The 2021 Ottawa Redblacks season was the seventh season for the team in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Redblacks were eliminated from postseason contention following their week 10 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on October 23, 2021. This was the second straight season that the Redblacks failed to qualify for the playoffs.

The 2021 season was the first season for Paul LaPolice as the team's head coach and the seventh season with Marcel Desjardins as general manager, until his dismissal on October 25, 2021.

An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule. On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021.

Offseason

CFL global draft The 2021 CFL global draft took place on April 15, 2021. With the format being a snake draft, the Redblacks selected last in the odd-numbered rounds and first in the even-numbered rounds.

Round Pick Player Position University/Club Team Nationality 1 9 Anthony Mahoungou REC Purdue France 2 10 Tyron Vrede LB North Dakota Netherlands 3 27 Chris Ferguson OL Cincinnati The Bahamas 4 28 Tony Anderson DB Grand View France

CFL national draft The 2021 CFL draft took place on May 4, 2021. The Redblacks had six selections in the six-round snake draft and had the sixth pick in odd rounds and the fourth pick in even rounds.

Round Pick Player Position University team Hometown 1 6 Deshawn Stevens LB Maine Toronto, ON 2 13 Alonzo Addae DB West Virginia Pickering, ON 3 24 Connor Berglof OL Saskatchewan Saskatoon, SK 4 31 Jake Julien K/P Eastern Michigan Barrie, ON 5 42 Keegan Markgraf LS Utah Hamilton, ON 6 49 Matthew Derks OL Delaware State Brantford, ON

Preseason Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021.

Planned schedule Week Game Date Kickoff Opponent TV Venue A Bye B 1 Fri, May 28 7:30 p.m. EDT at Montreal Alouettes Molson Stadium C 2 Fri, June 4 7:30 p.m. EDT vs. Montreal Alouettes TD Place Stadium

Regular season

Standings

Schedule The Redblacks initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 11 and ending on October 29. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the Canadian Football League delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Redblacks began their 14-game season on August 7, 2021.

Week Game Date Kickoff Opponent Results TV Venue Attendance Summary Score Record 11 Sat, Aug 7 10:00 p.m. EDT @ Edmonton Elks W 16–12 1–0 TSN/RDS2/ESPN2 Commonwealth Stadium 30,302 Recap 2 Bye 32 Sat, Aug 21 7:00 p.m. EDT @ Saskatchewan Roughriders L 10–23 1–1 TSN/RDS Mosaic Stadium 28,559 Recap 43 Sat, Aug 28 7:00 p.m. EDT BC Lions L 12–24 1–2 TSN/RDS TD Place Stadium 15,000 Recap 54 Fri, Sept 3 7:30 p.m. EDT Montreal Alouettes L 29–51 1–3 TSN/RDS TD Place Stadium 15,000 Recap 65 Sat, Sept 11 10:00 p.m. EDT @ BC Lions L 13–45 1–4 TSN/RDS BC Place 12,552 Recap 7 Bye 86 Wed, Sept 22 7:30 p.m. EDT Hamilton Tiger-Cats L 7–24 1–5 TSN/RDS2 TD Place Stadium 12,041 Recap 97 Tues, Sept 28 7:30 p.m. EDT Edmonton Elks W 34–24 2–5 TSN/RDS2 TD Place Stadium 12,108 Recap 108 Wed, Oct 6 7:30 p.m. EDT @ Toronto Argonauts L 16–35 2–6 TSN/RDS2 BMO Field 6,788 Recap 109 Mon, Oct 11 1:00 p.m. EDT @ Montreal Alouettes L 16–20 2–7 TSN/RDS Molson Stadium 15,236 Recap 1110 Sat, Oct 16 4:00 p.m. EDT Montreal Alouettes L 16–27 2–8 TSN/RDS TD Place Stadium 16,139 Recap 1211 Sat, Oct 23 4:00 p.m. EDT @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats L 3–32 2–9 TSN/RDS2 Tim Hortons Field 20,112 Recap 1312 Fri, Oct 29 7:00 p.m. EDT Calgary Stampeders L 13–26 2–10 TSN TD Place Stadium 15,280 Recap 1413 Sat, Nov 6 4:00 p.m. EDT Toronto Argonauts L 20–23 2–11 TSN/RDS2 TD Place Stadium 18,644 Recap 15 Bye 1614 Fri, Nov 19 7:30 p.m. EST @ Montreal Alouettes W 19–18 3–11 TSN/RDS Molson Stadium 11,297 Recap

Games played with white uniforms. Games played with colour uniforms. Games played with alternate uniforms.

Roster 2021 Ottawa Redblacks final roster Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

Offensive linemen T G C/T G/C G T

Defensive linemen DT DT DE DT DE DE DE

Special teams P/K K Linebackers

LS

Defensive backs

Practice roster DB RB DB DE QB LS DB DE WR DT WR K DT DE DE SB

Suspended list WR G RB DT WR WR DB Injured list DB DE LS T G/T T QB QB T LB RB FB DE G T DT DB QB WR WR DB T RB Italics indicate American player • Bold indicates Global players

Coaching staff Ottawa Redblacks staff Front office Owner – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) Chief executive officer – Mark Goudie Interim general manager – Jeremy Snyder Interim assistant general manager – Jean-Marc Edmé Director of player personnel – Pier-Yves Lavergne Coordinator of football operations – Joey Swarbrick Video coordinator – Braun Gheller

Head coaches Head coach – Paul LaPolice

Offensive coaches Receivers – Alex Suber Offensive line – Bob Wylie Quarterbacks – Steve Walsh Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Mike Benevides Defensive line – Carey Bailey Linebackers – Patrick Bourgon Defensive backs – Greg Knox

Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Bob Dyce

Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning coordinator – Nick Mercuri

→ Coaching staff

References

External links