Trevor Reid partially tore his pectoral muscle while bench pressing last offseason which caused him to be sidelined for the entire 2025 football season.

Reid earned a starting role with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and garnered the team’s Most Outstanding Rookie award in 2024. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings in January 2025, but was waived in April. The six-foot-five, 312-pound offensive lineman spent the rest of the year rehabbing.

The 25-year-old inked a two-year contract with the Green and White. That agreement ran out in February and CFL teams were prepared to offer him free agent deals. According to the Griffin, GA native, he had communication with Saskatchewan, Ottawa and the Tiger-Cats when the window opened.

“We took Hamilton because they showed that they wanted me and they even talked about bringing my babies up there. It was family oriented and that put a different spirit in me — I’m willing to go all in for this team, this organization,” Reid told 3DownNation.

Joining the Ticats pairs him with a familiar bookend tackle, Quinton Barrow. Both men played in the 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl and have been reunited in the Steel City. Hamilton signed Reid to a two-year contract worth $170,000 in hard money for the 2026 CFL season. He’s scheduled to earn $185,000 in hard money for the 2027 campaign.

“He was open-minded. He knew that we had an opportunity. There’s a lot that goes into it, there’s conversations with Scott [Milanovich], with myself, with the personnel department, there’s a relationship with the agents, all those things come into play. Ultimately, the player has to make a decision,” football operations president Orlondo Steinauer said.

Steinauer stated the Tiger-Cats had been tracking Reid for months prior to him signing with the Black and Gold. He did not want to speak for other teams, but Hamilton was aware there was competition to sign the ultra-athletic big man. The 52-year-old football executive had seen his new left tackle’s viral backflip video, but head coach Scott Milanovich had not.

“I’m impressed by anybody that does a backflip,” Steinauer said.

“I know he’s long, athletic and he plays left tackle pretty good. I did not see the backflip, but he’s long and athletic on film,” Milanovich said.

Reid’s backflip abilities have stuck with him since learning on a hill near his grandma’s house and translating the movement to flat ground. He bumped his head a “few times” which made him feel his backflips did not come naturally, but you wouldn’t know it when witnessing the ease with which the big man pulls off the move. That’s the consistency he wants to display on a Canadian Football League field, again.

“I’m coming to the CFL to prove to myself that it wasn’t a fluke. I want to show everybody, even myself, that it wasn’t a fluke,” Reid said.

“I want to prove to myself that I’m one of those guys that you can never sleep on. I’ve been looked over a lot within these few months that I haven’t been on a team and I’m hungry, I’m so hungry. I don’t like to talk about it, I’m one of those guys that go out there and do.”

After suffering his pectoral injury, Reid wasn’t sure if he would have another chance to play football. Hamilton has given him the opportunity to extend his professional career.