Free Agency is winding down after what were a busy first few days, with many big moves being made by Edmonton, Hamilton, and Ottawa, among other teams. Many teams improved, some kept things the same, and some may have gotten worse. Let's take a look at some way too early, post Free Agency power rankings.
1: TORONTO ARGONAUTS
It's no shocker that the reigning Grey Cup champs are at the top of this list. To be the best, you have to beat the best, and no one has yet, mostly because no one has had a chance to. The Argos lost a few key pieces in Free Agency, and some may say they became worse because of it. To that I say, look at their Free Agency last year. They lost lots of players then, too, but still made it all the way back to the Grey Cup and won it. They brought in Anthony Lanier, Bryan Cox, Celestin Haba and Demarcus Christmas to replace some holes on their D-Line, as well as names like Darius Bratton and Will Sunderland to replace defensive backs like DaShaun Amos. I still see them as pretty big threats in 2025.
2: SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
The Riders had an uneventful Free Agency, save for a few signings along the offensive line and some extensions. The Riders' main weakness last year were the trenches on both sides. Their pass rush was not strong, and their offensive line was also a weakness after getting decimated by injury. They bolstered their defensive line with Mike Rose and brought in Phillipe Gagnon and Sean McEwen on the line, as well as improving short yardage with Tommy Stevens. Keeping the same group together may prove to be beneficial for the Riders as they move into the 2025 season.
3: MONTREAL ALOUETTES
The Alouettes kept things chill in Free Agency, bringing in a number of offensive and defensive linemen to bolster their trenches, much like the Riders did. They brought in offensive lineman Cyrille Hogan-Saindon, Josh Archibald and Shawn Oakman. I don't exactly see them having the same record as last year, but I believe they will still be large threats in the East if Davis Alexander can assume the status that the Alouettes front office believes he can.
4: BC LIONS
The Lions added a lot of pieces in Free Agency like Adam Auclair, Adam Konar, Deontai Williams and Micah Awe to bolster their defense, as well as Jeramiah Masoli and David Foucault on the offensive side. Nathan Rourke had a subpar half of a season last year, which could be excusable because of his NFL journey and having to come back and start midway through the year. I think BC will be improved since last year, but they did take a huge leadership hit, losing staple fullback David Mackie to retirement during the off-season.
5: OTTAWA REDBLACKS
Ottawa's new look offense looks genuinely scary. Eugene Lewis and Justin Hardy playing on the same team? That's special. They brought in a lot of defensive backs like Tunde Adeleke, Robert Priester, Nafees Lyon and Amari Henderson, and added a new center in Peter Godber. Ottawa is genuinely looking pretty good, but I don't see them being better than either Toronto or Montreal in the east.
6: WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
Winnipeg's free agency was... interesting. They lost Kenny Lawler to Hamilton, as well as Liam Dobson. Many people thought they would be trying to retain as many players as they could, but it looks like they went into a bit of a retool this off-season, bringing in players like Jerreth Sterns, Gavin Cobb and Reggie White Jr, while also bringing in Peyton Logan, which will help their return game, which was not good last year. They still have great players like Brady Oliveira, but we'll see if last year was the last dance for Winnipeg.
7: HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
The Tiger-Cats added two huge pieces in Free Agency, being Kenny Lawler and Reggie Stubblefield. Their air attack with Bo-Levi Mitchell got a huge upgrade, as did their young linebacker core they had last year. They didn't make the playoffs last year, so they have some ground to make up in 2025 to make it back into the dance against what is looking like a really good east division.
8: EDMONTON ELKS
The Elks made a plethora of moves that would take too long to list. They brought in big names like Jake Ceresna, Tyrell Ford and Royce Metchie, to name a few. The reason why they're so low on this list is because Grey Cups aren't won in February, and we have no idea how this new group will gel as a team or perform during the season. They could be incredible or they could end up like the 2016 Saskatchewan Roughriders. Only time will tell, but for now, they finished last year out of a playoff spot, so they have lots of ground to make up.
9: CALGARY STAMPEDERS
Many fans in Calgary lamented the tendency of head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson to go for value adds in Free Agency instead of going for big names. If you look at Edmonton's haul of Free Agents, who finished with a better record in 2025 than Calgary did, you can see why people are saying what they are about the Stamps' front office. They brought in Damon Webb, Folarin Orimolade and Adrian Greene to name a few, which is good, but they made those moves as well as questionable decisions like releasing Mike Rose while he still had a year left on his contract. We'll see if the Free Agency decisions end up playing out, but many fans in Calgary don't see this season panning out as well as they'd hoped.
By Bruce Chimirri-Olson
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