10 things we learned from the 2025 CFL season

As the calendar flips to December, it’s tempting to look ahead to what 2026 might bring — in both football and in life.

But before we get lost in the prospects for 2026, allow me to throw a procedure flag and point you back to all we learned in an action-packed, drama-filled 2025 campaign — one capped by the Saskatchewan Roughriders hoisting the Grey Cup for the first time in 12 years.

Here are 10 things we learned along the way:

DOUBT NATHAN ROURKE AT YOUR OWN PERIL

For anyone who had questions last year after his return from the NFL, Nathan Rourke delivered an unequivocal answer in 2025 with the BC Lions: he’s the real deal. Under the tutelage of head coach Buck Pierce, Rourke became only the fifth man to win both the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian in the same year, joining lofty company in Russ Jackson, Tony Gabriel, Jon Cornish and Brady Oliveira. Rourke registered career-highs in passing yards (5,290), rushing yards (564), touchdowns (31) and rushing touchdowns (10), leaving CFL fans to salivate at what might come next for the Victoria-born gunslinger.

Canadian quarterbacks are no longer a novelty. They’re difference makers. When I started covering the CFL back in 2001, the idea of a Canadian starting at quarterback was seen as preposterous. The best quarterbacks in U SPORTS — known as CIS at the time — moved to free safety, receiver and even fullback just for a chance to start and play in the CFL. Thanks to Rourke — and Tre Ford in Edmonton — those days are long gone. (For proof, look no farther than the fact Rourke and Ford opened the season as head-to-head starters back on June 6).

And now Winnipeg is openly eyeing prospect Taylor Elgersma, the 18th overall selection in the 2025 CFL draft, as a potential down-the road successor to 37-year-old Zach Collaros as the starting quarterback.

THE CANADIAN GAME HAS NEVER BEEN MORE CANADIAN

For proof, look at the stats. BC Lions defensive end Mathieu Betts won the highly-competitive sack race with 15. Five defensive backs shared the lead atop the interception chart with six, and three of them are Canadian: Calgary’s Adrian Greene, Saskatchewan’s Tevaughn Campbell and Hamilton’s Stavros Katsantonis.

The story is the same on offence. Rourke posted the highest quarterback efficiency rating in the land at 112.2 (among players with a minimum of 100 pass attempts.) Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira led the league with an average of 5.8 yards per carry among running backs with a minimum of 50 attempts. Justin McInnis, of Pierrefonds, Que., placed third on the CFL leaderboard with 1,256 yards for the BC Lions.

DEFENCE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS (CLICHÉ BUT TRUE)

With his team down by seven in the Western Final and less than three minutes on the clock, Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace sent Brett Lauther out to kick a field goal.

The decision proved perplexing in the moment for many long-suffering Roughrider fans. But Mace believed in the guys on defence — and they delivered by forcing Rourke off the field twice with consecutive two-and-outs.

Those defensive stands set up the winning touchdown by Tommy Nield with 12 seconds remaining to send Saskatchewan to the Grey Cup. And in the big game, the Rider defence forced four turnovers en route to Saskatchewan winning the title for the first time since 2013.

GREY CUPS ARE DECIDED IN THE TRENCHES

They rarely see their name in headlines. They hobble around the day after most games with ice-bags attached to various appendages. And they generally toil in obscurity compared to their teammates in the so-called skill positions.

But Saskatchewan’s victory in the Grey Cup showed us once again that the success of the offence rides heavily on the big boys up front. “I don’t think I took a single hit,” quarterback Trevor Harris said after the Riders defeated Montreal 25-17 in the 112th Grey Cup. “I coulda not worn shoulder pads.”

The Riders didn’t allow a single sack, giving Harris the time and comfort to set a Grey Cup record by completing 85.2 per cent of his passes (23-of-27 for 302 passing yards).

There’s a reason why offensive linemen earn hefty pay cheques and attract all kinds of suitors any time they’re eligible for free agency.

ONE MAN’S PAIN IS ANOTHER MAN’S OPPORTUNITY

The Blue Bombers kicked off training camp back in May with Peyton Logan pencilled in as the return specialist. But then he got hurt. Enter Trey Vaval. The Minnesota State product led the CFL this season with four return touchdowns — two on kickoffs, one on a punt and a fourth on a missed field goal.

He finished first in punt returns, first in missed field goal return yardage and fifth in kickoff return yardage. And he didn’t stop there. Vaval added 21 defensive tackles, four special teams tackles, and an interception, capping it all off by being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player and Most Outstanding Rookie.

MONTREAL HAS ITS QUARTERBACK

Sure, Davis Alexander finally lost his first game when it mattered most, in the Grey Cup loss to Saskatchewan. And sure, he tossed three interceptions in the big game. But Alexander won his first 13 games as a starter in this league, and he played the championship game with a hamstring tear that would have left many on the sidelines with crutches.

The 27-year-old Portland State product — blessed with both mobility and a cannon for an arm — gives Montreal football fans every reason to believe heading into the 2026 campaign.

KEON HATCHER SR. IS NOT DONE

It looked like the BC receiver might be on the decline in 2024, posting pedestrian numbers — 33 catches for 608 yards in 11 games — as he battled back from a torn Achilles. This season was another story entirely for the 31-year-old pass-catcher.

With Rourke pulling the trigger, Keon Hatcher Sr. topped the CFL leaderboard this year with 1,688 receiving yards — the highest total for any receiver since 2016.

A BAD YEAR NEED NOT BECOME A BAD ERA

Dave Dickenson and the Calgary Stampeders reminded us this season that turnarounds can happen fast — even when the critics have counted a team out. Coming off a season in which they missed the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, the Stampeders opened 2025 with 12 new starters on defence.

They brought in veteran Vernon Adams Jr. at quarterback and still managed to field an explosive offence in spite of losing All-CFL receiver Reggie Begelton to a season-ending knee injury in Week 2. In the end, Calgary finished an impressive 11-7, rebounding from a dismal 5-12-1 record in 2024.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE KICKER

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that the fate of a team can, and so often does, come down to the steel nerves of a kicker. Just ask the BC Lions, who won the Western Semi-Final on a 43-yard walk-off field goal by Sean Whyte as time expired.

Or check in with the Montreal Alouettes, who advanced to the Grey Cup on a 45-yard walk-off to beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 19-16 in the Eastern Final — courtesy of José Maltos Díaz. Kickers might be quirky, but they’re a crucial ingredient to a winning team.

10 things we learned from the 2025 CFL season

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