THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG — The Stefan LeFors experiment in Winnipeg is done for the season — and maybe forever.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3-6) put their former starting quarterback on the nine-game injured list Thursday because of recurring pain in his non-throwing shoulder. LeFors may undergo surgery.
“Right now, we go ahead and put him on the nine-game and let’s see if we can get that shoulder (pain) alleviated so that he has an opportunity to rehab in the off-season and be ready to go in the spring,” Bombers head coach Mike Kelly said in his daily news conference Thursday.
Even though LeFors, after a 1-3 run, was replaced by Michael Bishop, Kelly thinks the 28-year-old can be a starting CFL quarterback.
“I believe that he has the skill set there,” Kelly said. “I don’t believe that this is the end of his career.”
Bishop will start again Sunday when Winnipeg hosts Saskatchewan, with Bryan Randall backing him up. The Bombers also brought in QB Casey Bramlet this week and he should dress.
LeFors had an MRI on his right shoulder Tuesday and told reporters it started hurting after the Bombers’ first game of the season, a loss in Edmonton.
The Louisville product continued playing and thinks he may have aggravated it after a hit from Hamilton linebacker Otis Floyd on July 18.
“If it’s something that can be fixed, obviously I want it fixed,” LeFors said.
“I don’t want to keep going on with pain in my shoulder . . . If that means I’m done for the season, I’m done.”
It was a rough ending to a season of promise for the third-year CFLer.
In his first big move as the Bombers head coach, Kelly got LeFors in a trade with Edmonton, where he’d been a backup for two seasons. He then released veteran Kevin Glenn.
LeFors was touted as Winnipeg’s starting quarterback of the future, but when he began struggling hometown fans booed him and he even had to take a pay cut a few weeks ago.
