With rookie camps already underway and training camps right around the corner, CFL football is officially back.
As teams start their preparation for the 2026 season, beginning June 4 on TSN, every franchise has one big question heading into the new campaign that needs to be answered.
After falling short in last year’s Eastern Final, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ league-longest Grey Cup drought continued. The loss marked the team’s fourth straight playoff squander, as the team is also 0-4 in the big dance since their win all the way back in 1999.
Most would agree that a lot of the success in Hamilton was driven by the offence, with quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell earning back-to-back MOP finalist nods and the unit boasting top-three marks in multiple categories.
The defence, however, wasn’t as successful. Hamilton allowed the second most net offence (374.1) and offensive points (26.5) per game, while also giving up the most rushing yards per contest (111.0). The unit also allowed the most big plays (48).
To make matters worse, the group lost linebacker and recent second-overall pick Devin Veresuk to the NFL and defensive back DaShaun Amos to the Toronto Argonauts.
Brett Monson’s unit did get a big boost in free agency, however, adding three-time Grey Cup champion and two-time All-CFL team member in linebacker Wynton McManis.
The 31-year-old will be tasked to help in the run game, where the Tiger-Cats were poor, and even though they gave up a lot of yards through the air as well, they forced turnovers.
Monson’s unit was gamble-heavy, but they turned the ball over at a high clip, leading the league in turnovers forced (44) – most of those coming from their league-leading 27 interceptions – while also leading in points off turnovers by a wide margin (134).
It’s a scheme that works well with ball-hawking personnel on the back end, and between corner Jamal Peters, half Destin Talbert, and safety Stavros Katsantonis, there’s plenty of that to go around.
The front seven will be the conversation point, and even though Most Outstanding Defensive Player finalist Julian Howsare is back rushing off the edge, more chaos needs to be created up front.
The unit finished with only the sixth most sacks (39), fourth most tackles for loss (32), and the third fewest forced fumbles (11), with most of that being done by Howsare, who led the CFL in pressures (75), finished second in sacks (13), third in pressure rate (13.8), and first in tackles amongst defensive lineman (43). Given the fact that the 33-year-old also accumulated a league-best 33.3 per cent of his team’s sacks in 2025, more help is needed.
The Tiger-Cats have the longest Grey Cup drought in the CFL, and with Mitchell and the offence performing at a championship level, the defence will have to get up to a similar calibre this season for the team to reach championship heights.
