MMQB: 3 conclusions from the 2025 season

Pat Steinberg

CFL.ca

@Fan960Steinberg

I said it many times over the last six months, and I wasn’t exaggerating: the 2025 CFL season was one of the most enjoyable in recent memory.

From all those close games to a spectacular post-season, standout individual performances, and more, there was so much to sink your teeth into. And as we start setting our sights on 2026, including a star-studded group of pending free agents, I’m still caught reflecting on the 24 weeks of outstanding football that wrapped up only a few weeks ago.

In that vein, here are three of our top takeaways from what was an awesome 2025 campaign.

ALL THAT CANADIAN TALENT

I ran into all kinds of difficulty when the CFL.ca assignment crew tasked me with identifying the top seven Canadian players of 2025. It turned out to be a challenge to narrow it down to only seven, which speaks to just how stellar the crop is right now. It’s no stretch to say this might be the strongest era of Canadian talent we’ve ever seen.

And we’re not just talking about “traditional” positions for Canadian players.

For a second straight year, the league’s Most Outstanding Player is Canadian with BC’s Nathan Rourke following Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira. It’s an unprecedented double, as Canadian players had never won the award in consecutive years prior. In fact, Rourke and Oliveira joined Russ Jackson (1963, 1966, 1969), Tony Gabriel (1978) and Jon Cornish (2013) as the only Canadian players to ever take home the league’s top individual award.

But it goes far beyond that. Justin McInnis, Samuel Emilus, Jalen and Tyson Philpot, Nic Demski, and Kiondré Smith have all established themselves amongst the league’s very best receivers. McInnis, for instance, finished third overall with 1,256 receiving yards after leading the league with 1,469 the prior season.

BC defensive end Mathieu Betts led the league with 15 sacks and was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player for the second time in three years. In the secondary, all three of Tevaughn Campbell (Saskatchewan), Adrian Greene (Calgary), and Stavros Katsantonis (Hamilton) tied for the league lead with six interceptions, while Winnipeg’s Redha Kramdi emerged as perhaps the league’s best SAM linebacker.

But wait, there’s more. Canadian offensive linemen are still hitting the mark, too. That ranges from the Hamilton interior trio of Coulter Woodmansey, Liam Dobson, and Brandon Revenberg to Montreal’s Pier-Olivier Lestage and Calgary’s Zack Williams. All of the above scored top marks at their positions from our friends at Pro Football Focus.

And let’s not forget Sean Whyte and Marc Liegghio. The former led the league with a 95.1 per cent accuracy rate kicking field goals, which just happened to be the second highest mark in league history. Liegghio, on the other hand, finished second at 92.9 per cent in what was his most impressive season to date.

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD?

There have been a couple constants over the last half decade or so: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers dominating the West Division and the Toronto Argonauts doing the same in the East Division. 2025 saw that trend change, however, which begs the question: have the torches been passed?

Out West, it’s hard not to think we’ve seen a shuffle at the top. After five straight trips to the Grey Cup, the Bombers qualified for the playoffs in a crossover spot before being bounced by Montreal in the Eastern Semi-Final. And while I don’t think Winnipeg’s days of being relevant are done, I do think their archrival has started a cycle of their own.

With head coach Corey Mace at the helm, it feels like Saskatchewan is at the very beginning of a dominant stretch. Sure, general manager Jeremy O’Day has important free agent decisions to make this summer, but he’s building around a great core group already in place. And making his job slightly easier: players want to be in Regina.

And after a four-year stretch with two Grey Cup titles and four straight appearances in the Eastern Final, the Argos struggled to a 5-13 record in 2025 and missed the playoffs. To make the future more turbulent, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie departed for Ottawa in early November.

Toronto’s outlook is harder to forecast currently, especially as their coaching search continues. But with Davis Alexander’s emergence and a star-studded defensive group, it feels like the top of the East Division mountain belongs to Montreal until proven otherwise.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS

2025 helped develop new stars from Alexander to Jacob Roberts, KeeSean Johnson, and Jaylon Hutchings. But one thing was also very evident: guys who have been there and done that still have immense value in this league.

Take two of the league’s best quarterbacks, for instance. In his 13th season, Hamilton’s Bo Levi Mitchell led the league for a second straight year with 5,296 passing yards. A back-to-back East Division Most Outstanding Player, Mitchell went over 5,000 yards in consecutive campaigns for the first time ever at the ages of 34 and 35.

And let’s not forget 112th Grey Cup MVP Trevor Harris of the Riders. Also in his 13th CFL season, 39-year-old Harris had one of the best seasons of his career and led all starters by completing 73.6 per cent of his passes. That goes along with impressive totals like 4,549 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and a 110.7 quarterback rating.

In fact, Saskatchewan was the poster child for high level veterans. 35-year-old Jermarcus Hardrick was outstanding cover-to-cover en route to being named Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman for the first time. Mike Rose (33) and Micah Johnson (37), on the other hand, formed perhaps the league’s most dominant interior defensive duo.

When you add stellar seasons from Cody Fajardo, Sean Thomas Erlington, Julian Howsare, and Garry Peters into the equation, you truly get the picture of how important veteran experience remains in this league.

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