{"id":540788,"date":"2026-03-16T20:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/540788\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T20:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:04:09","slug":"greg-bell-thought-hed-stay-in-hamilton-until-ottawa-reblacks-called-in-cfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/540788\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Bell thought he\u2019d stay in Hamilton until Ottawa Reblacks called in CFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym\/RFB Sport Photography. Edit: 3DownNation.<\/p>\n

East Division all-star Greg Bell thought he was going to sign a contract extension with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but the Ottawa Redblacks had other plans in CFL free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was contract\u00a0extension talks with the Tiger-Cats, but business being business, everybody looking out for their best interests and we had to go another way,\u201d Bell told 3DownNation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard from Ottawa. My agent talked to Toronto a little bit, but Ottawa was the main team that we heard from.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the three-down league\u2019s negotiation window opened on Sunday, February 1 at noon ET, the Redblacks called him three after. General manager, head coach and offensive coordinator Ryan Dinwiddie was the first Ottawa representative to talk to Bell. Running back coach Evan Harrington, offensive line coach Mike Gibson, and vice president of football operations Shawn Burke spoke to him following Dinwiddie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all the big people you want to hear from, they made me feel welcome,\u201d Bell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Redblacks secured Bell\u2019s signature by making him the highest-paid American running back in the Canadian Football League<\/a>, edging out Dedrick Mills<\/a>. The 27-year-old will make $175,000 in hard money for the 2026 season, including a $50,000 signing bonus. If he rushes for 1,000 yards that gives him another $1,000 plus an additional $6,000 available in all-star and award bonuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank God for\u00a0that because without him I wouldn\u2019t be able to do what I\u2019m doing right now. My agent worked\u00a0his butt off helping me get to where I\u2019m at. Putting in the work in the off-season,\u00a0working hard on the field, being a great person and then being a great person\u00a0in the building. That carries a long way and I feel like that\u2019s what carried into it,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing around the NCAA, the NFL, you see how the business works. You got to make sure you\u2019re doing the right thing and taking care of business when\u00a0business is being done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell looked at Ottawa\u2019s offensive talent through his decision-making process. He believes it\u2019s a talented unit with Dru Brown and Jake Maier at quarterback, experience along the offensive line and proven receivers such as Eugene Lewis, Justin Hardy, Kalil Pimpleton, Ayden Eberhardt and Keelan White projected starters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is definitely a great receiving core. I think we can get it done for\u00a0sure, I know we can get it done,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

Even though the Redblacks finished 4-14 last season, last place in the CFL, Bell wasn\u2019t fazed. He views Dinwiddie as a proven winner, evidenced by two Grey Cup rings in his time as the Toronto Argonauts head coach, who can lead Ottawa back to CFL title contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u00a0got to Hamilton, we were last place. So it could turn around quick,\u00a0I believe we could turn it around,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one player Bell knows currently on the Redblacks roster: Pimpleton. Both players went unselected in the 2022 NFL Draft, but signed undrafted free agent contracts with the Detroit Lions. Bell suffered a hamstring injury two days into training camp, which landed him on injured reserve for the season. Pimpleton was waived among final roster cutdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came into the NFL together,\u00a0so I know him pretty good. Everybody else, I look forward to building relationships with them,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

Despite Bell being a running back and Pimpleton a receiver, he caught nearly as many passes last season. The six-foot, 200-pound back led all CFL runners with 62 receptions while Pimpleton registered 68. That\u2019s one way Dinwiddie told Bell he fits into his offensive scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more\u00a0comfortable getting handed the football for sure, but catching the ball is something that comes natural. I work on my hands every day and try to make sure I\u2019m not dropping no passes\u00a0so the quarterbacks can be comfortable throwing it to me,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be\u00a0electrifying, try to make as many plays as I can and help us win.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym\/RFB Sport Photography. Edit: 3DownNation. East Division all-star Greg Bell thought he was going to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,180616,211145,105559,49,48,7028,521,522,520,95714,3163,14966,40643,211146,180015,3801,15655,107930,40639,40646,211147,211148,525,514,20739,14967,70504,52041,14556,29345,101255,82,43334,167300],"class_list":["post-540788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-ayden-eberhardt","tag-aztec","tag-aztecs","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-dedrick-mills","tag-detroit-lions","tag-dru-brown","tag-eugene-lewis","tag-evan-harrington","tag-greg-bell","tag-hamilton","tag-hamilton-tiger-cats","tag-jake-maier","tag-justin-hardy","tag-kalil-pimpleton","tag-keelan-white","tag-mike-gibson","tag-ncaa","tag-nfl","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-redblacks","tag-redblacks","tag-ryan-dinwiddie","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-state","tag-shawn-burke","tag-sports","tag-ticats","tag-tiger-cats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}