This whole situation is fishy. You know what they say, right? When one man’s starving (cough No.144 pick cough), another man out there is drowning in offers from two leagues, begging for his signature like he’s the QB messiah. After steamrolling his way to an 11-2 rampage, this guy looked every bit like a rock-solid seventh-round gem. And boom—he was. Snatched up by the 49ers at No.227 overall, the Canadian cannon finally saw his NFL dream light up like the 4th of July. See, we’re not ones to buy into destiny, but when your home country drafts you in the exact same round and at the exact same overall pick as the NFL? Yeah, that’s eyebrow-raising territory. The question now is, what will you do, Kurtis Rourke?

“The Roughriders have selected Kurtis Rourke 25th overall in the 2025.” When CFL dropped this news on Instagram, we were left stunned. We get the hate that Curt Cignetti and Co. often get for the Hoosiers’ dominating performance and sad fall, but one thing you have to admit: If Cignetti wasn’t a good coach, how do you explain this tug-of-war scenario between the 49ers and the Roughriders? Riding on a solid 10,693 YD over 5 seasons, Rourke is a silent but deadly killer. It ain’t no wonder that Riders GM Jeremy O’Day took the gamble. “It’s a futures pick and something that may never happen but when we looked at the potential of having him on your team and what he would bring,” O’Day had pointed out.

It’s a dime that should land right in the end zone if we’re going off family ties alone. See, the CFL isn’t unfamiliar turf for this guy. When “Kid Canada” set that record for completion percentage, Kurtis was right there, watching it all go down. After all, the Hoosiers QB is the younger brother of none other than CFL star Nathan Rourke—one of the top guns north of the border.

And hey, if Kurtis ends up answering the Maple’s call, things could get real spicy—because that move would land him right in the West Division, staring down his big brother across the line. Now that’s a sibling rivalry worth tuning in for. Still, there is one more thing about this entire ordeal that is just not sitting right with us.

While NFL fans would love to see Rourke go absolutely bonkers in San Francisco, maybe—just maybe—this CFL drop-in is the blessing in disguise no one saw coming. Because let’s be real: Purdy’s contract drama isn’t cooling down anytime soon, and the Niners’ QB room is starting to feel more like a pressure cooker than a launchpad.

The “Brock Purdy” problem

“They’re not close.” Tom Pelissero’s words about the Niners’ contract drama with Brock Purdy have us side-eyeing the whole Rourke x NFL fairytale. Because let’s be honest—being picked at No.227 screams potential clipboard duty behind Purdy.

And it doesn’t stop there. He still has to duke it out with Tanner Mordecai and Mac Jones. That’s right, our Canadian prince might just be walking into a 4th-string circus. The whole narrative of Kurtis potentially replacing Purdy feels like a distant dream when you realize that 49ers GM John Lynch and HC Kyle Shanahan have both stood their ground for Purdy’s extension.

“I would certainly anticipate…This is going to be right there, in the 50s, probably, with Brock Purdy. They’ve made it very clear that they want Brock Purdy to be the long-term quarterback solution in San Francisco,” Pelissero pointed out. So, if you were in Kurtis’ shoes, what would you do?

Stick around to fight for the “maybe someday” QB1 crown in a packed Niners room—or hop on a quick flight north, where the lights are a little colder, but the path to stardom is wide open?