The Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup championship game will be held in Toronto in November, but the road to it goes through the Alberta giants if you believe the oddsmakers.
The Edmonton Eskimos lead the way to start the season on the odds to win the Grey Cup at +400 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com as they seek to be the third team in the last 30 years to repeat. Their rival, the Calgary Stampeders, are listed at +450. Each team has a rookie head coach who is a former quarterback for the team.
Grey Cup-winning coach Chris Jones moved on to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, with Jason Maas taking over in Edmonton despite only one season’s experience as an offensive coordinator. The Eskimos retain a great nucleus with quarterback Mike Reilly – who can be an injury risk – throwing to recievers Derel Walker and Adarius Bowman, while defensive end Odell Willis and linebacker J.C. Sherritt lead a strong defence.
Calgary reached seven of eight West Division finals and won three Grey Cups under John Hufnagel. The Stampeders should continue to win for new head coach Dave Dickenson. A healthier season from their strong offensive line would help – Calgary managed to have a 14-4 regular season in 2015 even though every starting O-linemen missed time due to injuries.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, at +500, have the lowest odds of any East Division team. The Tiger-Cats were a play or two away from going to the 2015 Grey Cup even though quarterback injuries led to them using former fourth-stringer Jeremiah Masoli in the playoffs. Masoli is pencilled in to start, with Zach Collaros working to get his job back.
In 2012 the Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup on their home field. Now that they have new digs at BMO Field, the Argonauts’ outlook has brightened to the point where they have +600 odds. Veteran signal caller Ricky Ray, who missed much of 2015, has a deep cast of receivers. Toronto’s defence could be its Achilles heel.
Despite reaching the Grey Cup game and leading it in the fourth quarter, the third-year Ottawa RedBlacks are a +700 darkhorses on the 2016 Grey Cup odds. There are legitimate questions about whether 41-year-old quarterback Henry Burris will be able to repeat his Most Outstanding Player award-winning season. Ottawa also lost three-fourths of the defensive line from a unit that led the CFL with a combined 88 interceptions and sacks.
For those wondering, Ottawa was a +2000 longshot at the outset of 2015 before it realized the biggest single-season improvement in CFL history, improving by 10 wins. This time around, no team has such a bleak outlook.
Under Jones, Saskatchewan (+800) is looking to bounce back after cratering to a CFL-worst 3-15 record last season. The B.C. Lions (+900), Winnipeg Blue Bombers (+1000) and Montreal Alouettes (+1200) are each early in rebuilding cycles. All three teams lack an established quarterback who has had time to get in sync with his current teammates.
