Antonio Pipkin

Antonio Pipkin (born July 19, 1995) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, BC Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He played college football for the Tiffin Dragons.

Early life Antonio Pipkin was born on July 19, 1995.

Professional career After going undrafted in the 2017 NFL draft, Pipkin attended rookie minicamp on a tryout basis with the Arizona Cardinals.

Montreal Alouettes Pipkin was signed by the Alouettes on June 5, 2017. Pipkin made his first professional appearance on November 3, 2017, in the last week of the 2017 season. Pipkin completed only two of nine pass attempts for 14 yards. He was released June 19, 2018. He was re-signed by the team on August 6, 2018. Pipkin became the sixth Alouettes quarterback to start a game in the 2018 season (Drew Willy, Jeff Mathews, Matthew Shiltz, Vernon Adams, Johnny Manziel) when he started in the team's Week 10 match against the Edmonton Eskimos. Pipkin, who was making his first professional start, completed 14 of 25 pass attempts for 217 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Pipkin earned his first career win the following week when the Alouettes defeated the Toronto Argonauts. The Alouettes decided to stick with Pipkin as their starting quarterback despite Johnny Manziel recovering from a concussion. Pipkin struggled in Week 14, throwing four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, en route to a 32–14 defeat by the BC Lions. In the days following Head Coach Mike Sherman announced that Manziel would start in the teams Week 15 match against the Bombers. Pipkin signed a two-year contract extension with the Alouettes on October 28, 2018, and later that day played the second half of the Alouettes' second last game of the season.

Pipkin was named the Als' starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2019 season, ahead of Vernon Adams Jr. Pipkin suffered a lower leg injury in the team's Week 1 loss to the Eskimos, and was expected to miss 4–6 weeks. He returned to action partway through the Al's Week 8 game against the Redblacks, after an injury to Vernon Adams, but Pipkin was unable to lead the team to victory, completing 8 out of 17 passes. Pipkin started in Week 9 for a still injured Adams, but was unable to lead Montreal to a win in the first ever weather shortened game. Vernon Adams returned to the starting role the following week and remained the starter for the remainder of the season while Pipkin was relegated to the third quarterback role. As a backup to Matthew Shiltz who was starting in place of a suspended Adams, Pipkin fumbled the ball on a short yardage plunge at the BC Lions 2 yard line, costing the Alouettes the game. Pipkin was released by the Alouettes on January 30, 2020. His release took effect prior to a series of off-season bonuses due to be paid totaling 23,500 CND over 4 months.

Edmonton Football Team Pipkin was signed by the Edmonton Football Team to a one-year contract on February 13, 2020. However, the league cancelled play for the 2020 CFL season and Pipkin did not play for the team as his contract expired in 2021.

Toronto Argonauts

On February 9, 2021, the first day of free agency, Pipkin signed with the Toronto Argonauts. He served primarily as the third-string quarterback during the 2021 season, but was elevated to the backup following the trade of Nick Arbuckle to the Edmonton Elks. He started the final game of the regular season where he completed 10 of 22 pass attempts for 111 yards and one interception, but also had nine carries for 78 yards and one touchdown. He spent part of 2022 training camp with the team, but was released after the first pre-season game on May 29, 2022.

BC Lions On May 31, 2022, it was announced that Pipkin had signed with the BC Lions. On September 10, 2022 Pipkin made his first start for the Lions. BC was defeated 31–10 by the Montreal Alouettes with Pipkin completing only 13 of 24 pass attempts for 174 yards and an interception. The Lions' starting quarterback Nathan Rourke was injured at the time, and newly acquired Vernon Adams was still being brought up to speed with the offense. He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 14, 2023.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats On July 18, 2023, It was announced that Pipkin had been signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats due to the injuries of starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and backup Matthew Shiltz. He played in two games and spent one game on the practice roster, but did not record any statistics.

Saskatchewan Roughriders On August 13, 2023, Pipkin was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in exchange for Kaare Vedvik. He played in nine games where he operated the short yardage unit and had 25 carries for 49 yards with five touchdowns and had one pass completion for 57 yards. He signed a contract extension on November 23, 2023. However, he was part of final training camp cuts in 2024 and was released on June 1, 2024.

Career statistics

CFL

College Year Team Games Passing Rushing GP Record Comp Att Pct Yards Avg TD Int Rate Att Yards Avg TD 2013 Tiffin 11 2–9 253 381 66.4 2,317 6.1 12 12 121.6 120 165 1.4 5 2014 Tiffin 11 5–6 260 409 63.6 2,863 7.0 19 8 133.8 143 556 3.9 5 2015 Tiffin 11 5–6 250 390 64.1 3,227 8.3 32 6 157.6 125 722 5.8 8 2016 Tiffin 11 8–3 216 333 64.9 2,534 7.6 25 6 150.0 122 757 6.2 7 Career 44 20–24 979 1,513 64.7 10,941 7.2 88 32 140.4 510 2,200 4.3 25