Ryan Dinwiddie expects Ottawa Redblacks to hire new de facto GM

Photo: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography / 3DownNation. All rights reserved.

Though it remains unclear if Ryan Dinwiddie will remain with the Ottawa Redblacks after a 1-17 season, he has indicated that he’s willing to give up the title of general manager.

His reason? He wasn’t performing those duties anyway.

“(Shawn Burke) was vice-president (of football operations), but he was still doing the GM stuff. I came in with the GM title, and I got to have final say on who we played on the game-day roster,” Dinwiddie told the media on Sunday.

“Offensively, I’ve been a coordinator and head coach for years, and I’ve been pretty darn good at it, so I believe in that, but the GM title? If they’ve gotta change that, it’s not gonna change my workload at all.”

CFL rules stipulate that coaches and personnel people with term remaining on their contracts cannot make lateral moves to other teams, and can only interview for a job if it constitutes a promotion.

When the Redblacks hired Dinwiddie last offseason, he was under contract with the Argonauts as their head coach through 2027. He was given the GM title in Ottawa, and Burke moved up from general manager to vice-president of football operations.

Dinwiddie has now seemingly said the quiet part out loud: his added title was merely a way to circumvent the rules.

Is this the first time a CFL team has “promoted” someone in order to hire them away from a rival? Of course not, but it’s rare to hear someone admit it on the record.

Dinwiddie doesn’t know if he’ll be brought back for 2027, though he has two years left on his contract. He indicated that new team president Mike Morreale plans to hire someone to replace Burke, who was fired in August, giving the Redblacks a new de facto GM.

In an interview with 3DownNation last week, Morreale said he’d like to have the team’s new football operations department settled by the end of November.

“Me and Mike went and had lunch the day before we left to go to Hamilton, so it was just more catching up on a personal level,” said Dinwiddie.

“We did talk a little bit of ball, but right now he said he wants to evaluate everything including myself, and that’s fair. You go 1-17, everything should be evaluated. I plan on being here. I want to turn this thing around. I don’t want to be out of here and not have the opportunity to give one more shot at it.”

The 45-year-old acknowledged his team’s shortcomings. If he’s back next year, Dinwiddie indicated that he’d like to get better along the offensive and defensive lines, and wants to bring in a defensive coordinator who can “give these guys opportunities to be successful.”

With that said, it seems he regrets being so active in free agency, wanting instead to rely on in-house options.

“You come into a new organization, you don’t know the ins and outs — you’re brand new. Thinking about our approach in how we built the roster, I think we should probably have been a little bit less aggressive in free agency, and been more vocal on getting some rookies in here, and scouting,” he said.

“You can’t build a whole roster through free agency. I think that was one thing that we learned the hard way from last year.”

The Redblacks suffered more injuries than any other team in the CFL in 2026, as Dinwiddie indicated the club went through 141 different players. This made it challenging to create continuity and build familiarity within different units.

The one position at which the team stayed healthy all year was quarterback. Jake Maier made 12 starts, McLeod Bethel-Thompson made four, and Bryson Barnes made two. Though none had particularly bad statistics, the Redblacks clearly weren’t good enough at the game’s most important position.

When asked about his plans at the position for next year, Dinwiddie was non-committal, though it seems there could be significant changes.

“Who knows what the free agent market is going to look like, right? We’ve got some guys on the (negotiation) list, guys we’re scouting,” he said. “Once (the new vice-president of football operations and I) sit down together and put a plan together, I’ll have a better answer for you.”

Editor’s note: since Dinwiddie spoke to the media, Chad Kelly has reportedly agreed to a long-term contract extension with the Toronto Argonauts.