Who Deserves The Vote? 5 All-CFL receiver picks

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10/02/2024 03:00 PM

As the 2024 CFL regular season heads to a close, we turn our attention to making our pronouncements as to who's performed the best and why.

Thanks to the All-CFL Fan Vote, you can not only have your say, but you can also win big bucks doing it.

When it comes to choosing receivers, there are plenty of things to consider and some of them go beyond the numbers, although yards and receptions are the base stats that always, rightfully, lead the way.

Thanks to the expanded statistics pack, there's lots of other numbers to judge. And then there's the "eye test" as well as thinking about a player's specific situation; the challenges he's met on his way to a stellar season. At least that's something that I, personally, choose to consider.

Right now, these are my top five picks for All-CFL receiver.

5: ONTARIA WILSON | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS

The first-year receiver was under a fair bit of stress earlier this season, when Blue Bombers stars Dalton Schoen and Kenny Lawler went down with long-term injuries. Wilson stepped up, sometimes in spectacular fashion, to fill the void and in an offence that, overall, struggled to gather yards by air, the 25-year-old from Georgia did not.

Wilson is down the receptions chart, standing 13th with 58 catches, but when you look at his 15.3 yard average, you can tell that he's made plenty of big, big plays in 2024. He's sixth on the yardage list with 885 and has six catches of 30 or more yards to his credit. Wilson has accomplished three 100-plus-yard games in 2024, going off for 201 against Calgary in a Week 5 game.

4: SHEMAR BRIDGES | HAMILTON TIGER-CATS

The 26-year-old rookie was having just a superb first season in the CFL, before being stopped by an injury in last week's win over the BC Lions. Here's hoping the quad injury that's so far kept him from practicing this week isn't serious.

Bridges is second in the CFL in receptions with 83, and fourth in total yards with 933 altogether. He's been consistent all season long as well as dependable, making clutch catches when needed. He's second in the CFL with 30 second-down conversion catches and has three 100-plus-yard games in his stats pack. Even though it took two-thirds of the season before the Hamilton offence really got firing on all cylinders, Bridges was great right from the start.

3: REGGIE BEGELTON | CALGARY STAMPEDERS

During a season in which the Calgary Stampeders' offence has struggled mightily to find consistency, one man has not struggled. Indeed, he has flourished despite the general "fits and starts” character of the team's offensive unit.

Veteran Reggie Begelton has once again been a standout for the Stampeders, on his way to the third 1,000-yard season of his career, standing fifth in receiving yardage with 921. He's fifth in YAC among receivers, too, with 323 yards gained after his 76 receptions. Those 76 catches have him ranked fourth in the CFL and he has accrued three 100-plus-yard games, with two more in the 90s. And he's been a second-down conversion workhorse, among the league leaders with 25.

2: JUSTIN HARDY | OTTAWA REDBLACKS

The league leader in yardage with 1,241, Hardy has been Mr. Everything in that Ottawa receiving corps, continually giving the REDBLACKS a sure thing when they need it.

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As well as total yardage, Hardy also leads the league in receptions with 90, seven of those going for more than 30 yards, placing him in the top four in that category, just one back of the co-leaders. Hardy ranks third in second-down conversion catches with 27, and second in YAC among receivers with 358 (three yards behind injured Montreal Alouettes star Tyson Philpot). Hardy has seven (SEVEN!) 100-plus-yard games to his credit and his average of 82.7 yards/game stands him second, again behind only Philpot (86.6). I very nearly placed him at No. 1 on my list.

1: JUSTIN MCINNIS, BC LIONS

The numbers are just astounding. McInnis, who started the season in red-hot fashion, has barely slowed down at all, at or near the top of the CFL in a whole bunch of receiving categories.

Second to Hardy in yards with 1,207, McInnis ranks fifth in receptions with 74 and those combined numbers get him to an average of 16.3 yards per catch. While that ranks him, officially, eighth in average yards per reception, everyone ahead of him on that list has far, far fewer receptions, none higher than 30. He leads the league in catches of 20 yards or more, with 22 and second place ain't close, with Hamilton's Tim White at 12. He's the co-leader in the 30-plus category with eight and, a co-leader in receiving touchdowns with seven. Oh, and he can be counted on like no other on second down, with a league-leading 32 conversion catches.

McInnis has three 100-plus-yard games to his credit (in Week 6 he went off for 243 against Saskatchewan, tops in the league so far) and three more in the 90s.