Montana’s Dickenson May Test Waters In Cfl With Nfl Showing Little Interest, I-Aa’s Top Player Looking North

With interest from National Football League teams slow in coming, Montana quarterback Dave Dickenson is turning his attention to the Canadian Football League.

“I’m really anxious right now to get back on the field,” Dickenson said. “It’s almost like I have to prove myself again.”

The Toronto Argonauts own the CFL signing rights to the 5-foot-11 Dickenson.

“Toronto has three or four other quarterbacks under contract, but they still hold Dave’s rights from 1993,” said his agent, Ken Staninger.

He is hoping Toronto will trade those rights to another team, since Toronto recently signed the CFL’s marquee player, quarterback Doug Flutie.

Staninger said the best strategy now is to get Dickenson into the CFL, “have him put up some big numbers for a few years and then see if the NFL is interested.”

Staninger said he could have gotten Dickenson a free-agent tryout in the NFL, but said “Dave Dickenson is way too good a quarterback just to go to comp to be an arm.”

“Ideally, I would like to go to a team that needed a starting quarterback, or a place where at least there is a level playing field and an opportunity to compete,” Dickenson said.

Dickenson, who led Montana to the 1995 Division I-AA national championship while earning the Walter Payton Award, said he’s excited about having a shot in the CFL.

“It’s not as lucrative, and you always like to test yourself as high as you can go. I don’t think (the CFL) is as high as I can go,” he said.

“But I’m not guaranteed success there either. There are still a lot of good players there, and I’m still going to have to get in a system that favors my strengths.”