top of page

2025 CFL Division Previews: Can the Alouettes and Blue Bombers maintain the status quo in the regular season? Or do teams like the Toronto Argonauts have tricks up their sleeves?

  • Writer: therookiereporters
    therookiereporters
  • Jun 5
  • 7 min read

The 2025 CFL (Canadian Football League) season has finally arrived! Can the Toronto Argonauts, who won last season’s Grey Cup game, lean on their momentum and pursue a second-straight championship? Or will we see the likes of Winnipeg or even Saskatchewan challenge their newfound reign? It all gets started on June 5th.



(Image Credit to: 3DownNation)
(Image Credit to: 3DownNation)

With the 2025 CFL season set to get underway next week, I decided to preview and predict how both of the CFL’s divisions will shake out this season. Alongside my weekly prediction articles, which will be released before each of the 21 weeks of play during the season, I’m hoping that I can provide you with an accurate preview of the CFL this season (note that I tried to make these previews as explanatory as possible for first-time viewers).


Projected East Division standings (with predicted record):


1st: Toronto Argonauts (15-3)


Usually, when a team wins the Grey Cup, they go on to finish first in their respective division in the next season. That’s been the case for the last four seasons - it’ll be on the Toronto Argonauts to continue that trend this year. Despite losing some depth, they are returning much of the same squad that won it all last season. Outside of a few intra-divisional games and a potential home-and-home split with Winnipeg, I cannot see how Toronto loses more than a handful of games this season.


The team will be at its strongest early in the season, but an early claim to the East Division will lead to a few small losses as the Argos look to defend their Grey Cup title.


2nd: Ottawa Redblacks (11-7)


The Ottawa Redblacks were arguably the most improved team in the CFL last season, going from just four wins the year before to nine wins, earning them their first postseason appearance since 2018. The Redblacks will look to build off of their success in 2024 and their offseason moves certainly suggest the Redblacks are looking to make good on that goal. Specifically, the team brought in the likes of William Stanback from the BC Lions and Eugene Lewis from the Edmonton Elks to help bolster an explosive offence.


The question is whether the Redblacks can weather an early storm - the team is set to play each of the Riders, Argonauts, and a revamped Stampeders team within their first six games - and push onwards from there. Winning two of those three games would do wonders for the Redblacks as they look to build on their breakthrough from last season. At the end of the day, I see a slight improvement in the win total, earning Ottawa a second-straight playoff appearance and a home playoff game.


3rd: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (10-8)


Last season, Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, threw for over 5,000 yards and 32 touchdowns, while completing almost 70% of his pass attempts. Even with those stats, the Tiger-Cats would fall short of the playoffs with a 7-11 record courtesy of a slow start to the season. Should Hamilton look to return to the playoffs, the Tiger-Cats reinforced and rested defence will have to step up early in the season to keep the team from falling into an early hole. Or, Bo Levi Mitchell, alongside new recruits like wide receiver Kenny Lawler, will have to consistently find ways to outscore defensive faults. As long as the offence keeps going, Hamilton should win 7 or 8 games. If the defence can play? Now we might be talking about a playoff berth.


4th: Montreal Alouettes (8-10)


2025 is certainly looking like a huge fall from grace for the Montreal Alouettes, who finished first in the East Division last season and came close to making it back to the Grey Cup. The Alouettes lost a lot of their key roster pieces over the offseason, and they’re all but set to trot out their young upstart Davis Alexander or journeyman McLeod Bethel-Thompson at quarterback.


Neither option is all that desirable.


However, I do see promise for Davis Alexander. In the few games he played last year, he had some strong performances; at one point, he dragged his Alouettes team right back into a home game against Saskatchewan on his 2024 debut. What is set to be his first full season as the starter might get off to a rocky start, but if Davis Alexander can rally his team to a win or two early in the season, then the Alouettes will have a strong foundation to build off of for the season’s second half. They’ll do just that, but they will fall just short of a potential playoff return.


Projected West Division standings (with predicted record):


1st: Saskatchewan Roughriders (11-7)


In a dramatic conclusion to the 2024 regular season, the Riders were a Winnipeg field goal attempt from potentially having a chance to win the West Division. And after another West Final loss to that same Winnipeg team, it seems like the Riders will have a chip on their shoulder coming into this season. Saskatchewan’s defence does tend to get off to hot starts; should it do the same this year, the Riders could find themselves in control of the race for the West Division crown. And Saskatchewan will have the entire first half of the season to get their defence going in anticipation of three end of season matchups with Winnipeg. If the Riders can take two of the three matchups with Winnipeg, they’ll win the West. I see them doing just that; Saskatchewan will finally capitalize on a strong start and give themselves a foothold over the Bombers dominance of the West.


2nd: Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-8)


How to respond to a third straight Grey Cup loss? Is the core starting to age? What about all the big losses in free agency?


These are only some of the questions swirling around the Blue Bombers organization this CFL season. How Winnipeg responds to such media speculation through their on-field performance will determine the result of their season.


Even then, the Blue Bombers have lost significant parts of their championship core over the course of the offseason. While many of the key cogs, including running back Brady Oliveira, remain intact, another case of the injury bug could be far more disruptive to the Blue Bombers aspirations.


I believe this Winnipeg team is still a solid playoff team, and perhaps it will find its way back into the Grey Cup game. But there are too many factors of varying significance that prevent me from putting the Blue Bombers on top of the West Division once again.


3rd: Calgary Stampeders (10-8)


The West Division’s most improved team? The Calgary Stampeders.


An early-offseason trade for Vernon Adams Jr to revamp the QB room, the acquisition of offensive talent like Ottawa’s Dominique Rhymes, and other moves like the signing of defensive back Damon Webb to help bolster a talented-but-dysfunctional defence.


It’s clear that Calgary’s offence is capable of great things. And with the arrival of Vernon Adams Jr, a simple reworking of the quarterback room might be all that is needed to kickstart the offence.


But is that enough to pull Calgary back into the playoffs? Sure, you can outscore your problems at will, but said problems will eventually come back to haunt you. The defence will need to be good in order to help the Stampeders win games. Having a functional offence that can move the ball down the field in any which way should help, but outside of that, it’s on the defence to deliver.


The offensive improvements should earn Calgary a couple more wins at least. If the defence is somewhat better than last year, then the Stampeders should find themselves back in the playoffs.


4th: BC Lions (9-9)


The BC Lions could realistically finish anywhere in the West. On one hand, Nathan Rourke could be completely re-adjusted to the CFL after spending time south of the border, and the Lions will find themselves fighting for high playoff seeding. On the other hand, they could find themselves just holding on and maybe even fighting with Edmonton for the crossover slot (which basically allows the 4th place team in the West to replace the 3rd place team in the East if they have a superior record).


If Nathan Rourke plays remotely like his old self, unlike what we saw from him last season when he came back from the States, the BC Lions should be competitive in 2025.


5th: Edmonton Elks (4-14)


I’m not making this ranking because I hate the Elks. I’m making this ranking because I don’t trust them to do well.


Sure, the front office might finally be putting their trust in Tre Ford as the starting quarterback.


Sure, the defence might be somewhat better.


But the Elks also lost key playmakers that helped the team improve in the win column last season, including wide receiver Tevin Jones among others.


The Elks also have developed a very odd tendency to start the season on the worst possible run of form, before ending the season on an incredible winning run as if they were still in the playoff picture. It’s almost like they’re the Buffalo Sabres of the CFL. If you don’t believe me, look no further:

2024: Started the season 0-7, ended on a 7-4 run to finish 7-11

2023: Started the season 0-9, ended on a 4-5 stretch to finish 4-14


Considering that the Elks have two winnable games against Montreal sandwiched in with two matchups with the BC Lions, as well as games against Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, any poor start to 2025 will essentially end their playoff hopes early. And if the Elks are going to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2019, this is the year to do it. My problem is that I simply do not see how Edmonton is better, or somewhat equal to, any of the other four West Division teams. And if they can’t beat them, particularly in the first half of the season, it’s going to be another meaningless second half for Edmonton football fans.


The Elks will be consistently competitive throughout the season, and that alone will help them earn wins. But the risk of another bad start, combined with a potentially-terrible record against West Division rivals, will work to keep Edmonton far away from the playoff picture.



Article written by Noah Guttman

Get in Touch

Send us an email:

contact@therookiereporters.com

Follow us on:

Tiktok - @therookiereporters

Instagram - @therookiereporters

Threads - @therookiereporters

X - @rookiereporters

  • Threads
  • X
  • TikTok
  • Instagram

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page