The CFL’s Toronto Argonauts are getting ready for the CFL Division Finals against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this Sunday. Unfortunately, they’ll now have to play without their star quarterback.
According to Dave Naylor of TSN, Toronto quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson has been sent home and must now quarantine for four days. Bethel-Thompson attended a Toronto Raptors game on Thursday, violating CFL COVID-19 protocol rules.
The Toronto quarterback was reportedly encouraged to go by the team itself. It’s an invitation that Bethel-Thompson apparently didn’t know he had to decline.
Bizarrely, the team is now seemingly keeping him out of the game they encouraged him to attend. That’s either hilarious or a wild misinterpretation of the actual events.
Hearing @TorontoArgos QB MacLeod Bethel-Thompson has been sent home and is being held out of practice today because of attending the @Raptors game at his team’s request. It’s a violation of CFL Covid protocol, which states he must now quarantine 4 days. Game day is Sunday.#CFL
— Dave Naylor (@TSNDaveNaylor) December 3, 2021
McLeod Bethel-Thompson was recently voted the Argonauts’ Most Outstanding Player. He started nine games and completed 66-percent of his passes for 2,303 yards and 12 touchdowns, leading the team to the top record in the East Division.
The former Sacramento State quarterback has found a solid niche in the Canadian Football League. Between 2011 and 2016, he bounced around the NFL and a variety of minor football leagues.
Bethel-Thompson had multiple stints with the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, along with brief runs in New England and Philadelphia. But he never played a down in the NFL.
Is this the most bizarre story to ever come out of the CFL? Or does there have to be more to the story than this?