Pelehos' two-year deal merely an extension of Grey Cup aspirations

01/27/2025 10:31 AM

For 25-year-old Zack Pelehos, the introduction to professional football has come with many ups and downs over the past three seasons.

The second-overall pick in the 2022 CFL Draft played only 14 games at the U SPORTS level with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, seeing eight games worth of action in 2018, with the remaining six coming in 2021. Simply put, the Gananoque native was raw, but scouts saw the potential, ranking him the 15th-best player available in his draft class.

The Ottawa REDBLACKS and General Manager Shawn Burke saw something more, however, and wasted little time acquiring his services in the first round.

Like many rookies, it took some time for Pelehos to find a foothold in the lineup, rotating in and out for his first two seasons.

"I didn’t have a lot of football under my belt," Pelehos said. "Once I was given the opportunity to come in and learn from vets, experienced coaches and everything like that, we began the journey."

Heading into the final season of his rookie contract, Pelehos wanted to start and prove his worth to earn a second deal. He says it "added a lot of pressure" on his shoulders, particularly to stay healthy.

"I knew exactly what was expected of me to land that starting role," Pelehos said. "Every day I come in, it’s a battle, competing with some of the best guys in the country playing this position. I definitely feel that I’ve grown to where they want me to go, and I think I still have a pretty high ceiling going forward."

Pelehos had his best season yet in 2024, becoming the starting right tackle for the REDBLACKS, missing time only due to injury. That, he says, was a tough mental hurdle, but it didn't hold him back from being an impact player on the line.

The front office agreed, and reached out, hoping to spark the conversation that would eventually lead to a new contract.

"I got the call from my agent, I remember it was December 13th," Pelehos said. "He started the conversation by saying he was talking to Shawn Burke, and the way he sounded on the phone didn’t sound promising for a second, so my heart dropped. Then he told me we got an offer. And as soon as that happened, I was grinning ear-to-ear, I didn’t really know what to think or do."

The process wasn't a straight shot from end to end, it took some negotiating — as every single contract ever hammered out has — but Pelehos hoped the whole time to remain a REDBLACK. In the end, it was a two-year deal that kept the local product in the nation's capital.

"It definitely adds a little bit of security," Pelehos said of the term of his new deal. "Obviously, every day when you show up to camp and throughout the season, you’re never really secure in that spot, you gotta fight. You gotta be in the best shape possible and ready to go."

Reflecting on 2024 can be a sore subject for Pelehos, who got his first taste of playoff action with the REDBLACKS. Yes, it was good on a personal level, but the team fell short of a goal they believed achievable.

"There are a lot of emotions in the playoff game," Pelehos said. "We were having a great game at the beginning, the offence was firing all cylinders, the defence was crushing it, and the special teams were doing their thing, as well."

"We started to see it slipping away from us at the end," Pelehos said. "I mean, credit to the Argos, they had a great season, and they finished it off very strong, but deep down, I think we still could have beat them."

He left the field with few regrets, but it still stung. It's part of his mindset to play every down like it's his last. Pelehos says he "fought his heart out" in the East Semi-Final in Toronto, citing his efforts to chase down pick-sixes, despite knowing deep down he was never going to catch a speedy defensive back.

It never mattered to him whether he thought he could or not, it was a collective emphasis on greatness, and a chase for a championship that required everybody to go above and beyond.

"We called ourselves the bullies of Bank Street for a reason," Pelehos said. "Things are going to happen, but at the end of the day, we were going to be the toughest guys out there on the field."

Pelehos has his sights set on coming into training camp the best version of himself, and hitting some new personal records in the gym, but there's one single goal that he's working toward every day, and that's lifting the Grey Cup high above his head in Winnipeg this November.

"My biggest goal, and I mark it down every year, especially after this past season, is to win the Grey Cup," Pelehos said. "I’m still hungry for that."