Who Have Been the Stand-Out Players in the CFL This Season?
The Canadian Football League has always produced top stars across its nine franchises. It may be a sad fact that the best talent crosses the border into the NFL, but fans of the game in Canada always have plenty of world class talent to cheer on.
With the 2024 campaign at a close, followers are looking ahead to the new season, which starts in June. As the anticipation builds, the offseason provides a good time to look at the at the standout stars from last term, and to ask whether they will remain a force in 2025.
Defending Champions
The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup at the end of last season, and the team will likely be among the top contenders next time around. Current CFL sportsbook markets put the Argonauts among the favourites for success next term, along with 2024’s runners up the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Division finalists Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders should also be in contention, the live betting markets usually display them as favorites, even if they have a shakey start. While the remaining teams will be hopeful of making a challenge. When the season gets underway, we will get a clearer idea of who is likely to lift the Grey Cup in October.
If the Toronto Argonauts are to mount a successful defence of the Grey Cup, much will depend on Nick Arbuckle. In any team, the focus is on the starting quarterback, and Toronto fans will have been happy to see Arbuckle sign a new contract with the team in February 2025. The news followed a productive season as the QB played 18 games in the Argonauts’ winning season.
Arbuckle’s stats were solid, with 799 passing yards and 65 completions. These showed improvements from the previous season, and he will need to maintain those levels in 2025.
Most Outstanding in 2024
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers may have finished in second place in 2024, but within their ranks, the team possessed the player of the season. Every year, the CFL presents an award for its Most Outstanding Player, and in the most recent campaign, the accolade went to Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira.
A running back, Oliveira has been with the Blue Bombers for his entire professional career to date and, in that time, he’s picked up a host of medals. He was a Grey Cup champion in 2019 and 2021 and was honored as the league’s best Canadian in 2023 and 2024. In the most recent season, he completed the list of personal awards when he was crowned the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. Brady Oliveira returned over 1300 rushing yards last term, and he’ll doubtless be vital for Winnipeg’s chances in 2024.
Helping the Tigers Roar
It wasn’t the best of campaigns for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The team finished the regular season at the bottom of the Eastern Division with a 7-11 record, and they will be desperate to improve next term. The fact that starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell made it into the CFL team of 2024, despite Hamilton’s poor returns, tells us he must be an outstanding player.
Mitchell is now into the veteran stages of his career. He won the Grey Cup twice with his former team, the Calgary Stampeders before joining the Tiger-Cats in 2023. He claimed the Grey Cup MVP in both of those winning campaigns, and was the League’s Most Valuable Payer in 2014 and 2018.
Age is just a number as far as Bo Levi Mitchell is concerned. In 2024 he threw over 5,000 passing yards and contributed to 32 touchdowns in a stunning campaign.
Rose Blooms at Calgary
Attacking players claim all the headlines, while those in defense don’t always get the credit they deserve. Over at the Calgary Stampeders, Mike Rose enjoyed a stellar campaign, and he was another player to make it onto the CFL’s Team of the Year roster.
A defensive lineman, Rose was briefly on the books of NFL franchise the New York Giants before joining Calgary in 2019. He was a Grey Cup champion in 2018 and has now been on four All Star teams. A solid campaign last term brought him that further recognition, but Mike Rose is now looking at a new challenge. Ahead of the 2025 campaign, he left the Stampeders to join up with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Other All-Star players from 2024 will be looking for another impressive campaign, and this list includes David Beard, Kabion Ento, Damon Webb and Makai Polk.
While there will be a focus on all of these players, everyone involved in the CFL next season will have their chance to stand out. Some were impressive in 2024, while others went under the radar and need to improve.
For those mentioned here, the challenge is to build on their performances last campaign and to deliver more winning displays in 2025 and beyond.
