Honour Roll

• CFL Most Outstanding Player: 2021, 2022
• CFL All-Star: 2021, 2022
• West Division All-Star: 2021, 2022, 2023
• CFLPA All-Star: 2021, 2022
• Most Outstanding Player, West Division: 2021, 2022
• Blue Bombers Most Outstanding Player: 2021, 2022
• Hamilton Tiger-Cats Most Outstanding Player: 2014, 2015

Media

-The Huddle — May 14, 2024

-Long Read: Who is Zach Collaros? — November 16, 2022

-In My Words — October 18, 2022

-Long Read: Zach Collaros the MOP — December 10, 2021

-One-on-One with Zach Collaros — November 22, 2019

2024: Blue Bombers

The 2024 season for Collaros mirrored that of his team and after a slow start by season’s end he had established a new career high in passing yards with 4,336 in his 17 starts. Collaros finished the year with 17 touchdowns against 15 interceptions and posted a QB-efficiency rating of 96.3 as the team went 10-7 in his 17 starts.

Collaros had four 300 yards-plus passing performances in 2024, including a season-high 432 yards in a win over Edmonton in late September. He also threw for six touchdowns in that game, tied for second-most in franchise history with Sean Salisbury (Sept. 10, 1989 vs. B.C.) and Jack Jacobs (Oct. 4, 1952 vs. Calgary) behind Jim Van Pelt’s record seven-touchdown game against Saskatchewan on August 29, 1959.

He became the first Blue Bombers quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in three straight seasons since Khari Jones did it four years in a row from 2000-03, and only the third to accomplish that feat, including Dieter Brock from 1980-82.

His 4,336 yards this season is the ninth highest in franchise history after Jones (5,334 in 2002), Kevin Glenn (5,114 in 2007), Brock (4,796 in 1981), Tom Clements (4,686 in 1987), Matt Dunigan (4,682 in 1993), Kerwin Bell (4,647 in 1999), Jones (4,545 in 2001) and Matt Nichols (4,472 in 2017).

The Blue Bombers are now a remarkable 57-18, including playoffs, in games in which Collaros has started. His 49 wins in regular season games is now third most in franchise history behind only Ken Ploen (82) and Dieter Brock (71). He has thrown for 16,177 yards as a Blue Bomber, ranking him fifth all-time behind Brock (29,623), Khari Jones (20,175), Kevin Glenn (18,116) and Ploen (16,470) while his 109 TD passes is fourth in franchise history behind Brock (187), Jones (139) and Ploen (119)

2023: Blue Bombers

Collaros was dominant again in his third full season with the Blue Bombers as he led the Canadian Football League with 33 touchdown passes, while throwing for a career-best 4,252 yards — second in the league to B.C.’s Vernon Adams, Jr. (4,769) — and rushing for two scores.
The Blue Bombers were 12-4 in his 16 starts in 2023 and over his time in Winnipeg the club has appeared in four consecutive Grey Cup games, winning in 2019 and 2021, and has amassed a remarkable 46-10 mark — including playoffs — in the 56 games Collaros has started. The 39-win total in regular-season games already has him tied with Matt Nichols for fifth most in Blue Bombers history behind only Ken Ploen (82 wins), Dieter Brock (71), Khari Jones (44) and Tom Clements (41).
During his days with the Blue Bombers he has already thrown for 92 touchdowns — seventh most in franchise history — and he moved into 8th place on the team’s all-time passing yardage list last season, entering the 2024 season at 11,841 yards.

2022: Blue Bombers

Collaros followed up a sensational 2021 season with the Blue Bombers with another superb year in 2022, as he helped lead the team to a franchise-record 15 wins and a berth in the 109th Grey Cup.
Collaros was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player and all-star quarterback for a second consecutive season while posting career-high numbers in passing yards (4,183) and touchdowns (37). The 37 passing TDs was second-most in Blue Bombers history to the 46 Khari Jones threw for in 2002 and the highest total in the CFL since Henry Burris threw for 43 scores in 2012.
His touchdown-interception-differential of 37:13 – or +24 – tied for the ninth highest in CFL history (Montreal’s Anthony Cavillio was +30 in 2008) and is new Blue Bombers record, eclipsing the +23 ratio Jack Jacobs posted in 1951.
The Blue Bombers have a 33-5 record in games Collaros has started since his arrival at the trade deadline in 2019, including a 6-1 record in postseason games and two wins in three Grey Cup appearances.
Collaros signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the club through the 2025 season on October 18, 2022.

2021: Blue Bombers

The 2021 campaign was a memorable one for Collaros, as he helped guide his squad to a second consecutive Grey Cup championship while being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, the Blue Bombers Most Outstanding Player as well as earning West Division and CFL All-Star honours.
He was also named the MVP of the 108th Grey Cup after a 33-25 overtime victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In the process, he became the first Blue Bombers quarterback to lead the club to consecutive Grey Cup championships since Ken Ploen in 1961-62.
Collaros led the CFL in passing touchdowns this past season with 20 and posted a league-best quarterback efficiency rating of 111.0, while his 3,185 passing yards ranked second. Most importantly, the club’s record was 11-2 in games Collaros started in the regular season and he is now 17-2 overall in starts for the Bombers dating back to his arrival in 2019 and including the Grey Cup victory that November.
Collaros signed a one-year contract extension to remain with the Blue Bombers on January 20, 2022.

2019: Blue Bombers

Collaros capped the 2019 season with a story-book ending, helping lead the Bombers to victory in the 2019 Grey Cup. He was 4-0 in his starts for the Bombers, including a come-from-behind 29-28 victory over the Calgary Stampeders in the regular season finale, followed by wins over the Stamps in the Western Semi-Final, the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Western Final and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup. In those four games he completed 67-of-97 passes for 851 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.

Collaros was acquired by the Bombers from the Toronto Argonauts on October 9, 2019 – the Canadian Football League trade deadline – along with a fifth-round selection in the 2020 draft in exchange for Winnipeg’s third-round selection in 2020 and, conditionally, the Bombers first-round pick in 2020. The pick was officially granted to the Argos on January 27, 2020 when Collaros signed a two-year contract extension with the Bombers.

He opened 2019 as the starting quarterback of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but was injured on the first possession of the season and later traded to Toronto on July 31st for a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2020. He did not see any action between the season opener and his first start with the Bombers in October.

2018: Saskatchewan Roughriders

Collaros was traded by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on January 3rd, 2018 for a second-round draft pick. He started 14 games for the Riders in 2018, with the team posting a 10-4 record in those games, but was injured and not available for the team’s Western Semi-Final loss to the Bombers. Collaros completed 61.3 percent of his passes in 2018 for 2,999 yards with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions while rushing for 103 yards on 24 carries. The Riders re-signed Collaros on February 12, 2019.

2014-17: Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Collaros signed with the Tiger-Cats as a free agent on January 30, 2014 and over the next four seasons would start 43 games. He passed for 11,342 yards in his four seasons in Hamilton with 66 touchdowns against 32 interceptions with his best year being 2015, in which he threw for 3,376 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 25:8 in just 12 games before a knee injury ended his season. In 2014, his first CFL season as the No. 1 starter, Collaros helped guide the Tiger-Cats to a 9-9 record and first-place in the East Division and then to a victory over the Montreal Alouettes before Hamilton fell 20-16 to Calgary in the Grey Cup. He was named the Ticats Most Outstanding Player in both 2014 and 2015.

2012-13: Toronto Argonauts

Collaros first signed in the CFL with the Argonauts on June 5, 2012, not long after a stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent. Collaros dressed for four games as a rookie in 2012 and then all 18 in 2013, including eight starts.

College

Collaros had an outstanding career at the University of Cincinnati, where he appeared in 41 games for the Bearcats, including 25 starts. He became the starter in 2010 and led the Big East in passing yards with 2,902 and in passing touchdowns with 26. Those numbers helped him in being selected the 2010 First-Team All-Big East quarterback.