Maier will start at quarterback when the Ottawa Redblacks host the Edmonton Elks in the CFL season opener for both teams. Maier came to the Canadian capital this off-season as a free agent after spending 2025 backing up veteran Trevor Harris with the Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Physicality in the trenches and and strong run game should help Calgary make some noise this season, Coty Wiles writes.
Ottawa’s new head coach and GM has already made his mark through free agency and by naming Jake Maier the new starting quarterback, Coty Wiles writes.
Ahead of the season opener, TSN has ranked the league’s best players and has now unveiled its annual Top 50 CFL Players List.
Ryan Dinwiddie is kind of feeling like a first-year head coach again.
Wynton McManis’s debut with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will have to wait.
Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t showing signs of slowing down. The 36-year-old quarterback is coming off consecutive 5,000-yard passing campaigns with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And that’s a first for a player whose decorated 13-year CFL career includes two Grey Cup wins, two league outstanding player awards and being named the East Division’s top performer in each of the last two seasons.
The 2026 CFL season kicks off Thursday night with the Montreal Alouettes visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Here are some of the top players worth keeping tabs on this year.
Of all the questions surrounding the Edmonton Elks heading into this CFL season, the only one that really matters is: can they win?
Last season, the BC Lions were just 11 seconds away from advancing to their first Grey Cup since 2011. A Trevor Harris pass to Tommy Nield in the dying moments of the Western Final gave the Saskatchewan Roughriders a 24-21 victory. The Riders would go on to defeat the Montreal Alouettes for the CFL championship, while the Lions had a long winter to think about what might have been.
After defeating the Montreal Alouettes 25-16 in November to capture the fourth Grey Cup in franchise history, the Saskatchewan Roughriders capped off their celebration with an epic victory parade through downtown Regina.
Too old. Too slow. Too inaccurate. That’s some of the criticism Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans have about Zach Collaros as the 37-year-old quarterback enters his 14th CFL season.
Edmonton has established a strong foundation and added talent through free agency. Now the team will look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019, Coty Wiles writes.
The health of franchise QB Davis Alexander will be key for an experienced, physical group looking to win another Grey Cup, Coty Wiles writes.
The Calgary Stampeders seek to build on their turnaround and play in the Grey Cup on home turf in 2026.
Julian Howsare, who’s entering his sixth season in Hamilton and eighth in the CFL, said there are many others on the Ticats defence capable of taking advantage of the resulting one-on-one matchups.
Davis Alexander is out to prove he can play a full campaign after a hamstring injury followed him from training camp through the Grey Cup, limiting him to just seven regular-season contests.
After missing all of last season, waiting another week to open the 2026 campaign is no big deal for Chad Kelly.
It’s officially the Ryan Dinwiddie show in Ottawa. With just one winning season and one playoff appearance over the past six years, Ottawa’s new head coach and general manager wasted little time reshaping the roster after being hired away from Toronto in November.
Veteran QB Bo Levi Mitchell leads a dynamic passing attack that might be good enough to help Hamilton snap its Grey Cup drought, Coty Wiles writes.
The championship infrastructure has largely stayed the same in Winnipeg, but a return to the top of the West Division starts with major improvement on offence, Coty Wiles writes.
ADVERTISEMENT
