The Ottawa Redblacks turned a lot of heads a year ago when they went from the worst team in the CFL to Grey Cup finalists. Ottawa fell just short against the Edmonton Eskimos in the 103rd Grey Cup as Henry Burris once again fell short of his goal to capture another ring. Despite sufficient roster turnover, the RedBlacks are optimistic they can represent the East in this year’s championship game and take care of unfinished business. We’ll see if they can handle a lot of transition in stride. Often times this type of change looks like it will be seamless on paper but plays out very differently in reality.
Team Strengths
The one constant for Ottawa will be the return of the reigning Most Outstanding Player and quarterback Henry Burris, who is expected to hold down the starting job ahead of the newcomer Harris this season. The Redblacks addressed the future and improved their depth at a position of strength when they brought in Harris, who led the CFL in passing yards last season. But even with that move, they signed Burris to an extension that will keep him in the fold through 2017. Ottawa is also pretty well stacked at the skill positions on offense including a group of receivers that topped the 1,000-yard mark in 2015 in Ernest Jackson, Brad Sinopoli, Chris Williams and Greg Ellingson. That’s pretty rare when you have four 1000-yard receivers on your team. Some CFL teams – like the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tigers-Cats – didn’t have a single receiver in the Top 11 of CFL receiving yards last year. The Redblacks had four of them. The Reblacks passing attack should be one of the most dangerous in the CFL once again this season.
Team Weaknesses
The biggest question mark for Ottawa will be its defense, which was hit hard in free agency this summer following last year’s success. The Redblacks lost defensive tackle Keith Shologan, defensive end Justin Capicciotti and defensive back Jovon Johnson in free agency but also landed some notable additions including promising defensive tackle Arnaud Gascon-Nadon. The addition of Gascon-Nadon combined with the returns of defensive tackle Zach Evans and linebacker DaMaso Munoz should be enough to help defensive coordinator Mark Nelson to prevent his unit from slipping but after taking some pretty big hits in free agency the defense likely won’t be as strong as it was in 2015. And remember, the defense wasn’t that strong last year either. They allowed 454 points, which was the third-most in the East Division.
Team X-Factor
Burris’ age combined with the fact that he has had some durability issues in past years means that Harris could very well be the biggest X-Factor for Ottawa this season. The RedBlacks added Harris to give them some protection in the event of a Burris injury while also landing their franchise quarterback of the future and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he made an impact sooner rather than later. Harris led the CFL in touchdown passes last season and if the 41-year-old Burris struggles or gets hurt, Ottawa will hand the keys over to one of the rising stars at the position in the CFL right now.
Outlook
The RedBlacks have enough weapons on both sides of the football to contend with Hamilton and Toronto for top spot in the Eastern division but their depth is questionable. They could be in tough to live up to the hype if they are forced to deal with injuries.
We also have to see what the quarterback situation is. It could very well be that Burris is his stellar self as he was last year, but remember we’ve seen this before where age starts to catch up with players around this time. If he struggles and there’s a quarterback controversy now that Harris is on the roster, this could fracture the team.
Ottawa turned a lot of heads with a trip to the Grey Cup last year but the East will be that much tougher to navigate in 2016 and that could lead to the Redblacks taking a small step backwards.
Pick: Third place in Eastern Division. A step back following an impressive 2015 season.
