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Matt Nichols

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This article is about the Canadian footballer. For the British drummer with a similar name, see Matt Nicholls.

Matt Nichols
Nichols with the Blue Bombers in 2016
Born: (1987-03-19) March 19, 1987 (age 37)
Redding, California, U.S.
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)Quarterback
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight215 lb (98 kg)
CollegeEastern Washington
High schoolWest Valley
NFL draft2010, undrafted
HandRight
Career history
As player
2010Dallas Cowboys*
2010–2015Edmonton Eskimos
2015–2019Winnipeg Blue Bombers
2020Toronto Argonauts*
2021Ottawa Redblacks
Career highlights and awards
Career stats

Matt Nichols (born March 19, 1987) is an American former professional Canadian football quarterback. He last played for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Nichols played college football at Eastern Washington. He has also been a member of the Dallas Cowboys, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Edmonton Eskimos, and Toronto Argonauts. He officially retired in July of 2022.

College career

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Nichols was a four-year starter at Eastern Washington, where he compiled 996 completions on 1608 attempts (62%) for 12,616 yards, 96 touchdowns and 46 interceptions in 47 games (42 starts). Nichols' career passing yards are the most in Big Sky Conference history and ranks sixth overall in NCAA history. Nichols also holds the school record for touchdown passes with 96 and was named the 2007 and 2009 Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year. The Business Management major attended college with former Winnipeg Blue Bomber defensive end Greg Peach.

Professional career

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Dallas Cowboys

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Nichols attended training camp with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2010 and appeared in two pre-season games, recording 10 completions in 16 attempts for 81 yards and two interceptions. He was released on August 19.

Edmonton Eskimos

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Nichols was signed as a free agent by the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League on October 13, 2010. Nichols spent the next three games on the practice roster before being released on November 2. On February 4, 2011, he was re-signed by Edmonton through the end of the 2012 season. In the playoffs of the 2012 CFL season Nichols sustained a devastating broken leg injury. He worked hard all off-season in order to be able to play for the 2013 CFL season. Entering the 2013 CFL season Nichols was in open competition with Mike Reilly for the starting quarterback job.[1] Nichols was awarded the start for the first preseason game on June 14, 2013. However, he left the game early on after attempting to tackle a player after throwing an interception. The tests revealed that he had torn ACL and required surgery; this caused him to miss the entire 2013 season.[2] In the offseason, Nichols was signed to a two-year contract extension through the 2015 CFL season.[3]

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

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Nichols was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, on September 2, 2015. Nichols played in numerous games for the Bombers in 2015, due in large part to various injuries to starting quarterback Drew Willy. Nichols started the 2016 season as the backup to Drew Willy, however following a 1–4 start to the season head-coach Mike O'Shea announced that Nichols would be the starting quarterback for their week 6 match-up against Edmonton.[4] In 2016, Nichols began his tenure as the Bombers starting quarterback with 7 wins in a row propelling the Bombers to a record of 8–4. The Bombers would finish the season with a record of 11–7, finishing 3rd place in the Western Division. In the playoffs the Bombers were unable to hold onto a 19-point lead over the BC Lions, falling 32–31 thus ending their 2016 campaign.[5] Drew Willy was traded in the middle of the season, and veteran quarterback Kevin Glenn was released in January 2017, confirming the Bombers belief that he could be their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. This sentiment was reinforced when they signed him to a 3-year contract extension on January 18, 2017.[6] Nichols had a breakout 2017 season, setting career highs in every major category (attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns). Nichols led the Bombers to a 12-6 record, clinching a home playoff game; however, the team was defeated by the Eskimos in the first round.[7]

Nichols with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2021.

During the lead up to the start of the 2018 season Nichols suffered a non-contact knee injury in practice, and it was announced he would miss four to six weeks, returning in four as he made his 2018 debut on July 7 against the BC Lions.[8] Nichols had a strong season for the Blue Bombers, leading the team to a record of 10-8 and a playoff berth. The Bombers advanced to the West division finals after defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 23-18 on the road, but was unable to overcome the Calgary Stampeders who went on to win the 106th Grey Cup. Nichols was having an outstanding 2019 season and was leading the league in touchdown passes (15) and passer rating (107.2), but suffered an upper-body injury in Week 10 against the BC Lions which caused him to be placed on the six-game injured reserve.[9] On September 26, 2019, it was revealed that Nichols underwent shoulder surgery which meant that he would remain sidelined for the remainder of the 2019 season.[10] Teammate Chris Streveler took over the helm and the Bombers traded for Zach Collaros; these two quarterbacks would go on to help the team win their first championship in 29 years at the 107th Grey Cup. Collaros was signed to a two-year extension in January 2020 following the Grey Cup and the team released Nichols early on January 28, 2020 so that he could find a role as a starter in the CFL.[11]

Toronto Argonauts

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Nichols signed with the Toronto Argonauts to a three-year contract on February 7, 2020.[12] He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season and, following a contract renegotiation dispute, was released on January 31, 2021.[13]

Ottawa Redblacks

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A few hours after being released by Toronto, Nichols signed with the Ottawa Redblacks, who subsequently released quarterback Nick Arbuckle.[14] Nichols and the Redblacks offense struggled in their season opener, scoring only three field goals with Nichols only managing 72 passing yards on 20 attempts.[15] Nichols and the Redblacks continued to struggle in the subsequent weeks, culminating with Nichols being benched in Week 5 in favour of Dominique Davis.[16] Nichols came in to replace an infective Davis in the third quarter of the team's Week 8 loss to the Tiger-Cats, however he had to be taken out of the game after suffering a wrist injury.[17] He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 8, 2022.[18]

Career statistics

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  Passing   Rushing
Year Team GA GS Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TD Fumb
2012 EDM 18 2 83 48 57.8 884 7 3 107.7 10 76 7.6 19 1 3
2014 EDM 18 4 151 94 62.3 1,014 4 5 77.0 16 41 2.6 6 2 2
2015 EDM 9 7 209 128 61.2 1,488 8 10 75.6 10 21 2.1 7 0 3
WPG 9 7 248 149 60.1 1,757 10 7 83.4 19 112 5.9 23 0 2
2016 WPG 18 13 471 327 69.4 3,666 18 9 97.1 35 90 2.6 15 6 2
2017 WPG 18 17 579 411 71.0 4,472 28 8 103.8 26 188 7.2 41 2 5
2018 WPG 15 14 392 254 64.8 3,146 18 13 91.0 15 52 3.5 12 1 2
2019 WPG 9 9 240 171 71.3 1,936 15 5 107.2 9 37 4.1 18 1 1
2020 TOR Season cancelled Season cancelled
2021 OTT 6 4 96 63 65.6 544 0 3 67.4 7 22 3.1 9 0 2
CFL totals 120 77 2,469 1,645 66.6 18,907 108 63 93.5 147 639 4.3 41 13 22
Playoffs Passing Rushing
Year Game GP GS Att Cmp Yards TD Int Att Yards TD
2011 West Semi-Final 0 - - - - - - - - -
2011 West Final 0 - - - - - - - - -
2012 *East Semi-Final 1 0 7 3 51 0 0 2 2 0
2014 West Semi-Final 1 1 23 12 59 0 1 0 - -
2014 West Final 1 0 15 9 92 0 0 1 2 0
2016 West Semi-Final 1 1 40 26 390 2 0 1 3 0
2017 West Semi-Final 1 1 48 35 371 3 0 2 8 0
2018 West Semi-Final 1 1 22 16 169 1 0 1 5 0
2018 West Final 1 1 32 15 156 0 0 2 10 0
2019 West Semi-Final 0 - - - - - - - - -
2019 West Final 0 - - - - - - - - -
CFL totals 7 5 187 116 1288 6 1 9 30 0

*Team qualified for Crossover

Grey Cup Passing Rushing
Year Team GP GS Att Cmp Yards TD Int Att Yards TD
2019 WPG 0 - - - - - - - - -
CFL totals 0 - - - - - - - - -

References

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  1. ^ "Nichols, Reilly duel for QB job as Edmonton Eskimos open training camp". CTVNews.
  2. ^ "Eskimos QB Matt Nichols out for 2013 with torn ACL in right knee". The Globe and Mail.
  3. ^ "Backup plan: Nichols handed extension by Esks". CFL.ca.
  4. ^ Hobson, Russ. "Matt Nichols set for first start of the season against the Edmonton Eskimos". Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  5. ^ "B.C. Lions storm back from 19-point deficit to nip Winnipeg Blue Bombers in West Division semi-final". National Post. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  6. ^ "Bombers re-sign Nichols to three-year deal – Article – TSN". TSN. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  7. ^ "2017-11-12 Game Tracker - Edmonton Eskimos vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2453) - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  8. ^ "Report: Matt Nichols to miss 4-6 weeks - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. June 7, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  9. ^ "Winnipeg Blue Bombers QB Matt Nichols avoids surgery, will be placed on six-game IL - TSN.ca". TSN. The Canadian Press. August 19, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  10. ^ "Matt Nichols has shoulder surgery; out for season - TSN.ca". TSN. The Canadian Press. September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "Blue Bombers to release QB Nichols early". TSN. January 28, 2020.
  12. ^ "Argos make Nichols signing official; ink veteran pivot to three-year deal". CFL.ca. February 7, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "Argos ink Speller to a deal + make other moves". Toronto Argonauts. January 31, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  14. ^ "REDBLACKS sign Nichols, release Arbuckle". CFL.ca. January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  15. ^ "Redblacks work on getting offensive". ottawasun. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  16. ^ "2021-09-03 Game Tracker - Montreal Alouettes vs. Ottawa Redblacks (6150)". CFL.ca. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  17. ^ "Hamilton Tiger-Cats Ottawa Redblacks Week 8 - TSN.ca". TSN. The Canadian Press. September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  18. ^ "Transactions – Football player trades and signings". Canadian Football League. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
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