get out here and practice. It’s been feeling good for the last couple of days but until you get out here and run around a little bit, you want to make sure that you can do everything,” Reilly said. “And like I say, I feel about the same as I did a week ago which is pretty good. So I’m ready to go.”
“We have confidence in everybody that’s on our football team,” Maas said, “but a lot of it starts with your quarterback, your starting quarterback in general, and he’s our leader and it was good to see him out here.”
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The team will monitor Reilly through the week ahead of Sunday’s game. Reilly said if he felt like he wasn’t able to play at full level, he wouldn’t hit the field with his team.
Demarco started his CFL career with the BC Lions, where he spent two seasons. He had 1,416 passing yards and 10 touchdowns during his time with the franchise.
The California native then spent two season with Ottawa, where he backed up Henry Burris. Demarco recorded 143 passing yards and one touchdown in 13 appearances with the RedBlacks.
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