Revamped Redblacks hope to repeat as champs
Ottawa Redblacks general manager Marcel Desjardins isn’t one to dwell on the past, even if it involves a stunning Grey Cup victory.
The Redblacks will kick off the 2017 CFL season as the team to beat following last year’s thrilling 39-33 overtime championship win over the Calgary Stampeders. Ottawa begins its title defence Friday by hosting the Stampeders in a Grey Cup rematch.
“I don’t look back,” Desjardins said. “I try to be, and we try and be, proactive in what we do day to day and try to have an answer before a question is asked.
“Our goal every year at this time is to get to the Grey Cup and see what happens from there. It’s worked the last two years ... let’s just hope we’re able to get it done again this year.”
The regular season opens Thursday with the Saskatchewan Roughriders visiting the Montreal Alouettes.
It has been a meteoric rise for Ottawa, which has appeared in consecutive Grey Cups after a 2-16 inaugural 2014 season. Ottawa lost 26-20 to the Edmonton Eskimos in the 2015 title game before upsetting a 15-2-1 Calgary team after finishing atop the East with a 8-9-1 mark.
The Grey Cup win was Ottawa’s first since 1976, when Tony Gabriel’s late 24-yard TD grab earned the-then Rough Riders an exciting 23-20 victory over Saskatchewan. The Montreal Alouettes (2009-10) were the CFL’s last repeat champion while no team has won a title on home soil since Saskatchewan in 2013.
But Ottawa will field a much different team in 2017 than the one that finished last season in November at Toronto’s BMO Field.
Quarterback Henry Burris, the Grey Cup MVP, has retired while veteran receivers Chris Williams (B.C. Lions) and Ernest Jackson (Montreal) along with running back Kienan LaFrance (Saskatchewan) were among those who left in free agency. Kicker Chris Milo and American linebacker Damaso Munoz were released.
Desjardins re-signed offensive lineman Nolan MacMillan — the first player drafted in franchise history — then added linebackers Khalil Bass (Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and Ron Omara (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), receivers Kenny Shaw and Diontae Spencer and defensive back A.J. Jefferson (all Toronto Argonauts), kicker Brett Maher (Hamilton) and defensive back Adam Berger (Calgary) in free agency.
Arguably Desjardins’ biggest move came last year when he signed former Toronto quarterback Trevor Harris, who is now Ottawa’s starter. Veteran Drew Tate, obtained in the off-season from Calgary, is expected to assume backup duties upon recovering from a concussion.
Here’s a look at some of the other CFL storylines heading into the season opener:
NEW COMMISSIONER
Jeffrey Orridge will start the season as the CFL commissioner but he is leaving the post by mutual agreement with the board of governors. League chairman Jim Lawson will serve as interim commissioner until Orridge’s replacement is hired. Lawson feels a new commissioner will be appointed sometime in July.
TORONTO: NEW COACH, GM
Jim Popp and Marc Trestman are together again, this time with the Toronto. Popp hired Trestman as Montreal’s head coach in 2008 and over five seasons he posted a 59-31 regular-season record, appearing in three Grey Cups and winning two. Popp spent 21 years as the Als’ GM, leading the team to eight Grey Cup appearances and three wins. He also earned a Grey Cup ring in ’95 as the Baltimore Stallions’ GM. The Argos were last in the East Division last year with a 5-13 record in their first season under new ownership playing at a refurbished BMO Field. Ricky Ray, 37, entering his 15th CFL season, is the starter after enduring injuries the last two years.
REED, DURANT LEAD ALS
It has been a busy off-season for rookie GM Kavis Reed. Since being promoted this off-season from the coaching ranks, Reed has overhauled the roster. He has released veterans like linebacker Bear Woods — the East’s top defensive player last year — and let others go. The biggest move was acquiring quarterback Darian Durant from Saskatchewan as Montreal looks to reach the CFL playoffs for the first time since 2014.
SUNDERLAND GM FOR ESKS
Jason Maas returns for a second season as Edmonton’s head coach but has a new boss in GM Brock Sunderland. He was hired to replace Ed Hervey, who was fired in the off-season. Sunderland inherits a solid roster anchored by CFL passing leader Mike Reilly. Adarius Bowman, the league’s top receiver last year, also returns but Derel Walker — who was second overall to Bowman — is now with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
LEOS SHORT ON DEFENCE
B.C. faces opening the season minus two defensive stalwarts. Linebacker Adam Bighill — who formed a dynamic tandem with 2014 CFL outstanding player Solomon Elimimian — joined the NFL’s New Orleans Saints this offseason while veteran defensive back Ryan Phillips was released before resurfacing with Montreal.
The Lions were second in the West Division last season with a 12-6 record and had a defence that allowed the fewest yards and tied for the league lead with 52 sacks but had a CFL-low nine picks