Welcome to the 2024 CFL post-season!
As we get set for two great Divisional Semi-Final matchups this weekend, we also have a trio of teams wrapping things up earlier than they anticipated at the start of this season. Edmonton, Hamilton and Calgary each have important work to do and questions to answer as their off-seasons begin.
In that vein, this week’s MMQB is asking one question for all three non-playoff teams.
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EDMONTON ELKS: IS TRE FORD THAT GUY?
The Elks have crucial things to address before we kickoff in 2025. It starts with hiring a new president. Then decisions on interim general manager Geroy Simon and interim head coach Jarious Jackson need to be made. Following those calls, which seem easy on the surface with how positively Edmonton finished the season, the focus has to turn to quarterback.
For two straight seasons, the decision to hand the ball to Ford has helped spark a significant Elks turn of fortune. This year not only had Ford started the season second on the depth chart, it also saw him run into injury trouble shortly after getting his opportunity. When he played, though, Ford continued to show why Edmonton made him a first-round pick in 2022.
Ford made just five full-ish appearances this season, including Edmonton’s final two games and finished with 1,137 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Positively, Ford bumped his accuracy rate from 67.4 per cent in 2023 to 71.8 per cent this year without losing the athleticism and explosive ability to use his legs that make him such a rare talent.
But here’s the rub: Ford is a pending free agent, which wasn’t the case one year ago. As such, he’ll likely need some sort of certainty the No. 1 job is a realistic possibility to sign back with the Elks. It seems a likely outcome, but you just never know in the unpredictable world of pro football.
It makes nothing but sense from this vantage point. Edmonton drafted and developed Ford and he’s shown far more positive promise compared to the opposite. After four straight non-playoff seasons, why wouldn’t the Elks give a guy who will be 27 years old to start next season the honest shot he almost certainly deserves?
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS: ARE THINGS MORE SETTLED?
The last couple of years have seen the Ticats make significant changes over the winter. Hamilton made a blockbuster trade to acquire quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell prior to the 2023 campaign. And last off-season saw Orlondo Steinauer step away as head coach, installing Scott Milanovich as his replacement.
In both cases the Tiger-Cats stumbled out of the gates starting 0-3 and 0-5, respectively. While adjusting to big changes wasn’t the only culprit for those slow starts, you can’t tell me that kind of upheaval didn’t make an impact. Now, Hamilton has a chance to avoid that type of disturbance in 2025.
While Milanovich experienced expected growing pains back as a CFL head coach for the first time since 2016 (he’d signed on as the Elks’ head coach in 2019, but moved back to the NFL before the league played again when the 2020 season was lost to the pandemic) he also helped get the Ticats to a much better place in the second half of the season. Hamilton went 5-2 down the stretch and played some great football, specifically on the offensive side.
Bo Levi Mitchell now has the most single season passing yards in @Ticats history. 👏#CFLGameday on TSN & RDS2
📲: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/Q6cuwyFKFF— CFL (@CFL) October 26, 2024
Equally as positive is the form Mitchell enters the off-season in. The two-time Most Outstanding Player made a great case for a third Most Outstanding Player honour by leading the league with a career-best 5,451 passing yards to go along with 32 touchdown passes. Mitchell is the first CFL quarterback to go over 5,000 yards since 2018, further cementing how strong he was in Black and Yellow.
The fact both Mitchell and Milanovich are under contract and in the fold makes Hamilton’s outlook for next season quite optimistic. With the chance for far less tumult this winter, I’m excited to see if the Tiger-Cats can start the 2025 campaign on the right foot compared to the last couple of years.
CALGARY STAMPEDERS: WHAT DOES THE FALLOUT LOOK LIKE?
Fans in Calgary aren’t used to what they’ve seen over the last couple seasons. The Stamps snuck into the playoffs last year despite posting a sub-.500 record for the first time since 2007. This year saw things get even worse. At 5-12-1, Calgary missed the playoffs for the first time since 2004, ending the CFL’s longest postseason run at 18 seasons.
And now everyone around the league waits to see what happens next.
The fate of head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson could be the first domino to fall. Will Dickenson step away from one of those two titles? Will Calgary give him another year to try and right the ship? Or will the organization opt to make a drastic change by replacing Dickenson completely?
As a large fan of his work, I would advocate against the last option. Prior to the last two seasons, and since taking the reins in 2016, Dickenson has guided the Stamps to three Grey Cup games and five seasons of 12 wins or more. Ending his two-role tenure, which began in 2023, could make more sense for Dickenson, however. He admitted how challenging tackling both jobs can be earlier this season.
From there the Stamps have to determine what they’re going to do at quarterback. Jake Maier had an up-and-down 2024 that saw Calgary experiment with other options on a few different occasions. Do they bring Maier, a pending free agent, back again? Or does Calgary go in a completely different direction with names like Vernon Adams Jr. and McLeod Bethel-Thompson likely to be hot on the rumour mill this winter?
And don’t discount an off-season of defensive change, either. The Stampeders were one of the CFL’s worst teams in both net defence and stopping the run in 2024, which is unusual for the franchise. Significant player personnel turnover on that side of the ball feels almost inevitable as a result.