Last off-season it was quarterbacks. This off-season it’ll be the changes in the football operations departments that will make up the CFL news cycle.
Rick Campbell, DeVone Claybrooks and now Jason Maas are no longer with the teams they coached in 2019, while Jim Popp was recently fired as GM in Toronto.
As I mentioned Tuesday, it’s imperative that the Lions and Argos make moves to get better so they can maintain relevance in their big-city markets, where there is a battle for entertainment dollars.
Ottawa, a team that has a strong foothold in its market, has to prove to its fans that it can return to Grey Cup calibre after a three-win season.
In Edmonton there are also higher expectations where the history is rich.
Free agency is always intriguing for fans in the off-season. But how the struggling teams fill in the football operations blanks, in an attempt to change course, will be very interesting to watch this winter.