2023 CFL FORECAST

The Toronto Argonauts narrowly outlasted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23 in the 109th Grey Cup game, winning the franchise its 18th championship.

Toronto’s win ended Winnipeg’s bid to become the first Grey Cup three-peat squad since the Edmonton Eskimos, who won five in a row from 1978 to ‘82. The victory also added to Toronto’s CFL record of Grey Cup championships, with the Elks a distant second at 14.

Eyes are focused on the Toronto Argonauts after they won last year, making them favorites for the Sportsbooks in Ontario unfortunately for fans from rival teams.

After the 109th Grey Cup, the Blue Bombers opened as the +200 favorites to win the 110th Grey Cup at FanDuel (via TSN), and the Argonauts shared the third-highest odds with the Calgary Stampeders at +500. The BC Lions were second at +340, but that was before star quarterback Nathan Rourke left to join the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Blue Bombers won the 107th and 108th Grey Cup championships. Can the Argos follow suit by repeating as back-to-back champions? The core remains in place for them to do so.

Stampeders Boast Defense With Signing Of Micah Awe

The Calgary Stampeders have bolstered their defense with the signing of a veteran linebacker.

Calgary has signed former Montreal Alouettes linebacker Micah Awe. Awe played college football at Texas Tech and joined the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Awe didn’t make the Bucs’ roster, but he wound up joining the BC Lions in 2017 and played well enough to earn a tryout from another NFL team in the New York Jets. Awe was subsequently waived and returned to the Lions in 2018.

The well-traveled Awe also made stops for the Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Ottawa Redblacks before splitting the 2022 season with the Lions and Alouettes. In 63 career games, Awe has four sacks, five forced fumbles and two interceptions.

Alouettes Bring Back Former CFL All-Star Ciante Evans

Like the Stampeders, the Alouettes addressed their defense in free agency by landing an impactful veteran of their own, signing veteran defensive back Ciante Evans. The 30-year-old played with the Alouettes in 2019 before spending the next two years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Evans won a Grey Cup championship with the Stampeders in the 2018 season. He was named a CFL All-Star in 2017 as well as a CFL West All-Star in both 2017 and 2018. The Fort Worth, Texas native has 14 career interceptions to go along with three forced fumbles. Evans played college football at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Bo Levi Mitchell Headlines Players To Watch

After a sensational run with the Stampeders that saw him win the Grey Cup in the 2014 and 2018 seasons, two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player Award winner Bo Levi Mitchell is gearing up for a fresh start in Hamilton.

The Stampeders traded Mitchell to the QB-needy Tiger-Cats earlier this offseason. The two sides then reached an agreement on a lucrative three-year deal that will pay him slightly $500,000 Canadian per season, per TSN’s Dave Naylor.

Mitchell lost his starting job to Jake Maier, who first joined the Stampeders’ organization in 2020.

The soon-to-be 33-year-old Mitchelll is now tasked with ending the CFL’s longest active Grey Cup drought. The Tiger-Cats last won it all in the 1999 season, though they came close with heartbreaking losses to Winnipeg in the 107th and 108th Grey Cup games.

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Trevor Harris, whom the Saskatchewan Roughriders landed in free agency last week, will also receive plenty of attention this season. The journeyman quarterback is coming off a productive 2022 season for Montreal in which he threw for 4,157 yards and 20 touchdowns against just 12 interceptions.

Usually a playoff team, the Roughriders endured a highly disappointing 2022 campaign in which they went 6-12. With a proven quarterback like Harris leading the offense, the Riders are in good position to compete for a playoff spot in the West Division.

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Dalton Schoen, the 2022 CFL Most Outstanding Rookie Award winner, will be pivotal in the Blue Bombers’ quest for a third championship in four seasons. The 2022 CFL All-Star led the league in both receiving yards (1,441) and receiving touchdowns (16).

Not bad for a rookie. The only thing missing was the Grey Cup championship. Will Schoen lead Winnipeg back to the mountaintop? There’s no telling how much better he might be in season two.