Boosted at key positions, Ottawa Redblacks feel good about CFL season

Article content

With much of the off-season heavy lifting finished, Ottawa Redblacks general manager Shawn Burke feels good about where his team is sitting 2 1/2 months before the start of training camp.

Article content

But, as he points out, eight other CFL GMs are also feeling pretty good at this point.

Article content

“The reality right now is everyone is undefeated,” said Burke. “All nine teams feel really good about their team before the season starts. We know it’s an important year, we know we have to win more football games and I’m excited to get training camp rolling.”

The Redblacks, of course, are coming off a four-win season. That’s on the heels of seasons of four wins, three wins and three wins. The team hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2018.

So, there’s plenty of work to do.

Coming out of last season, the Redblacks identified positions they felt they needed to address, then attacked it even before CFL free agency began Feb. 13.

The signings of quarterback Dru Brown, receiver Dominique Rhymes and offensive lineman Dariusz Bladek gave them solid footing in positions where the Redblacks needed to get better and add quality depth.

Article content

There was also the huge signing of strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett.

“People think free agency is about that one day or the negotiation period (leading into it),” said Burke. “But, for us, it started long before that.”

Retaining some of their own key players, including defensive ends Lorenzo Mauldin IV and Bryce Carter, also gave the team an early boost.

“Signing our two defensive ends was a priority,” said Burke. “They would have been sought after league-wide. It was important to get them under win-win contracts, something that worked for them and worked for us.”

Here’s a rundown of some of the positions addressed in the past month.

THE QUARTERBACKS

The Redblacks sent Winnipeg a fifth-round draft pick to get the rights to Brown, then signed him. He’ll be paid $286,000 hard money this season, with another $54,000 in playtime incentives, with the potential to earn $340,000 total. In 2025, it’ll rise to $355,000, with $45,000 in playtime.

Article content

Brown moved up the Blue Bombers’ depth chart to No. 2 behind Zach Collaros last season, winning both his starts. He completed 69.7 per cent of his passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns against zero interceptions, setting a CFL record for the most TD passes without an interception.

“We haven’t had enough consistent quarterback play because of injuries so we felt we needed to layer in depth,” said Burke. “Dru was our target. We added him to the (quarterbacks) room with Dustin (Crum), who’s progressed at a much more rapid pace than anyone expected, and Tyrie (Adams) and Jeremiah (Masoli) who are coming back from injuries. We feel we have four quality quarterbacks that have taken snaps in this league. The hope is there’s one quarterback who starts 18 games. The reality of that is when you have one quarterback playing 18 games, usually you’re pretty successful.”

Article content

Asked what he liked about Brown, Burke said: “He ticked all the boxes. First and foremost, it’s his decision making. Sometimes young guys that get thrown in are prone to bad decisions, but Dru’s had an excellent turnover ratio. He can make all the throws, he’s got a good enough arm to do that. He’s got mobility in the pocket. And there are his leadership traits; it never looked too big for him. If you go back to our game two seasons ago, first game of the year, he wasn’t expecting to go in to lead the (Bombers) down the field to beat us in the last minute. A lot of guys fold in that situation. He found a way to pull out the win.

“Getting to know him, he’s very level headed. He’s got a good work ethic. You do a ton of due diligence when you make a decision like this and everything we heard about him in terms of wanting to be prepared, being in the facility first and heading out last, those are things you want out of that position.

Article content

“I’m not into that business of making public projections, but we like how Dru is wired. He wants to take it to the highest level possible and will turn over every stone to do so.”

While Masoli and Adams continue rehab in preparation for the season, the Redblacks also have Crum, who stepped in as the team’s starter early last season after an injury to Masoli. Crum finished with 3,109 yards passing, with 10 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions.

“Dustin can continue to grow and learn,” said Burke. “He was probably thrust into an unfair position and he exceeded expectations. I’m talking from start to finish, not just his first couple of starts. Dustin has a ton of potential. But the reality is you need multiple guys to be able to win in this league. You have to prepare for the worst. I know the person Dustin is, nothing’s going to faze him. He’s going to come in and be the best guy he can be for our team. The reality is if you have the right quarterbacks, all they care about is winning.”

Article content

RECEIVERS

Rhymes, who was with the Redblacks from 2017-19, signed a two-year deal to return to the nation’s capital. He’ll be paid about $195,000 (with incentive bonuses on top of that) this coming season. 

As a Redblack, Rhymes’ best season came in 2019 when he caught 65 passes for 1,056 yards and five touchdowns. After leaving as a free agent, Rhymes played three seasons for the BC Lions. In 2022, he had 1,401 yards on 85 receptions, scoring 11 touchdowns and was a division all-star. 

“We felt we had to address our receiving corps one of two ways – with speed or size, with a veteran guy,” said Burke. “We went the size route with Dom who’s a big target and we’ve done some things off our neg list to address the speed side of things with some young guys coming in.”

Article content

With Jaelon Acklin returning, the Redblacks also re-signed Justin Hardy and Bralon Addison. Ottawa released Nate Behar, which will give an opportunity to Canadians like Keaton Bruggeling, Daniel Perry and Daniel Oladejo.

“I felt we needed to add something different to the group,” said Burke. “We did that with Dom. The reality is we now have four receivers in our receiving group who have had 1,000-yard seasons. We feel we have a receiving corps that can be productive with a quarterback that can deliver the ball and an O-line that can hold up and protect.”

OFFENSIVE LINE

The Redblacks released guard Jacob Ruby, then signed Bladek to take his place. Ottawa then convinced Ruby to return and signed American Phillip Norman, who was with B.C. last season.

Article content

“We wanted to add the ability to play the ratio whichever way we deemed we needed to so we’ve been very diligent in signing young American offensive tackles and we wanted to add a veteran presence,” said Burke. “Phillip was near the top of that list of guys we wanted to add. He had an injury situation last year and just didn’t get back into the lineup with the way BC was doing the ratio.

“(With Ruby), we had to make a tough business decision. It wasn’t that we wanted to move on from Jacob per se. We just had to change the economics to make everything work the way we wanted to for our team. Dariusz was available. Jacob went out and and tested the waters. He came back to us and we made something work for both parties. That gives us some really good depth with our Canadian offensive linemen.”

Article content

THE DEFENCE

The Redblacks lured Pickett away from the Argos with a one-year contract reportedly worth $170,000. Pickett, the East nominee for the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player, had a great season in 2023, his first with the Argonauts after two years in Montreal, finishing with 105 defensive tackles, six sacks and a forced fumble. He also led the Argos in special teams tackles (19).

Bringing back defensive linemen Carter, Mauldin and Michael Wakefield, linebacker Frankie Griffin and defensive backs Brandin Dandridge and Damon Webb leaves the defence in a good place.

“You talk about guys having their arrow pointing up, Adarius is still 27 years old and you’ve seen a progression each year,” said Burke. “Do I know if Adarius is going to have 125 total tackles for our team? No, I don’t. But our expectation is for him to play the exact same brand of football, an aggressive, physical style which brings something new to our defence. We think he’ll bring a lot of energy.

Article content

“We’re excited to see that front seven; we felt we had one of the better defensive lines in the league last year and we were able to retain that group. We felt when (middle linebacker) Jovan (Santos-Knox) and Frankie were healthy, we got very good production out of that group and by adding Adarius into that mix, we can do some very creative things.”

THE OUTLOOK

Look for some rookies to make a push for roster spots. With the merger of the USFL and XFL (into the United Football League), cutting 16 teams to eight, there are more American players looking for jobs.

“We’re bringing in some quality depth and prospects to push,” said Burke. “That’s been a struggle the past couple of years league wide, We’re starting to see more prospects (come to the CFL). We’re excited to layer in those guys for depth. It’s not all about free agency. You have to draft or sign and develop as well.”

Article content

There are still some decent-enough free agents available, but no more moves are imminent for Ottawa.

“I wouldn’t say we’re actively looking, but you never know what’s going to happen,” said Burke. “The reality is when teams sign guys, they have to make decisions. Because we got some things done before free agency, we made some of those changes and alterations before. There still could be some guys come available because of decision making. You have to be prepared.”

With the CFL salary cap at $5.585-million this year, it’s not like the Redblacks have a lot of extra money floating around.

“The reality is you have to be under the cap at the end of the year,” said Burke. “Much like every team in the league, we’re probably over the cap right now. But you have the whole season to get to where you need to be.”

Article content

THE POINT AFTER: The Redblacks have released QB Tyrrell Pigrome and signed QB Matthew McKay (Elon University) … It was announced earlier in the week, Ottawa has also signed OL Hector Zepeda (their first-round pick in the 2022 Global Draft), WR Eli Stove (Auburn) and DL Malcolm Lee (Kansas). Former Redblacks QB Will Arndt (2017-19), who said he wanted to play again after leaving his job as Ottawa’s quarerbacks coach at the end of the 2022 season, has signed with the Arena Football League’s Albany Firebirds.

Article content