{"id":713337,"date":"2026-06-03T23:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/713337\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T23:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:57:08","slug":"week-1-cfl-picks-veteran-maier-leads-ottawa-in-opener-versus-elks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/713337\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1 CFL picks: Veteran Maier leads Ottawa in opener versus Elks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Jake Maier (13) looks for a pass against the Montreal Alouettes during first half CFL pre-season action in Ottawa, on Friday, May 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Spencer ColbySpencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Jake Maier era in Ottawa begins Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Maier will start at quarterback when the Ottawa Redblacks host the Edmonton Elks in the CFL season opener for both teams. Maier came to the Canadian capital this off-season as a free agent after spending 2025 backing up veteran Trevor Harris with the Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n

Dru Brown had been Ottawa\u2019s starter the last two seasons. He guided the Redblacks (9-8-1) to a playoff berth in 2024 \u2013 they lost 58-38 to Toronto in the East semi-final \u2013 but was limited to 11 starts last season as the club posted a CFL-worst 4-14 record.<\/p>\n

Maier made 45 starts over four seasons with Calgary (2021-24) and two more last year with Saskatchewan. In 2023, he threw for a career-high 4,244 yards before registering 22 touchdown passes the following season, another career-best.<\/p>\n

Ryan Dinwiddie will also make his regular-season debut with Ottawa. He joined the Redblacks as their head coach and general manager following five seasons as the Toronto Argonauts head coach.<\/p>\n

Dinwiddie posted a 51-35 record with Toronto, leading the Argos into the playoffs four times. They won Grey Cups in 2022 and \u201924 and Dinwiddie was also named the CFL\u2019s coach of the year in 2023.<\/p>\n

Edmonton will also be looking to erase the memory of a bitter \u201925 season. The Elks (7-11) finished last in the West Division and missed the CFL playoffs in Mark Kilam\u2019s first year as head coach.<\/p>\n

Edmonton hasn\u2019t been to the playoffs since 2019 when it was an East Division crossover squad.<\/p>\n

Cody Fajardo will get the start at quarterback for Edmonton, who has a dual threat in Justin Rankin. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound running back ran for 1,013 yards (5.3-yard average) and nine TDs last season while adding 56 catches for 713 yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo (7) makes a read in the pocket during a game against the Montreal Alouettes in Montreal last season.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

But Fajardo was sacked a CFL-high 40 times last season despite taking over as the starter the eighth week of the \u201925 season. To that end, Edmonton GM Ed Hervey looked to bolster the offensive line with the additions of Canadian Coulter Woodmansey as well as Americans Brendan Bordner and Jordan Murray.<\/p>\n

Edmonton swept the season series with Ottawa last year 2-0 but hasn\u2019t won a season opener since 2019. Fajardo comes in with a 9-1 record versus the Redblacks while Maier is 3-3 against the Elks.<\/p>\n

Pick: Ottawa<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Thursday night)<\/p>\n

At Hamilton, it\u2019s a rematch of last year\u2019s East Division final, which Montreal won 19-16. Quarterback Davis Alexander puts his unbeaten regular-season record as a CFL starter (11-0) on the line. He threw for 210 yards and a TD and ran for a team-high 64 yards in the East final. <\/p>\n

With the off-season departure of American Darnell Sankey, Canadian Geoffrey Cantin-Arku starts at middle linebacker for Montreal. <\/p>\n

Bo Levi Mitchell, last year\u2019s CFL passing leader and East Division outstanding player, begins his 14th CFL season and fourth with the Ticats. But middle linebacker Wynton McManis, signed in the off-season following four seasons with Toronto, won\u2019t play due to a knee injury. Ditto for receiver Shemar Bridges (groin) although veteran Kenny Lawler will anchor a pretty solid receiving corps for the home side.<\/p>\n

Montreal is 7-3 against Hamilton since 2022 but the Ticats swept last year\u2019s season series 2-0. The Alouettes have also won their last three season openers while the Ticats haven\u2019t started a campaign on a winning note since 2018.<\/p>\n

Pick: Hamilton<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. Calgary Stampeders (Friday night)<\/p>\n

At Calgary, the Stampeders\u2019 return to the CFL playoffs last season was aided by their 3-0 record against Winnipeg. Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. threw for 4,247 yards with 21 TDs and 14 interceptions in 2025. The ground game was paramount to Calgary\u2019s success as it led the CFL in rushing (126.7 yards per game), anchored by league-leader Dedrick Mills (1,409 yards, 5.6-yard average, 11 TDs).<\/p>\n

Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros, 37, begins his 14th CFL season needing just 17 passing yards to reach 36,000 for his career. Canadian receiver Nic Demski needs one more catch to reach 500 for his career while another 100-yard rushing performance by Winnipeg native Brady Oliveira will tie him with Jon Cornish for second-most by a Canadian (22) behind Andrew Harris (29).<\/p>\n

Pick: Calgary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Jake Maier (13) looks for a pass against the Montreal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-713337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713337","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=713337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}