After a near five-month-long season of pads popping and helmets clashing, the 2025 CFL team award nominees have been announced.

The best players have risen to the top, especially when it comes to the league’s most prestigious awards in the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian honours.

For the M.O.P., of course it’s a strong group, featuring five quarterbacks, three running backs, and a wide receiver.

Full team nominees:

BC | QB | Nathan Rourke*EDM | RB | Justin Rankin*CGY | RB | Dedrick MillsSSK | QB | Trevor Harris*WPG | RB | Brady OliveiraHAM | QB | Bo Levi MitchellTOR | QB | Nick ArbuckleOTT | WR | Kalil PimpletonMTL | QB | Davis Alexander

*denotes unanimous selection

Of the 71 Most Outstanding Players in CFL history, 42 have been quarterbacks, 27 have been running backs or receivers, and only two have been defenders (Solomon Elimimian in 2014 and Hal Patterson in 1956).

While it was a running back in Oliveira taking the award in 2024, he was only the second back to claim the honour since 1998, as the quarterback position has won the award 18 of 25 times since then.

It takes a truly special season from a non-pivot to win, and while Mills, Rankin, and Oliveira have all had fantastic years, the quarterback play has just been too strong.

Yes, Nick Arbuckle propped up Toronto’s offence for the majority of the year, and yes, the Riders’ Trevor Harris arguably put together the best season of his career at the age of 39, all while Davis Alexander still hasn’t lost a game for the Alouettes (11-0 as a starter, 7-0 this season). But Bo Levi Mitchell and Nathan Rourke have just simply been a cut above the rest.

After Mitchell came up just short of the award last season despite establishing a Tiger-Cats franchise record and new personal-best 5,451 passing yards, he is once again in contention in 2025.

Hamilton’s 35-year-old quarterback has put together another superb season, leading the CFL in passing yards, (5,032), touchdowns (34) and completions of 20-plus yards (47), with only 11 interceptions.

He’s in search of his fifth nomination for the award (division finalists will be announced Oct. 30) and will be looking to join an exclusive list of three-time M.O.P. winners (Doug Flutie, Anthony Calvillo, Jackie Parker, Russ Jackson), after winning in 2016 and 2018.

Rourke’s play has been just as elite all season.

His 328.1 passing yards per game is easily the best north of the border, his 58.1 per cent completion percentage of passes 20-plus yards leads the CFL as well, while his 28 passing touchdowns sits second.

What could potentially be the difference is what the 27-year-old has done with his legs. His 559 yards along the ground is eighth in the CFL, while his 9.3 yards per carry leads all players. Rourke also has 10 rushing touchdowns to his name, one of only six players to have double-digit majors.

The award more than likely will come down to one of Mitchell or Rourke.

Most Outstanding Canadian

There is potential for a double winner of both awards like there was last year, with Oliveira and Rourke nominated for both pieces of hardware.

Full team nominees:

BC | QB | Nathan Rourke*EDM | LB | Joel DublankoCGY | WR | Jalen PhilpotSSK | LB | A.J. Allen*WPG | RB | Brady OliveiraHAM | K | Marc LiegghioTOR | WR | Kevin MitalOTT | RB | Daniel AdeboboyeMTL | DE | Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund*

*denotes unanimous selection

You can see the argument for Rourke above, but in case you wanted more, the Victoria, B.C. native has also smashed through Russ Jackson’s all-time mark of 3,641 passing yards by a Canadian quarterback in a single season. He now also owns the record for the most completions (308) and 300-plus yard games (10) by a Canadian in a season.

As for Oliveira, he’ll be trying to join a couple of exclusive lists. The 28-year-old looks to become only the fifth player ever to win the award three times (Russ Jackson, Tony Gabriel, Ray Elgaard, and Jon Cornish) and will try to join Gabriel and Cornish as the only players to win three consecutive Most Outstanding Canadian awards, after claiming the previous two.

Despite missing time early with a shoulder injury, the Winnipeg native has been special. Oliveira leads the league in a multitude of stat categories, including total yards from scrimmage with just over 1,700, and yards per carry (5.8) and receptions (61) among qualified backs.

As for the rest of the nominees, a couple of players have interesting cases.

Montreal’s Adeyemi-Berglund has exploded for 11 sacks in 2025 (tied for second) and sits near the top of the league in pressures.

Toronto’s Mital has been a magnet all season, becoming the first Canadian to reach 100-plus catches in his sophomore campaign, as he also has caught a league-best 82.3 per cent of targets this season.

Saskatchewan’s Allen and Edmonton’s Dublanko both stepped into starting roles at the linebacker position this season and performed well, while Calgary’s Philpot set career highs across the board in year four.

Adeboboye’s yards per carry mark (5.6) sits tied for third, but he’s only had 69 carries on the year, as William Stanback has taken the majority of snaps. And while Hamilton’s Liegghio has only missed four field goals all campaign, only one specialist has won the award ever (Gerry Organ, 1973).

There are competitive races for both awards while history is being chased. What more can you ask for?