Ottawa Redblacks cut two, sign four

Photo: Guang Quan/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Ottawa Redblacks are continuing to reshape their roster as they head into the final month of the regular-season. On Tuesday, the team announced it had released American defensive backs Adrian Frye and Christian Matthew.

Frye made six starts for the Redblacks this season, including three at boundary halfback, two at field-side cornerback, and one at field-side halfback. He recorded 20 defensive tackles and one special teams tackle.

The six-foot, 205-pound defender first joined Ottawa in 2024. Over 22 career regular-season CFL games, he tallied 63 defensive tackles, six special teams tackles, two tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, one sack, and one pass knockdown.

Matthew started Ottawa’s last three regular-season games at boundary cornerback. The six-foot-two, 205-pound native of Miami, Fla. notched six defensive tackles.

The 29-year-old signed with the Redblacks recently after a four-year stint in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, and Dallas Cowboys. Over 20 career regular-season NFL games, Matthew made 20 total tackles and three pass knockdowns.

The Redblacks have also signed four players, including American offensive lineman Mahamane Moussa, Canadian offensive lineman Eric Starczala, American defensive lineman Joey Zelinsky, and American defensive back Devyn Perkins.

Moussa finished his collegiate career at the University of Louisville in 2025, where he started 13 games at tackle and guard. The six-foot-four, 305-pound blocker previously played at Purdue University, where he played 40 games and made 30 starts. The native of Indianapolis, Ind. attended rookie minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this year.

Starczala spent four seasons with the Redblacks, dressing for 12 regular-season games. The six-foot-three, 307-pound blocker became a free agent in February and remained unsigned until Tuesday. The native of Cambridge, Ont. was originally a seventh-round pick in the 2019 CFL Draft out of the University of Guelph.

Zelinsky attended rookie minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this year after going unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft.

The six-foot-four, 250-pound defender finished his collegiate career at the University of Pittsburgh, where he made 23 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks over 12 games. The native of Cressona, Pa. previously played at Eastern Michigan University, where he made 77 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two pass knockdowns, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery over 35 games.

Perkins attended training camp with the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this year, dressing for three preseason games. The five-foot-ten, 195-pound defender played collegiately at Utah Tech, where he recorded 139 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, five interceptions, 25 pass knockowns, and one forced fumble over 41 games. He also had a stint at Southern Utah.

The Ottawa Redblacks (0-14) will host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-11) on Friday, October 2 with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Tiger-Cats were eliminated from playoff contention following last week’s loss to Edmonton, while the Redblacks continued their winless season against Calgary.

The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on the Ticats Audio Network in Hamilton or TSN 1200 in Ottawa.