O'Leary: 6 off-season storylines to follow

Yesterday at 10:09 AM

If last week was any indication, be prepared: this list may have items crossed off of it quickly.

The Edmonton Elks and BC Lions got the off-season ball rolling last week, with the Elks hiring Ed Hervey as their general manager and VP of football operations, while the Lions let co-GM and head coach Rick Campbell go, bumping Ryan Rigmaiden up to the GM role and elevating Neil McEvoy to VP of football operations.

Both teams still have work to do in terms of their staffing (more on that below) and we expect things to happen relatively quickly on both fronts. Beyond that, free agency looms over the league. In an era of short-term contracts, we know that Free Agency 2025 can carry landscape-altering implications, as teams will look to keep their best players while adding to their roster in an effort to unseat the reigning Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts.

Here are six storylines to follow over the coming days/weeks/months, with the promise that as these matters are sorted, more will develop as teams get ready for the 2025 season.

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» O'Leary: Elks dig into their past to move forward 

VERNON ADAMS JR. WILL BE TRADED

In his weekly MMQB column, Pat Steinberg raises an interesting point: it would be advantageous to the Lions to trade Adams to the East Division. Unfortunately for freshly-minted GM Ryan Rigmaiden, the West just seems to offer up better options for him. There could be interest in Adams from at least three of the four West Division teams, with Calgary and Edmonton missing the playoffs and having questions at the starting QB spot after last year.

In Edmonton of course, it’s dependent on what Tre Ford and McLeod Bethel-Thompson will want to do, as free agency is an option for both. The situation also depends on what direction Ed Hervey wants the franchise to go in. In Calgary, the Stamps’ 18-year playoff run came to an end, coaches lost their jobs and there will be a strong desire for the team to start a new playoff appearance streak in 2025. Cow-Town is also the top choice of CFL.ca’s Marshall Ferguson when it comes to a VA landing spot.

Adams is a proven commodity. He was on pace for an MOP-type season before he was injured and Nathan Rourke came back into the mix for the Lions. For two teams that want to turn their fortunes around immediately, landing a QB like Adams makes all of the sense in the world.

In Saskatchewan, the Roughriders will need to decide if they want to move forward with Trevor Harris, after the 38-year-old led them to the Western Final while missing a chunk of the season with injury.

Adams’ next landing spot could be the most consequential move of the off-season.

THE BALL IS IN TRE FORD’S COURT

Bet on yourself or trust the process? That’s the decision in front of Tre Ford this winter. The eighth overall pick in the 2022 CFL Draft, Ford has been a fan favourite from the moment he stepped onto the field as a rookie. In his three years with the Elks, the full-time starting QB role has been as elusive to him as he has been to opposing defences. After three challenging non-playoff seasons, Ford is a pending free agent and will no doubt explore all of his options before making a decision on his future.

Hervey’s arrival in Edmonton could change things for Ford, if he was sour on his experience with the Elks to this point. Hervey had a close relationship Michael Reilly when the two were in Edmonton; that relationship proved so strong that Reilly followed Hervey to the BC Lions as a free agent in 2019. In his introductory press conference in Edmonton last week, Hervey said he looked forward to talking with Ford to see if he could get him back in Edmonton to compete for a starting role.

Much of where Ford suits up next season could depend on his willingness to either compete for that starting role or be willing to play backup just a little bit longer. A patient approach could open more doors for him, where an established Grey Cup contender could be bring him into the fold to transition him into the starter in perhaps a year’s time.

Ford’s decision may not carry the immediacy that Adams’ trade destination does, but it stands to be a transformational moment for whichever team he finds that common ground with.

HEAD COACHES NEEDED IN BC AND EDMONTON

I’m almost hesitant to start writing this, fearing that a move could be made before it sees the digitalized pixels of tomorrow. Rumours are flying over the possibility of Rick Campbell landing in Edmonton, forming a solid old-school, EE-way reunion with Hervey and team president/CEO Chris Morris.

Buck Pierce’s name leads the candidates’ pack in BC. The former Lions’ QB and present-day Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ offensive coordinator has entered into what has become an annual tradition of testing the head coaching waters in late November. A part of the Bombers’ organization for a decade and the team’s OC for the past four years, Pierce has seen Zach Collaros (2021, 2022) and Brady Oliveira (2024) win MOP awards under his watch.

The Lions will also look within their organization in their search, with defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips an excellent candidate to make the jump up to the head coach’s seat.

GM NEEDED IN HAMILTON

Somehow, the Ticats’ GM search feels overshadowed in the wake of last week’s developments. Hervey’s move back to Edmonton has Orlondo Steinauer, the team’s president of football operations, looking for a new GM just a year after he moved Hervey solely into that role. The Ticats shook off their 2-9 start a few games too late, but showed in their final seven games what they could be, as Bo Levi Mitchell earned East Division MOP honours while putting together the best statistical season of his career.

Steinauer will want that new GM in place soon. The organization will want to get a jump on its list of pending free agents and will certainly have to have a conversation with Mitchell, who restructured his contract last year when he was hampered by injuries. Playing at a very high level in 2024, Mitchell will likely want his contract to skew back towards its initial structure for 2025.

Steinauer told Steve Milton of Ticats.ca that the organization will talk to 8-10 candidates in the process and want to get a range of experience and approaches to the job.

“We're going to cast a wide net for candidates. There's going to be a good mix of youth and experience. At the end of the day, it's not extremely time-sensitive, but we're not going to drag our feet,” Steinauer said.

“There'll be a change and change can be good. It's one day at a time. It's not an overnight thing. There's phone calls, follow-up, due diligence, research, a lot of things to cover."

WILL THE BOMBERS RUN IT BACK?

Instead of confetti falling around them, the Bombers have been inundated with questions on how they missed out on winning a Grey Cup for the third consecutive year.

You won’t find any organizational criticism here. The Bombers’ run from 2019 and into this decade has been elite and they are in my mind one of the greatest all-time teams the CFL has seen. When it comes down to it, it’s incredibly difficult to win in the CFL.

Updating something I wrote last year after the Bombers fell to the Als, in the last 11 seasons (2012-2024, accounting for the cancelled 2020 season), the team with the best record in the league has won the Grey Cup four times (Winnipeg 2021, Calgary 2018, Edmonton 2015, Calgary 2014).

Three 15-win teams (the 2022 Bombers, the 2019 Ticats and 2016 Stamps), a 14-win team (the 2013 Stamps) and two 13-win teams (the 2017 Stamps and 2012 Lions) have fallen short after establishing themselves as the class of the league in the regular season. You can add the league-leading 12-5-1 Montreal Alouettes to that list this year.

Despite the anguish that the Grey Cup loss brings, there are likely seven other fan bases that would rather have that experience than the ones they had this year. The Bombers have been at the doorstep of a championship the last three years. So do they get the (aging) gang back together to take another run at it in 2025?

Winnipeg will host the 112th Grey Cup next year. Zach Collaros is under contract through next season. The Bombers’ off-season picture isn’t that different from their previous ones: they have a wide range of key pieces of their team, of varying experience that they have to get back under contract. History tells us that Kyle Walters and Co. — keep in mind that Ted Goveia and Danny McManus of said Co. are candidates for that Hamilton GM job — will get the bulk of them signed and ready to go again.

We love a storybook ending here and the idea of the Bombers going through three consecutive Grey Cup heartbreaks, only to have a shot to win their third championship in six seasons and to do it on home turf, is too good to pass up.

FREE AGENCY IS UPON US

We touched on this up top, but it can’t be emphasized enough just how important free agency is every year in this league. It’s safe to say that 2025 won’t be any different. Where would the Argos have been this year without the additions of Ka’Deem Carey, Nick Arbuckle and Janarion Grant? Even if your team’s signings don’t get you the Grey Cup, they can be transformational.

Last year, the Ottawa REDBLACKS managed to trade for Dru Brown‘s expiring contract then signed him to a deal. Pairing him with Justin Hardy (who was extended in early February, days before he was set to hit the market) was a boon for an offence in need of a young, healthy starting QB. The duo played a big part in the team’s return to the playoffs, ending a six-year drought.

Both Jameer Thurman and AJ Ouellette played huge roles in ending Saskatchewan’s success this year, getting the Riders to the Western Final, snapping a two-year playoff drought.

CFL.ca will release its full list of pending free agents soon. It can serve as the backbone of following how every team’s off-season is unfolding.