Dru Brown shares insight into playing injured, Ottawa Redblacks look to reassess best practices

Photo: Aru Das/3DownNation. All rights reserved.
The Ottawa Redblacks were riddled with injuries in 2025 and that was no more apparent than the quarterback position where Dru Brown played hurt for parts of the year, while also missing a significant number of games.

The five-foot-eleven, 200-pound passer was a mainstay on the team’s injury report, fighting through problems with his hip, neck, and knee over the course of the season to try to remain on the field.

“Football is a lot of reactionary impulse movement, so just like any of us, I think if someone told you that it doesn’t bother them (to play hurt), they’re full of s***,” Brown told the media in Ottawa.

“That’s just the reality, but like I said, I made those decisions, and I’ll take responsibility for my performance when I said I was good enough to go. We’re human beings, so any time something’s wrong, there’s things that in that moment you realize probably you can’t do to the best of your ability, and that’s just part of playing the game.”

Brown dressed for eleven regular-season games in 2025 but made only nine starts, posting a 2-7 record. He completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions to rank eighth league-wide in passer rating (min. 100 attempts).

The Redblacks are planning to perform full reassessment of their conduct in an attempt to not only help Brown stay on the field, but limit injuries at other positions as well.

“We’ve gotta get (Brown) healthy and we need to have our quarterback on the field for more games in a season,” said general manager Shawn Burke.

“That’s not a Dru thing, that’s an organizational thing. We have to look at how we do things and what we do — through practice, through medical, and through the offseason — so we’ll do that. I know no one wants to do more than Dru and I’m excited to get to see what he thinks about his offseason and chat with him through that.”

According to 3DownNation’s records, which were comprised using the data from team-published injury reports throughout the 2025 season, the Redblacks lost 281 man games due to injury this year — the second-most of any CFL team and 37.5 percent more than the league average.

“(Injuries are) part of the game and, unfortunately, every team has to deal with it and we kinda weren’t able to overcome that just with the number that we had,” said Brown. “But like I said, everyone deals with it, so you kind of just have to try and overcome that.”

The 28-year-old passer fared better in his first season with Ottawa in 2024 when he went 8-6-1 as a starter, completing 67.2 percent of his passes for 3,959 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in the process.

Most would argue that Ottawa’s receiving corps was better this year as three-time All-CFL selection Eugene Lewis was signed from Edmonton, while Kalil Pimpleton, who was voted the team’s candidate for Most Outstanding Player, became a full-time starter.

The offensive line clearly regressed, however, particularly at right tackle where Zack Pelehos played only three games due to injury. The Redblacks gave up 47 sacks in 2025, which was seven more than the previous year.

Brown has a $150,000 roster bonus due on January 15, 2026 as part of a contract worth $462,500 in hard money and a maximum possible value of $474,500. Only three players — Nathan Rourke, Chad Kelly, Zach Collaros — made more than $470,000 this year, which puts Brown firmly into the category of a top earners in the CFL.

Despite his frustrations with 2025, it sounds like Brown is still looking forward to returning under the terms of his current deal as he looks to help lead Ottawa back to the playoffs.

“I have a commitment here for next year and I look forward to that. I see myself continuing to grow here with the guys that we have and that we bring in, and I look forward to that. I try not to think too far into the future, but I love this city and I love my teammates, so I’m going to try and keep that going as long as I can.”

Brown said he plans to “do everything (he) can” to prevent similar injury problems from cropping up next season, when the Redblacks will look to improve under a new head coach. He’s not questioning his durability, though he wants to leave every stone unturned in an effort to stay more healthy next year.

“I wouldn’t say I question it. Do I think about it? Yeah, but I don’t question it. I think that I’ll continue to turn over every stone to control what I can control, trying different things — whether that’s in the offseason or in-season — to be able to withstand playing the position in this league, but I don’t question it.”

The Ottawa Redblacks finished fourth in the East Division standings in 2025 with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Dru Brown went 2-7 over nine starts at quarterback, throwing for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Dustin Crum went 2-4 over six starts, throwing for 1,771 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.

The Redblacks ranked sixth in net offence per game, fifth in net defence per game, and ninth with a turnover differential of minus-16. The club’s leading rusher was William Stanback with 698 yards, leading receiver was Justin Hardy with 1,019 yards, and leading tackler was Adarius Pickett with 84 tackles. Ottawa finished eighth in attendance with average crowds of 18,136, which was a 4.2 percent decrease from the previous year.