Ryan Dinwiddie, Redblacks been very busy in CFL free agency

Now comes the real fun for Ryan Dinwiddie.

With CFL free agency essentially over, Ryan Dinwiddie has switched from general manager to head coach/offensive co-ordinator with the Ottawa Redblacks. He’s started the process of putting together the club’s new-look offence and scheming the possibilities.

“Now for me it’s putting in the install,” Dinwiddie said in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday. “We’re going to evaluate the players and how we’re going to evolve the offence around which players and all of those things.

“Now is the fun part of designing it.”

Dinwiddie joined Ottawa in November after five years as Toronto’s head coach. Dinwiddie compiled a 51-35 regular-season record, won two Grey Cups (2022, 2024) with the Argonauts and was the CFL’s coach of the year in 2023.

Dinwiddie and Shawn Burke, Ottawa’s vice-president of football operations, were active in free agency. Among the Redblacks’ off-season acquisitions were veteran quarterback Jake Maier, running back Greg Bell, receiver Ayden Eberhardt, defensive lineman Dylan Wynn, linebackers A.J. Allen, of Burlington, Ont., and C.J. Reavis and defensive back Demerio Houston.

Ottawa’s activity wasn’t surprising given it re-signed just 12-of-35 pending free agents before the market opened Feb. 10. The Redblacks (league-worst 4-14 record) missed the CFL playoffs last season after finishing last in the East Division for the fifth time in six seasons.

“You always have to turn over your roster if you win the Grey Cup or aren’t in the playoffs, that’s just what you have to do as far as the salary-cap world we live in,” Dinwiddie said. “We knew the players we wanted to keep that were hard workers and understood what it takes to win, it just hasn’t worked out for them in this building.

“Then we wanted to bring in guys who have a winning pedigree and we felt like we did that.”

Dinwiddie entered free agency expecting to be busy but was pleasantly surprised to land both Eberhardt and Reavis. Eberhardt had 45 catches for 863 yards and four TDs with B.C. last season, his 19.2-yard average per catch being second-best in the CFL.

Eberhardt joins a receiving corps that includes veteran Americans Justin Hardy (78 catches, 1,019 yards, eight TDs) and Eugene Lewis (75 catches, 1,012 yards, six touchdowns).

Reavis had 61 tackles, two sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles in 17 regular-season games last season with Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan. Ottawa also acquired American linebacker Nyles Morgan from Edmonton in December.

“You just look at the yards per catch and versatility (Eberhardt) has, I didn’t think he’d be a guy that would be available,” Dinwiddie said. “You look at C.J. Reavis … I thought he was a really good player.

“Was Sam (strongside linebacker) a priority for us? It wasn’t, but we felt like he was someone we had to bring into the building.”

Certainly players have a role in the molding of a team but so do coaches. The challenge in Ottawa, though, is with so many new faces — both in pads and on the coaching staff — an acclimation process must also happen.

Dinwiddie got a head start on that in January when he gathered his coaches together for two weeks.

“I knew it was going to be busy in free agency and didn’t want to waste the coaches’ time,” he said. “The beauty of it when you come into a new organization is you’re not stepping into a familiar situation.

“Obviously it starts with the coaching staff to know we’re all on the same page. It’s going to be the same thing for me as far as these players, everything is kind of new but we have to rally around each other and build a bond in that locker room.”

Ottawa didn’t add any offensive linemen early in free agency but signed American Martez Ivey and Canadian Gregor MacKellar last week. Both were with Edmonton last year.

“We feel McKellar can compete for a starting guard job and Ivey can be one of our tackles,” Dinwiddie said. “We brought (American Dino Boyd) back so we’ll probably have two American tackles, three (Canadian) interior guys.

“We’ll see how that all plays out … but we feel like Martez is hungry and ready to show he’s one of the league’s best tackles.”

Dinwiddie can’t put his GM’s hat away just yet. Ottawa has the first pick of the ’26 CFL draft April 28 and that evaluation has begun but Dinwiddie said the Redblacks will keep an open mind regarding the No. 1 selection.

“You’ve got to be creative, you always want to keep your phone lines open,” he said. “If something is a good deal for our organization that’s going to make us better for this year and the future, then we’ll obviously look into those things.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2026.