Could Kellen Moore be a fit for the Alouettes?

Will Moore get an NFL shot?

The next big date on the Alouettes football calendar is at the end of January where they will congregate with every professional football team for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.

At an event such as this, general manager Jim Popp is a master at discovering bubble players who he might deem the perfect fit for the Alouettes. One player in particular who will have a NASA-like microscope on every move he does is former Boise State Broncos quarterback, Kellen Moore who is currently on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats negotiation list.

Moore, a four year starter, and the NCAA all-time leader in wins, will have a lot to prove to all the scouts in attendance. The common theme being discussed, he lacks the prototypical size to be an effective NFL quarterback. Last time I checked, New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees best resembles Moore in physical stature, football IQ, and his ability to win. He has done fairly well in his career.

If the NFL does not workout for Moore, he could potentially be a perfect fit in the CFL. Some will say his predecessors at Boise State who tried their luck; Jared Zabransky and Ryan Dinwiddie, miserably failed at the Canadian game.

But the strongest tangible that Moore brings is his accuracy, something that the two other quarterbacks are not very strong at. In his senior year, he had a passing percentage of 74.3-percent, and he was sacked a mere seven times on 439 passing attempts. As usual, scouts will never heavily weigh these stats in determining whether they should select him.

Aside from the end of the 2011 season, during the four years that Anthony Calvillo has played in the Marc Trestman system, how often was he sacked? The point is he was rarely touched by a defense.

If you’re the Alouettes, going into these next two years, a lot could transpire with the pivot position. Calvillo is coming back for what is probably his last season.

How ironic that Calvillo came from a similar athletic background as Moore coming from a small school (Utah State) to working his way in becoming the CFL’s greatest passer. Another strong connection between these two players is that Moore’s last game as collegian was the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl. As luck would have it, in that very same game Calvillo was inducted into the bowl’s first ever Hall of Fame class.

In the case of Adrian McPherson, without question he will be given the first right to see if he will be the eventually successor to Calvillo. But as mentioned in a previous article, how long is he willing to wait for this to become reality? Granted, even though Moore is considered to be Tiger-Cats property, would they consider trading his rights to a division rival?

Looking further at Moore’s skills, he fits the profile for the Alouettes system. In the last four years that Calvillo has been apart of the Trestman offense, his passing average has been 67.6-percent. The key rules in the Trestman offense, is making the correct read, and completing the pass. Calvillo has done this to perfection. The same can be said for Moore who would fit nicely into this system.

Simply put, Moore throughout his career has won big nationally televised games over the traditional powerhouse teams such as Georgia, TCU, and Virginia Tech.

As for transitioning to the cold Canadian weather, it should not be a problem for Moore, since the state of Boise has similar weather pattern as Canada.

It is still a far cry for this scenario to become reality. But with all due respect to Ricky Santos or Josh Neiswander, they will not be the quarterbacks that the team will look upon as their future saviors. Given that in CFL the third and fourth string position is an interchangeable part, why not give a shot to a player such as Moore?

The end result is that come April a NFL team will select Moore in the late rounds of the draft. From there, he will be in that system until further notice. The Alouettes could deem him as a player they could try to pry away from the Tiger-Cats negotiation list. If things don’t pan out down south, he might have a chance to flourish in Canada.

The time is now for Jim Popp to unearth any football player that could be the next great quarterback for the Alouettes and if he plays his cards right, maybe it is Kellen Moore.

You can follow me on Twitter @MoeKhan19