QB Dane Evans moved to B.C. Lions by Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Published February 23, 2023 at 6:50 pm
Dane Evans, the quarterback who read the lay of the land when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats began courting Bo Levi Mitchell, is now a cat of another colour.
The Tiger-Cats announced Thursday that Evans has been traded to the British Columbia Lions in exchange for a fourth-round pick with “a conditional escalator” in the 2024 Canadian Football League Draft. Evans was the Tiger-Cats starter in 2022, and also started in both the 2019 and ’21 Grey Cup games, after sharing the top job behind centre with Jeremiah Masoli (who left last winter for the Ottawa Redblacks).
“This town took me in and helped make me the man I am today,” a post on Evans’s Instagram account read. “I had four great seasons in this city.
“… Hamilton, I’ll see you for the Grey Cup,” Evans concluded. The CFL’s championship game is in Hamilton on Nov. 23.
In November, shortly after a first-round playoff ouster in Montréal where Evans was replaced in the second half by understudy Matt Shiltz, the Tiger-Cats traded for the negotiating rights to two-time most outstanding player award winner Mitchell. Evans essentially signalled that he was not long for Hamilton by sharing a video of packed vehicles in his Instagram story. He remained on the roster through the start of the CFL free agency period last week.
Videos
Evans, 29, will be joining a Lions team that is in search of a quarterback after Oakville sensation Nathan Rourke signed with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The Lions have added 30-year-old veteran Vernon Adams Jr., and still have their incumbent No. 2, 33-year-old Dominique Davis, whose only starting stint over his seven CFL seasons came with a last-place Ottawa team in 2019.
In 2022, Evans suited up in 17 regular season games and one playoff game, completing 305-of-457 pass attempts (66.7%) for 3,883 yards with 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. The six-foot, 218-pound native of Sanger, Texas dressed in 63 games over four seasons, totalling 8,807 passing yards on 698-of-1,019 passing (68.5%) with 45 passing touchdowns and 34 interceptions.
Evans, a Tulsa Golden Hurricanes alumnus, was also an influencer beyond the gridiron in Hamilton. Last season the quarterback, who is of Wichita descent, hosted 100 Indigenous youth to Tim Hortons Field for Play It Forward Day.
Along with starting in two Grey Cup games, Evans also guided Hamilton to wins in the ’19 and ’21 East Division finals. The second time around, he relieved Masoli and completed all 16 of his passes to help the Tiger-Cats surmount an early deficit against the archrival Toronto Argonauts. Seven days later in the 2021 Grey Cup, Masoli sparked the Hamilton attack against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but the Bombers limited Hamilton to a tying field goal at the end of the fourth quarter and pulled out the 33-25 overtime win.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising