In the aftermath of a disappointing season that saw the Calgary Stampeders miss the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, team president Jay McNeil said they would be “very aggressive” in rebuilding for 2025, particularly in free agency, something the club had long avoided, choosing instead to develop talent in-house.
Looking at the signings they’ve made so far this offseason, a good argument could be made that the Stampeders once again shied away from adding high-priced talent, instead looking for value adds like they usually do.
3DownNation published its list of the top 30 CFL free agents two weeks ago and Calgary came to terms with four of the players listed, only one of whom was in the top 15. The additions include All-CFL defensive back Damon Webb (6), Canadian linebacker Fraser Sopik (20), defensive lineman Miles Brown (29), and receiver Tevin Jones (30).
Getting four of the top 30 may seem like an accomplishment but fans in Calgary need only look north to see what true aggressiveness in free agency looks like. The Edmonton Elks managed to ink seven of the top 15 names on the list, including four of the top seven. Fans in Cowtown may start to look like Elks jerseys, turning green with envy.
“We had a plan, and it never goes exactly like you think it’s going to go,” said head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “We wanted to get bigger interiorly, we wanted to get speed on the edge, and we wanted a bigger DB group. We wanted bigger receivers. Across the board, we will have size, toughness, and guys that can make plays on the ball. We feel like we’ve done a good job. We’ve gotten bigger, stronger, and tougher.”
The Stampeders also lost both of their own free agents who appeared on the list as Sean McEwen and Peyton Logan left for greener pastures and bluer skies, respectively, signing in Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.
3DownNation’s Justin Dunk reported that Calgary pursued Eugene Lewis and Kenny Lawler, the top two receivers that made it to the market, only to see them land elsewhere.
To be fair, some of Dickenson’s heavy lifting was already done by the time free agency got underway as two major additions came via trade.
Vernon Adams Jr. and Folarin Orimolade are certainly at or near the top of the food chain when it comes to their respective positions, but as those moves came before the legal tampering window opened, fans of the Red and White were still holding out hope for more big names to make their way to Calgary.
The Stampeders were also able to sign former All-CFL receiver Dominique Rhymes, who wasn’t a pending free agent, but was available after he was cut by the Ottawa Redblacks.
When asked if the CFL salary cap increase of $400,000, which was awkwardly timed as it came after the legal tampering window had opened, Dickenson said that the team “is operating on the budget that we had before, and we were certainly happy to get our guys.”
This wording is in stark contrast to past seasons when Dickenson assured media and fans that the Stampeders would be a “cap-team,” meaning they would spend the maximum allowable under the salary cap in those seasons.
For their part, all of the new signings in attendance said all the right things at Wednesday’s press conference, including Orimolade and Adams, who traded jokes about how nice it will be not having to play against one another anymore. Both suggested this could lead to a statistical increase for each by having to practice against each other.
Rhymes indicated that some incoming players have chips on their shoulders, believing they have something to prove this season — especially Adams.
“We know who he is and we know what happened to him,” Rhymes said, referencing Adams’s ouster from the B.C. Lions in favour of Nathan Rourke. The two played together in Vancouver in 2023. “We finna show y’all, you messed up. We gonna show y’all.”
“He’s a selfless guy. He gets the guys together in the offseason to help build chemistry. That’s what you want in a quarterback. He’s the guy to lead the Stampeders back to the promised land.”
Also in attendance was new acquisition Miles Brown, who spent last year with Saskatchewan as a disruptive force in the middle to replace Mike Rose, who was cut by the team a few weeks ago. Listed at six-foot-one and 320 pounds, Brown is about 40 pounds heavier than Rose and has been a steady presence in the middle of Saskatchewan’s defensive line, gathering six sacks in the last two seasons in a rotational role.
Dickenson also believes that free agency is “95-98 percent” done and that his roster is largely finished. He expects his team as it is now to make up the bulk of the roster when the season kicks off in late May.
However, he did leave the door open a sliver, saying that when it comes to making roster improvements, a GM is “never done.”
