Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes.
Counting the Ottawa Redblacks, Dustin Crum estimated five to six Canadian Football League teams inquired about his quarterbacking services during the negotiation window in February.
“Towards the end, the biggest two it came down to were B.C. and Montreal. They were both very interested, and they’re both very appealing teams. It was a very hard decision from that standpoint, they’re both very successful organizations this past year and I have a lot of respect for both coaching staffs,” Crum told 3DownNation.
“Honestly, one of the biggest draws of Montreal is coach [Jason] Maas and some things he’s built there culturally, what they do and what they believe is something that I’ve been able to have a lot of respect for from afar. It’s something I’m very excited to be a part of in the future.”
Crum signed a one-year contract with the Alouettes, which includes $140,000 in hard money for the 2026 CFL season. The 27-year-old enters his fourth year in Canada as Davis Alexander’s backup. He’s looking forward to learning from Alexander, Maas, offensive coordinator Anthony Calvillo plus other teammates and coaches in La Belle province.
“Coach Maas has built a tremendous culture over there, a winning culture. They truly force you when you’ve played them the past three years, they force you to truly beat them, they’re not going to beat themselves,” Crum said.
“They don’t shoot themselves in the foot, per se, in a lot of games, so they’ve been able to win a lot of games. That’s what you have to do in professional football.”
Former Redblacks general manager, Marcel Desjardins played a role in Crum joining Montreal. Desjardins was in Ottawa when his name was added to the team’s negotiation list. The 59-year-old has been an assistant to general manager Danny Maciocia and player personnel since January 2024.
“He was the guy that helped me get into the league. That definitely was a little bit a part of it, I would think. He’s known about me since I was in college and helped me end up getting into Ottawa. Now, he’s over in Montreal. A lot of connections, and hopefully, I can prove their belief in me right,” Crum said.
Crum started 14 games during his rookie CFL season in the nation’s capital in 2023. He called that a “unique” experience because it’s rare for a first-year quarterback to start at all, let alone so many games. The six-foot, 210-pound QB believes that’s the image coaches, talent evaluators, and fans have in their minds about him as a player. Although, the Grafton, OH native believes he has improved since.
“As a rookie coming in the CFL, there’s so much to learn as a quarterback. The coverages are so much different than what you experience in American football. The pace of the game, the routes, and the throws, there’s nothing that’s truly the same, to be honest. They’re close, but there’s nothing completely the same, so making that adjustment has been huge,” Crum explained.
“Running and being a mobile guy is a part of my game, I’m not saying it’s not, but to be very frank that rookie year I was playing backyard football. Looking back at who I was this past season versus my rookie year, it’s like two totally different guys. It’s funny to go back and watch those games sometimes and see how I’ve changed. I owe a lot of that to coach Tommy Condell, he did a great job helping me learn the game.”
Through three CFL seasons, Crum has started 20 regular season games. All those starts came with the projected No. 1 QB being hurt and in some cases a backup suffering an injury. He has gained valuable experience even though the dual-threat pivot was not a first choice to start, yet. However, Crum has belief he can become a franchise CFL quarterback.
“It’s definitely a goal of mine. It’s something I would like to accomplish before I’m done in the league is to be able to be that guy and prove that I am worthy of that as well. That’s hopefully something on the horizon for me that I’m working towards,” he said confidently.
“It’s one of the toughest things as a quarterback in this league, there’s nine teams, so if no one retires or ends up getting benched or let go or something, there’s no spots open. You got to continue to grow, get better, develop and wait for that opportunity to come.”
In Montreal, Crum has a chance to learn from one of the best to ever play football’s most important position in the CFL in Calvillo and work towards his goal to become a bonafide starter while providing the Alouettes experience behind Alexander.
