While it may still be early in the off-season, I’ve taken a look into my crystal ball to save you all the trouble of watching the entire 2016 CFL season. Thanks to me, you can now spend your Fridays, Saturdays, and occasional Wednesdays, doing fun things like laundry… or watching paint dry. You’ll still need to watch the playoffs, because I don’t want to take all the fun out of the season.
CFL Predictions for 2016
End of season Standings
West Division
Calgary 12-6
Saskatchewan 11-7
Edmonton 10-8
B.C. 8-10
Winnipeg 6-12
East Division
Hamilton 11-7
Toronto 10-8
Ottawa 8-10
Montreal 5-13
Calgary has shown time and time again that they are constantly able to replace players lost to the NFL, or through free agency, and I expect this season to be no exception. While they won’t run away with the division, I expect them to lead the division almost wire to wire.
Saskatchewan has completely turned over their roster. I believe 55% or more of players that were on the roster at the opening of 2015 are no longer with the CFL club. If the players that Chris Jones and John Murphy put together, are able to gel early, they will keep pace with the rest of the Western division. I expect the team to steal some energy from the “Final Season at Mosiac” campaign, and make sure the last game is hosted on a Sunday in mid-November.
Edmonton is going to feel the loss of Chris Jones at head coach in 2016. There is no other way to really put it. They will still be a strong team, and may make a good push come playoff time.
B.C. will bounce back from a terrible 2015 with Wally Buono at the helm, and be a much more competitive team. While I feel they will be a single win short of a crossover spot, they will be in a lot of games in 2016.
Winnipeg is the one I can’t decide on. They have improved, but at what cost? They made a decent haul on day one of free agency, but I get the feeling that they aren’t done cutting players to make room for the guys that they have picked up.
In the East, Hamilton gets the top spot mostly because I don’t feel any of the teams below them have gotten significantly better. They were a miracle play short of making the Grey Cup with their third string quarterback in 2015, and will have a healthy Zach Collaros back to lead them to an East Final home game.
Toronto had an interesting free agency period. They lost some big names in Greg Jones, Chad Owens, and Trevor Harris, but picked up some quality Canadians in Brian Bulcke and Josh Bourke. I think they managed to more or less stay fairly even as a team overall and if Ricky Ray can stay healthy, they will compete for the top of the East Division
Ottawa fans may get hit with a reality check in 2016 after a stellar 2015 season. Outside of the pickup of Trevor Harris, the Redblacks did not manage to improve their roster in any meaningful way, in my opinion. Instead, they lost a couple of major Canadian pieces along their defensive line in Capicciotti and Keith Shologan. While they may have the pieces to replace them, until Desjardins shows he can build a team through depth, I have to expect they will fall back this season.
Montreal may have the best receiving corps in the league in 2016, but it came at the cost of one of the best Canadian linebackers in the CFL in Henoc Muamba. Moves like that show me Jim Popp is making decisions out of desperation, but add in the fact that he will be prowling the sidelines again, and this team is doomed from the get go. After winning for so long, I really wonder how much more Alouettes fans can take before they start to jump ship.
The 2016 season will be an exciting one, after a very active free agency period that saw a lot of players jumping to new teams, and especially to division rivals. If you compare these predictions to the 2015 CFL Standings, Saskatchewan will move up, Edmonton and Ottawa will move down, and the rest of the league will more or less stay the same. There you have the 2016 CFL predictions in a nutshell.
Main Photo.
