THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — The Akili Smith experiment having failed last season, the Calgary Stampeders went looking for a veteran CFL quarterback to back up Henry Burris and have signed Dave Dickenson.
The Stampeders want Dickenson as insurance in case Henry Burris goes down with injury as he did last season. Smith, an NFL reclamation project, was unable to adjust to the Canadian game in Burris’s absence and was released on Oct. 10.
Dickenson, 35, played for the Stampeders from 1997 to 2000 and was named the CFL’s outstanding player in his final season, but he returns to his former club amid questions about his fitness to play.
He appeared in only five regular season games for the B.C. Lions in 2007 due to concussion symptoms and was released on Nov. 26.
Dickenson led the Lions to a Grey Cup in 2006 and was named MVP of the championship game, but his career has been plagued by injuries.
The five-foot-11, 195-pound pivot suffered his third concussion in less than two seasons in 2007. He was also hampered by ankle and knee injuries in 2005 and 2004 respectively.
In nine CFL seasons with the Stampeders and Lions, Dickenson is the all-time CFL leader in pass completion rate at 67.6 per cent. His 73.98 per cent completion rate in 2005 is also a league record for a single regular season. Dickenson has thrown 154 career touchdown passes and rushed for 14.
Dickenson, from Great Falls, Mont., makes his off-season home in Calgary. He had also reportedly been talking to Toronto and Winnipeg before deciding to return to the Stampeders.
