{"id":597505,"date":"2026-04-11T17:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597505\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:55:10","slug":"how-ottawa-redblacks-tracked-and-brought-andy-isabella-from-nfl-to-cfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597505\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ottawa Redblacks tracked and brought Andy Isabella from NFL to CFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Ottawa Redblacks\u2019 vice-president of football operations Shawn Burke tracked American receiver Andy Isabella for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was\u00a0on and off our (negotiation) list, then he was on another team\u2019s neg list, and\u00a0we popped him back on when he went off\u00a0that team\u2019s neg list. Always liked watching him,\u00a0I think he had a CFL-style of play,\u201d Burke recently said from the CFL Combine in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old was selected in the second round, 62nd overall during the 2019 NFL Draft. He played 43 games over six seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and Pittsburgh Steelers. The five-foot-nine, 188-pound speedster recorded 33 receptions for 447 yards with three touchdowns while earning approximately $9.5 million USD in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit (linebacker) Jovan\u00a0Santos-Knox\u00a0last year. He knows (Isabella)\u00a0and played with him (in college).\u00a0I\u00a0felt Jovan\u00a0out (about) if he\u2019d ever have an interest of coming up here. Jovan talked to him and said, \u2018He wants to play football,’\u201d Burke explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a long time. High-end draft pick in the NFL\u00a0that\u2019s had a few different stops. He\u2019s coming in\u00a0like everyone else,\u00a0new to our league,\u00a0to compete for a spot, but\u00a0a\u00a0more well-known name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isabella\u2019s speed should help him acclimate to the three-down game as a receiver and possibly returner. He ran a 4.31-second forty-yard dash<\/a> at the 2019 NFL Combine, which could provide general manager, head coach, and offensive coordinator Ryan Dinwiddie with a field-stretching target.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was\u00a0excited to hear the news. Burkey has been working on him for a long time. He brought up his name and the opportunity to bring him in,\u00a0I said, \u2018No-brainer,’\u201d Dinwiddie added.<\/p>\n

Isabella will compete for a roster spot in a talented receiver group<\/a> in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Redblacks were the CFL\u2019s most active team in free agency, adding players like quarterback Jake Maier, running back Greg Bell, offensive lineman Martez Ivey, defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado, linebacker A.J. Allen, strong-side linebacker C.J. Reavis, and defensive back Demerio Houston. The team also had a few key departures, including quarterback Dustin Crum (Montreal Alouettes), strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett (Toronto Argonauts), and return specialist DeVonte Dedmon (Montreal Alouettes).<\/p>\n

The Redblacks hold the first overall pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. EDT. All CFL training camps are scheduled to open on May 10. The team will play its first preseason game against the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, May 22 and its first regular-season game against the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, June 6.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Ottawa finished fourth in the East Division standings with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Ryan Dinwiddie was hired as the team\u2019s head coach and general manager after the firing of Bob Dyce.<\/p>\n

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Football insider, reporter and analyst.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Arizona Cardinals. Ottawa Redblacks\u2019 vice-president of football operations Shawn Burke tracked American receiver Andy Isabella for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,226581,1745,49,48,7028,521,522,6396,520,514,196034,1044,20739,14967,70504,82,94200],"class_list":{"0":"post-597505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-3down","9":"tag-3downnation","10":"tag-andy-isabella","11":"tag-arizona-cardinals","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-canadian","15":"tag-canadian-football-league","16":"tag-canadianfootballleague","17":"tag-cardinals","18":"tag-cfl","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-nfl-combine","21":"tag-nfl-draft","22":"tag-ottawa","23":"tag-ottawa-redblacks","24":"tag-redblacks","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-university-of-massachusetts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597505","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=597505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}