 Evans with theMontreal Alouettes in 2023 | |||||||||||||
| No. 5 – Montreal Alouettes | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||||||||||
| CFL status | American | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1998-07-16)July 16, 1998 (age 27) Mansfield, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 210 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school |
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| College | Louisiana–Monroe (2016–2019) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2020: undrafted | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career CFL statistics as of 2024 | |||||||||||||
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Caleb Evans (born July 16, 1998) is an American professionalfootballquarterback for theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League (CFL). He playedcollege football atLouisiana–Monroe.
Evans played football atMansfield High School inMansfield, Texas before transferring to play his final two seasons atBishop Dunne Catholic School inDallas, Texas.[1]
Evans playedcollege football for theLouisiana-Monroe Warhawks at theUniversity of Louisiana at Monroe inMonroe, Louisiana. He played in 43 games for the Warhawks from 2016 to 2019 where he threw for 9,513 yards with 58 touchdowns and 38 interceptions.[1]
Evans was not selected in the2020 NFL draft and remained unsigned until December 14, 2020 when he agreed to a contract with theOttawa Redblacks.[2] Evans began the season on the practice roster, but was named the starting quarterback for the team's Week 9 match against theEdmonton Elks with veteransMatt Nichols andDominique Davis both being placed on injured reserve.[3] Evans played surprisingly well in his first appearance in the CFL, completing 15 of 22 passes for 191 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, leading Ottawa to their second win of the season.[4] In his second career start, Evans threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns in the third quarter as the Redblacks were defeated 35-16.[5] Over the subsequent weeks Evans's performances continued to decline, including being benched in the team's Week 11 loss to theAlouettes.[6] Nevertheless, head coachPaul LaPolice announced Evans would be the team's starting quarterback in Week 12 against theHamilton Tiger-Cats.[7] Evans continued to start for the Redblacks until Week 14 when it was announced that former NFL quarterbackDevlin Hodges would make his CFL debut.[8] Evans finished the season with 108 completed passes for 1,279 yards with five touchdown passes and nine interceptions. The Redblacks finished the season with only three wins, finishing last in the East division, missing the playoffs in the process.
During the offseason the Redblacks signed veteranJeremiah Masoli to be the team's starting quarterback.[9] Masoli started the first four games of the season before suffering a bone injury in his leg which would cause him to miss an extended period of time.[10] Three days later the Redblacks traded for quarterbackNick Arbuckle fromEdmonton to compete with Evans for the starting role while Masoli recovered.[11] Evans started the next five games for the Redblacks, however the team's record fell to 1-8, which prompted head coach Paul LaPolice to announce Arbuckle as Ottawa's starting quarterback for the club's Week 12 match against theEdmonton Elks.[12] Serving as the team's short yardage quarterback Evans surpassed hall-of-famerDoug Flutie setting a CFL record for most rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback with 15.[13] With the playoffs out of reach, Evans was named the team's starting quarterback for the final game of the regular season.[14] He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 14, 2023.[15]
On February 14, 2023, it was announced that Evans had signed a two-year contract with theMontreal Alouettes.[16] He dressed primarily as the backup quarterback in2023, but started in place of the incumbent starter,Cody Fajardo, for two games, winning both, while the latter recovered from an injury.[17]
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | |||
| 2021 | OTT | 8 | 7 | 2–5 | 108 | 182 | 59.3 | 1,279 | 7.0 | 5 | 9 | 69.4 | 42 | 345 | 8.2 | 3 | |
| 2022 | OTT | 18 | 6 | 1–5 | 114 | 185 | 61.6 | 1,301 | 7.0 | 4 | 7 | 74.2 | 88 | 354 | 4.0 | 16 | |
| 2023 | MTL | 18 | 2 | 2–0 | 43 | 67 | 64.2 | 573 | 8.6 | 4 | 3 | 81.3 | 48 | 185 | 3.9 | 8 | |
| 2024 | MTL | 8 | 1 | 0-1 | 26 | 45 | 57.8 | 307 | 6.8 | 4 | 2 | 89.8 | 24 | 55 | 2.29 | 4 | |
| Career | 44 | 15 | 5–10 | 265 | 434 | 61.1 | 3,153 | 7.3 | 13 | 19 | 75.0 | 178 | 884 | 5.0 | 27 | ||
Evans was born inMansfield, Texas to parents Efrem and Kim Evans.[18] He has eight siblings, includingJerod Evans, who played quarterback for theVirginia Tech Hokies, and Lance Evans, who played wide receiver for theTexas A&M–Commerce Lions.[18][1]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Media related toCaleb Evans at Wikimedia Commons