Riders sign older, but cheaper, version of Durant

On the same day one quarterbacking legend retires, another is going back to where it all started.

Henry Burris called it a career on Tuesday in Ottawa, while in Saskatchewan Kevin Glenn was joining the Roughriders for the third time.

• Roughriders sign quarterback Kevin Glenn

It may be a stretch to call Glenn a legend at this point, but he is close to joining the 50,000-yard club which, at the moment, has a membership of only six.

Yes, that also makes Glenn old by football standards he is 37 but his veteran presence puts the Riders in a much better position than they were a couple days ago.

The trade which sent Darian Durant to Montreal left the Riders as the only CFL team without an established quarterback in the stable.

• ANALYSIS: Remember when the Roughriders traded Darian Durant?

It didn't take Riders head coach and GM Chris Jones long to patch that hole with an older, but less expensive,version of Durant.

"I keep getting the Twitter and social media messages of coming back home and that's kind of what it feels like," said Glenn on Tuesday from his home in Detroit.

It will be the third time around for Glenn in Saskatchewan, havingstarted his career here in 2001.

Sixteenyears later, the well-travelled Glenn is back again, just two years after the Riders brought him in as insurance behind Darian Durant,only to tradeGlennto Montreal in the same season.

Unlike 2015, Glenn comes back to Saskatchewan in 2017 in an entirely different situation.

With Durant gone, Glenn is the veteran of the stable and the starting quarterback position will be regarded as his job to lose.

"I'm there to compete and do whatever I need to do in order to help that team win and that has always been my M.O.," he said

But Jones, who has his own modus operandi, calls all the shots in football operations and he might be visualizing something else.

A perfect scenario would be for one of Jones's projects whether it be Jake Waters, G.J. Kinne, or even Brandon Bridge to winthe top job in training camp.

Glenn wouldbe there as an insurance policy on the sideline.

"Whether he's our starter or he's our backup, he's going to be valuable," said Jones from his home in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

"You don't hear in the locker room that he's a complainer or someone who's going to rock the boat when he's not necessarily the number one option."

Whether it was explained that way to Glenn during the negotiation process is unclear, but Glenn doesn't sound like a quarterback ready to be put out to pasture just yet.

"I've always played the quarterback position growing up playing football.I was the shortstop, I was the point guard in basketball, so I've always been the guy on the team that people kind of look to in that type of leadership role," he said.

A mentorship role he accepts to be described as aplayer-coach, why not? But he's not about to concede anything on the field.

He will be reporting to training camp in June with every intention of starting the first game at new Mosaic Stadium.