OUT OF THE TUNNEL: A PREVIEW

This is supposed to be a season preview issue of Out Of The Tunnel but after four complete write-throughs we have come to a very obvious conclusion: we have even less of a clue about how things will play out than we normally do. This doesn’t apply to just us, but every CFL prediction needs to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt.

The so-called ‘experts’ will give you 4,736,871 reasons on why this player will be great and this team will win the Grey Cup. But after a full season without football, two free agent periods, two CFL Drafts and a healthy portion of dramatic player retirements, any team that was picked first could easily be last in either division. 

Every team in the league has one glaring flaw and are all going through a serious transition that in three years time when we look back at 2021, we will realize this was the season that started a new generation of the CFL.

Instead of predicting what will happen we will give you what we are incredibly excited to watch:

1. FAJARDO/ADAMS: Will Cody Fajardo and Vernon Adams Jr. capitalize on their incredible 2019 seasons? These two will be attached at the hip for as long as they play in the CFL. Fajardo and Adams had to claw and scratch their way to nab a starting quarterback spot and they both rewarded their respective teams for taking this chance in 2019.

It’s now 19 months later and the pressure is on both to continue their progression into the top tier of CFL quarterbacks. We love watching both of them on the field and it would be an incredible Grey Cup to see the Fajardo-led Roughriders and the Alouettes led by Adams Jr. go head-to-head.

2. SLOPPY FOOTBALL?: Just how ugly will the first three weeks of the season be? Without heavy contact in training camp and without preseason games, the beginning of the season will be incredibly interesting. When people talk about being in football shape they don’t mean their cardio or strength, they mean how players handle the dynamic movement under pressure and the constant contact that happens week-to-week during the season. This will affect the defensive side of the football.

On the offensive side, the lack of preseason games will mean the timing of every part of the playbook will not be great. This isn’t just quarterback-to-receiver but also how brand new offensive lines come together and backfields figuring out both blocking and running schemes.

We will end up with wild, high scoring affairs but also games where the offense is stuck in the mud. If one was prone to putting a few dollars down, bet on the under to begin the season.

3. THE NEXT GREAT CANADIAN?: With players like Brad Sinopoli and Alex Mateas retiring, Brendon LaBatte taking a year off and others that are closer to the end than the beginning like Dan Clark, Andrew Harris and Chris Van Zeyl, we will start to see a changing of the guard in regards to Canadian content.

Henoc Muamba will still be one of the top Canadians in 2021 and if Andrew Harris can get healthy, one can throw his name in too but we have two full classes of CFL Canadian rookies making their debut this year. Throw in those Canadians who debuted in 2019 we will see some new faces on CFL divisional all-star teams and a new face that will be named Most Outstanding Canadian at the end of the year. 

As for who, we don’t know and that’s okay because Canadian players always surprise and that’s the fun part.

4. UNDER THE RADAR FACES?: The easy one is Ka’Deem Carey in Calgary. The former two-time All-American out of Arizona was on his way to being a dual-threat running back in 2019 but a broken arm ended the season. If Carey remains healthy he will help an incredibly young Stampeders offence and take a lot of pressure off of future Hall of Famer Bo Levi Mitchell.

Others we are excited to watch are linebacker Ben Hladik and defensive lineman J.R. Tavai in B.C., defensive tackle Garrett Marino in Saskatchewan, running back D.J. Augustin in Winnipeg and linebacker/defensive back Nick Cross in Hamilton. This list is heavy on Canadians and really connects with question three.

5. GREY CUP MATCH-UP?: Well, we know we said we wouldn’t make any predictions but here is our Grey Cup prediction: Picking the Hamilton Ticats out of the East Division feels like the easy no-brainer. Montreal with Vernon Adams Jr. will push, the completely overhauled Toronto Argonauts might make some noise and the Ottawa Redblacks are not in a good spot to begin the season. 

The West Division is a whole other story. Calgary, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg will fight for the top three spots and finish with records between 9-5 and 7-7. Edmonton is going through a bit of a transition and the B.C. Lions, other than Michael Reilly, are going through a big youth movement. 

Just to put something on paper it will be Hamilton defeating Calgary on their home turf at the 108th Grey Cup.