Nathan Rourke

Nathan Rourke (born May 24, 1998) is a Canadian professional football quarterback for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was named a CFL All-Star and the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2025 and is a two-time winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award. Nicknamed "Kid Canada," Rourke set the single-season CFL record for completion percentage (78.7%) during the 2022 CFL season. Rourke played college football for the Ohio Bobcats.

Early life Rourke was born in Victoria, British Columbia and grew up in Oakville, Ontario. He played minor football for the Burlington Stampeders before playing for three years at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School in Oakville. He transferred to Edgewood Academy in Elmore, Alabama, for his senior season of high school football. After his grade 12 season, he committed to play college football at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas.

College career Rourke spent one season at Fort Scott, where he was named first-team All-KJCCC. He then transferred to Ohio University, where he started at quarterback for three years for the Bobcats. Rourke led Ohio to a 24–13 overall record as a starting quarterback for the Bobcats, while leading the team to three consecutive bowl victories in the 2017 Bahamas Bowl,

He was the first winner of the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian football player in the NCAA for 2017, and repeated as winner in 2018. Growing up, Rourke idolized Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

Professional career

BC Lions (first stint) Rourke was ranked as the seventh-overall prospect entering the 2020 CFL draft after being ranked third overall in both September 2019 and December 2019. He was eventually drafted in the second round with the 15th overall pick by the BC Lions. Rourke was the highest drafted Canadian quarterback since Jesse Palmer in the 2001 CFL draft. However, he did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In May 2021, he tried out for the New York Giants at wide receiver.

2021 On May 19, 2021, Rourke signed a three-year contract with the Lions. Rourke started the opening game of the 2021 season against the Saskatchewan Roughriders since Michael Reilly could not play due to a shoulder/arm injury. Rourke completed 10 of 18 passes for 194 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was replaced in the second half by Reilly, but Rourke finished the game for the Lions. He spent most of the 2021 season as the backup for Reilly and being used in short yardage situations. Rourke also started the final game of the regular season on November 19, 2021, where he completed 23 out of 34 pass attempts for 359 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He also had seven rush attempts for 34 yards with three touchdowns as he earned his first career win as a starter in the victory over the Edmonton Elks. He also set a Lions club record that night for pass completions in a single game with 39, breaking Buck Pierce's previous record of 38. On August 6, 2022, he broke his own record for passing yards by a Canadian when he threw for 477 yards against the Elks and also threw a career high five touchdown passes. In that same game, he completed 34 out of 37 pass attempts (91.9%) to record the highest pass completion rate in a single game with a minimum of 30 attempts and the third-highest completion percentage with a minimum of 20 attempts. In the following game, on August 14, 2022, Rourke again set a new mark for passing yards by a Canadian with 488 yards and tied his own Lions franchise record with 39 completions in the comeback victory over the Calgary Stampeders. Unfortunately, on August 19, 2022 Rourke left a game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders with a foot injury. A couple of days later it was determined that he suffered a Lisfranc sprain in his right foot and required surgery. At the time the Lions' organization was hopeful he would be able to return for the end of the regular season or playoffs. The 2022 season was a breakout campaign for Nathan Rourke as he was named a Top Performer of the Week in the CFL five times in the Lions' first nine games of the season. He was also named a CFL Top Performers of the Month for the months of June and August. Through the first half of the season Rourke was a leading candidate for the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian awards. He was leading the league in passing attempts, completions, completion percentage, passing yards, yards per attempt, passing touchdowns, and quarterback rating. He was also second in the league with seven rushing touchdowns. Rourke returned to practice on October 11, 2022. It was announced that Rourke would return to the starting lineup for the team's final game of the regular season. He ended the season leading the league in passer efficiency, completion percentage and yards per game. His mark of 78.7% set a new CFL record for the highest completion percentage in a single season in league history. After besting the Stampeders in the first round of the playoffs Rourke and the Lions were defeated by the two-time defending champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Western Final. In spite of missing close to half of the regular season, he won the CFL's award for Most Outstanding Canadian.

NFL workouts Following his breakout season in the CFL, Rourke announced that he had scheduled workouts with a number of National Football League (NFL) teams. In January 2023 Rourke had workouts with five more NFL teams: Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, and Cleveland Browns. As per CFL-NFL transfer window rules he was eligible to sign an NFL contract starting on January 9, 2023.

Jacksonville Jaguars On January 16, 2023, it was officially announced that Rourke had signed a three-year contract with the Jaguars of the NFL. On January 30, he underwent foot surgery. Rourke was waived on August 29, and re-signed to the practice squad. On October 18, Rourke was signed to the Jaguars' active roster, then released three days later and re-signed to the practice squad. He was signed to the active roster again on December 9. Rourke was released without making an appearance on December 16.

New England Patriots On December 18, 2023, Rourke was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots. On May 6, 2024, Rourke was released by the Patriots.

New York Giants On May 7, 2024, Rourke was claimed off waivers by the New York Giants. However, with three quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart, Rourke was waived on July 28.

Atlanta Falcons On August 1, 2024, it was announced that Rourke had signed with the Atlanta Falcons. He played in the team's first preseason game on August 9, in the fourth quarter, where he completed three of 13 pass attempts, including three dropped passes, for 37 yards and had two carries for 24 rushing yards. He was released two days later on August 11.

BC Lions (second stint) 2024 On August 13, 2024, it was announced that Rourke had re-signed with the Lions to a three-year contract. With the incumbent starter, Vernon Adams, sidelined with a knee injury, Rourke was named the team's starter for their week 11 game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, just five days after his signing. With the Blue Bombers having smothered the Lions 25–0 two weeks earlier, they again showed dominance against the Lions, winning 20–11. Rourke completed eight of 25 pass attempts for 126 yards and two interceptions in his return to the Lions. The Lions lost their fourth game in a row in Rourke's second start as he completed 21 of 34 passes for 234 and one interception in the loss to the Ottawa Redblacks. While Adams returned to practice in the following week, Rourke again started for the Lions, winning a second consecutive game and passing again for over 300 yards.

In the next game, against the Toronto Argonauts in week 15, Rourke struggled to move the Lions' offence, but finished the first half with a rushing touchdown as the Lions trailed 19–10. Nonetheless, Rourke was benched and Adams started the second half as the Lions lost 33–17. Adams was traded to the Stampeders shortly after the season ended with Rourke as the undisputed starter for the 2025 season.

2025

On January 31, 2025, to allow for better financial flexibility, the Lions announced that Rourke had re-structured his contract while remaining signed through the 2026 season. He opened the season with a 324-yard and three touchdown passing performance in the win against the Edmonton Elks. Rourke also suffered an oblique injury in the game and left midway through the fourth quarter. He did not play in the following two games due to the injury, both losses, and instead dressed as the third string quarterback behind Jeremiah Masoli and Chase Brice. Upon returning as the starter, Rourke had three straight games of over 300 yards passing. After already having consistently impressive passing totals, Rourke began to score more on the ground as he had eight of his ten rushing touchdowns in the last third of the season while also leading the Lions to six straight wins to end the regular season. He also led all passers that had started at least one game with a passer rating of 112.2.

The Lions finished in second place in the West Division and hosted the Calgary Stampeders in the West Semi-Final. In a close game, Rourke completed 16 of 22 pass attempts for 223 yards and six carries for 68 rushing yards and a touchdown.

With one year remaining on his contract, it was announced on January 27, 2026, that Rourke had signed a contract extension with the Lions through the 2028 season.

On July 17, 2026, Rourke left the Lions' week 7 game against the Edmonton Elks after suffering an injury to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, early in the match and is expected to be out for "weeks rather than months", per Lion's general manager Ryan Rigmaiden. On July 24, 2026, Rourke was placed on the Lions' reserve roster. He rejoined the active roster on August 7, 2026.

Flag football career Rourke hopes to play flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics for Canada. In preparation, he joined the VanCity Vice of the British Columbia Adult Flag Football League in March 2026.

Career statistics

CFL

College YearTeam Games Passing Rushing 2016 Fort Scott CC 11 11 4–7 221 378 58.5 2,367 6.3 18 13 119.9 118 27 0.2 3 2017 Ohio 13 11 8–3 161 292 55.1 2,203 7.5 17 7 132.9 137 912 6.7 21 2018 Ohio 13 13 9–4 165 275 60.0 2,431 8.8 23 8 156.0 134 860 6.4 15 2019 Ohio 13 13 7–6 200 328 61.0 2,820 8.6 20 5 150.3 154 867 5.6 13FBS career 39 37 24–13 526 895 58.8 7,454 8.3 60 20 146.4 425 2,639 6.2 49

Personal life Rourke was born to Larry and Robyn Rourke. His younger brother, Kurtis Rourke, played quarterback at Ohio for four years before finishing his U.S. college career at Indiana University, where he received the Cornish Trophy in 2024.