Montreal Alouettes unconcerned after Davis Alexander hamstring scare

Photo: Raphael Williams-Claudio/RWC Photography/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The hearts of every fan in Percival Molson Stadium jumped into their collective throats on Saturday night when Davis Alexander was seen clutching the back of his left leg early in the fourth quarter, but the Montreal Alouettes quarterback insists that he is a-okay after the brief scare.

“It was tight to start the game. It wasn’t a pull or anything, but (the trainers) told me if I felt anything at all to come back to them and that’s what I did,” Alexander said post-game.

The 27-year-old appeared to tweak his hamstring on a long rollout to his right on second down, which resulted in a throwaway near the sideline with defender Derrick Moncrief in his face. He briefly retreated to receive treatment, and backup Dustin Crum was seen warming up, though Alexander ultimately never missed a series.

Davis Alexander leaves the game to check out a potential leg injury.#CFL pic.twitter.com/4D0Ak6mKNN

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 12, 2026

Montreal led 34-23 at the time of the incident and held on to secure a 37-30 win over the Calgary Stampeders. Head coach Jason Maas acknowledged that he may have sat his starting quarterback for the remainder of the game had the margin of victory not been so tight.

“Yeah, there was a chance of that. When it first initially happened, there were talks, depending on how that score would have went,” Maas said. “If we would have scored a touchdown, gone up a certain amount of points, maybe we try to save him for the rest of the game. But it didn’t happen that way, and he was smart about it.”

Concern for Alexander’s health dates back to 2025, when he was limited to just eight regular-season games due to a nagging hamstring strain suffered prior to training camp. The Portland State product was undefeated when healthy enough to play and pushed through the injury in the playoffs, but was severely hampered in a Grey Cup loss to Saskatchewan. He revealed after that game that the injury had progressed to a Grade 3C hamstring tear, the most severe form of the injury without it ripping off the bone.

After an offseason to recover, Alexander claimed his hamstring was 100 percent entering the 2026 season. However, the Alouettes have been conservative with their franchise pivot, pulling him early from one preseason game for precautionary reasons. They didn’t deploy a similar strategy on Saturday because Maas believed the quarterback’s issue was minor, though it did influence the play-calling late.

“He knew he didn’t do anything drastically wrong. It was just a little feeling that he had. And trust me, he’s played with those things before. You guys all know he has,” Maas explained. “He’s smart. He understands how to play. We called the game a little bit differently as well because of it.”

Alexander finished 22-of-30 passing for 301 yards and one touchdown on the night. He’ll have a week to fully recover before the Alouettes face the Stampeders in a rematch on Saturday, July 18, though Maas is unconcerned.

“Ultimately, he’ll get the treatment he needs and be ready to go next week,” he said. “And if not, we’ll end up going on to the next.”

Editor’s note: this article was assembled using key files obtained by 3DownNation contributor Pablo Herrera-Vergara.

J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league’s Global initiative.