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The Ottawa Redblacks aren’t panicking over how their kicking game regressed in 2025, though they intend to bring in some competition for Lewis Ward.

“We’re going to (the CFL’s) kicking showcase (in San Diego on February 22), so I know they’ve got a short list of kickers (who will be attending). We’ve got (special teams coordinator) Jeff (Reinebold) watching them. We’re gonna bring in some competition there, for sure,” head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie told TSN 1200 in Ottawa.

“We’ve gotta get better but also, at the same time, we feel like Lewis is gonna be back. Mentally, I think there were some struggles there last year. I think he’ll bounce back from that, so we have trust in Lewis.”

The 33-year-old specialist had by far the worst season of his career in 2025, connecting on 76.1 percent of his field goal attempts. Three of his misses came from under 40 yards and he went 15-of-26 between 40 to 49 yards.

Ward has been one of the CFL’s most consistent kickers since his rookie season when he was named All-CFL and the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2018. He has made 86.5 percent of 347 career field goal attempts over 117 career regular-season games, even factoring in his down year in 2025.

Veteran punter Richie Leone wasn’t retained in free agency with Dinwiddie indicating the team is looking to fill the spot with the Global player. The 33-year-old native of Roswell, Ga. punted for a net average of 34.5 yards in 2025, which was well below his career average of 37.8 net yards.

Dinwiddie also discussed the addition of running back Greg Bell, whose speed and receiving ability is expected to add some versatility to Ottawa’s attack. The six-foot, 200-pound ball-carrier rushed for 1,038 yards and five touchdowns with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last year, while also making 62 catches for 426 yards and one score.

“(Bell)’s really good at outside zone and that’s a priority we want to get better at,” said Dinwiddie. “I think he’s obviously really good out of the backfield, but he can go line up at receiver and play receiver, so there might be some motion packages where we motion him out. Does a linebacker go with them? If the linebacker goes with him, now the quarterback knows we’ve got man coverage and we’ll be able to attack that the appropriate way.”

Dinwiddie coached the Toronto Argonauts this past season, who started four different running backs, none of whom were particularly productive. The veteran coach believes Bell can give his offence in Ottawa the same type of backfield threat the Argonauts had during his earlier seasons with the Boatmen.

“I think that’s something we lacked last year in Toronto in our offence, so it’s a big part of it. We had Andrew (Harris) and A.J. (Ouellette) in years past who were really good at it, Ka’Deem (Carey) was really good at it, so it’s a big part of our offence,” said Dinwiddie. “You can’t do a ton of five-man protection and expect not to have some protection issues, so there’s a time and place for it, but it can’t be a majority of your offence.”

The Ottawa Redblacks finished fourth in the East Division standings in 2025 with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Dru Brown went 2-7 over nine starts at quarterback, throwing for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Dustin Crum went 2-4 over six starts, throwing for 1,771 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.

The Redblacks ranked sixth in net offence, fifth in net defence, and ninth with a turnover differential of minus-16. The club’s leading rusher was William Stanback with 698 yards, leading receiver was Justin Hardy with 1,019 yards, and leading tackler was Adarius Pickett with 84 tackles. Ottawa finished eighth in attendance with average crowds of 18,136, which was a 4.2 percent decrease from the previous year.