There was a time in his career when Vernon Adams Jr. was overt with his grudges and explicit about his perceived slights. The Calgary Stampeders’ quarterback has long since aged out of that phase, preferring now to keep his emotions under wraps in the media.
However, he couldn’t completely hide that Saturday’s 41-33 win over the B.C. Lions carried more significance than your average Week 4 matchup. After a year of waiting and disappointment, Adams finally beat the franchise that cast him aside in 2024, doing so commandingly in a showcase game.
“It means a lot,” Adams admitted to TSN‘s Farhan Lalji on the field post-game. “This is a wonderful venue they’ve got going on here, Touchdown Kelowna, so it’s awesome, man. The fans are hyped. It does feel good to get that monkey off my back, but now it’s time to get back to work and keep working.”
Adams first joined the Lions in 2022, acquired via a midseason trade to step in for the injured Nathan Rourke. He ascended to the full-time starting job the following season and helped B.C. reach the West Final. The 33-year-old appeared to take his game to new heights in 2024 and was widely considered to be the frontrunner for Most Outstanding Player at the halfway point, before he was sidelined with a minor knee injury.
That’s when Rourke made his return from the NFL, stepping in for Adams just as VA had once done for him. The Canadian QB struggled to adjust back to the CFL, but the Lions allowed him to keep playing through his challenges, even once Adams was fully healthy. That was a different approach from what took place in 2022 and fueled discontent in the locker room, leading to a late-season collapse. Rourke was eventually benched for the regular-season finale and Western Semi-Final, but the damage was already done, and head coach Rick Campbell was ultimately fired.
The Lions made a final decision shortly after the season, shipping Adams to Calgary and installing Rourke as the official face of the franchise. Both quarterbacks have described their stretch of cohabitation as emotionally difficult, but have maintained a healthy respect for one another. That remained true after Saturday’s game.
“I think that’s usually a sticking point that the media likes to go to — it’s all respect and admiration for me to VA,” Rourke said of their perceived rivalry.
“I thought he played very well today. I thought offensively, they did a really good job of having a balanced attack. I thought that he made some big plays. I thought…
2026-06-28 18:44:19
‘Get that monkey off my back’: Vernon Adams Jr. defeats B.C. Lions for first time since tr
