What changes are ahead for the Ottawa Redblacks?

Kalil Pimpleton is one of a small handful of Ottawa Redblacks who can take pride in their performance this season.

“It’s tough,” the diminutive return specialist/receiver said at the team’s season-ending locker cleanout day on Sunday. “I feel like I was doing a lot, and to come up short every week, it doesn’t feel like I was doing enough.”

In posting a league-leading and Redblacks team record 3,404 all-purpose yards, the 27-year-old Pimpleton also broke the CFL record (1,805) with 1,834 kick-return yards.

But with all the ball-handling, his 5-foot-8, 175-pound frame took a beating.

“I took some hits, man,” said Pimpleton, the Redblacks’ candidate for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player award. “I was probably tackled more than anybody … I probably carried the ball more than a lot of guys this year. But I could do a backflip right now if you want. No hands. I feel good, man. It was definitely a long season. I’m not the biggest body. But it’s through the grace of God, man, that I was able to sustain, as a returner and as a receiver, through all 18 games.”

As difficult as a full season’s physical toll was on most Redblacks, the mental toll was greater.

With Saturday’s season-ending 35-22 loss in Hamilton, Ottawa finished the 2026 campaign at 1-17, tying the 2003 Tiger-Cats for the worst mark in the CFL’s modern-day history.

“It was a tough season for everybody,” said receiver Ayden Eberhart, who had a career-best 92 catches for 1,166 yards and was voted the Redblacks’ Most Outstanding Player. “Players, coaches, upper management, fans. I don’t think you can say it much simpler than that, to be honest.”

New team president Mike Morreale will find a replacement for Shawn Burke, who was fired as VP of football operations in August, as well as bring in some of his own people for various positions in the organization.

A decision will have to be made on the future of Ryan Dinwiddie, who holds the titles of general manager, head coach and offensive co-ordinator, even though Burke and, after his departure, others on the football ops side took care of the GM duties.

Morreale and Dinwiddie had lunch before the Hamilton game to mostly catch up “on a personal level.”

“Right now he said he wants to evaluate everything, including myself, and that’s fair,” said Dinwiddie, who has two more years left on his contract. “You go 1-17, and everything should be evaluated. I plan on being here. I want to turn this thing around. I don’t want to be out of here and not have the opportunity to get one more shot at it.”

Asked how he would evaluate his own coaching performance, Dinwiddie said: “You’ve got to look at, can I call the games better, how did I manage the team, manage games … got a lot of self-reflection. We’ve got to focus on things we can correct to get better.

“I’ve been a co-ordinator and head coach for years, and I’ve been pretty darn good at it,” he also said. “So I believe in that. The GM title, if they kind of change that, it’s not going to change my workload at all. But I get that.”

Dinwiddie, whose team never did recover from what he called “tough opponents” during a five-game stretch near the start of the season, admitted the job he signed up for had its challenges.

“We looked at what we did last year (with a 4-14 record), and we tried to kind of put lipstick on a pig a little bit,” he said. “When you buy an older home, it’s an investment, but you’ve got to tear down the foundation and build it back up. You can’t just put some boards together and say this is a home that’s ready to live in. So we’ve got some work cut out for us.”

Dinwiddie said the coaching staff tried to address the culture and work ethic among the players.

“We went through like 141 players, so it’s a revolving door,” he said. “It’s tough when it’s almost like training camp with guys coming, guys going. I think we managed it decently. I think the guys never quit on each other. We never had a ton of in-house fighting. You’re always going to have some, even on really good teams. You’re going to have your moments where guys aren’t seeing things eye to eye.

“But yeah, I think you know we got to get more leaders in here. Obviously, we’ve got to get guys with some talent. But you know, like I told the team today in the meeting, it’s the little things, the details of the film room, therapy room, on the practice field …. those things that we’ve got to focus on that lead to having success on the field on game day.”

Dinwiddie conceded that the team “should have been a little bit less aggressive in free agency” last winter.

“We should have been more focused on getting some rookies in here, and scouting for some of those holes,” he said. “You can’t build a whole roster through free agency. I think that was one thing we learned the hard way from last year.

“It’s a little premature for me to answer how big of an overhaul is needed right now, but there’s going to be some changes. We got to evaluate everything. But there are a lot of good players in that locker room, too. There are some guys that did some really good things for us this year. We just got to get a few more of those guys in here.”

The quarterback situation has to be first and foremost. After a sparkling debut, rookie Bryson Barnes struggled in Hamilton, completing 13 of 26 passes for 163 yards and throwing two interceptions.

He’ll be back, but it’s uncertain what the future holds for veterans Jake Maier and McLeod Bethel-Thompson.

“We’ve got to see,” said Dinwiddie. “I mean, who knows what the free agent market is going to look like, right? We’ve got some guys on the negotiation list, some guys we’re scouting. Mike is going to hire someone who’s going to replace Shawn Burke, and once we sit down together and put a plan together, I’ll have a better answer for you.”

Improvements are greatly needed in the trenches, particularly the offensive line, as well as on defence,

“We struggled up front sometimes,” said Dinwiddie. “We’ve got to get a defensive co-ordinator in here that can give these guys some structure and opportunities to be successful. I think there are a lot of holes on defence we’ve got to fix. We had some young DBs who came in over the last month that I thought gave us a little bit of something there.

“But yeah, we always like to build the roster from inside out. We’ve got to protect the quarterback, and then defensively, if you have a great D-line, you’re going to make the quarterback uncomfortable, and that’s what leads to the interceptions for your DBs. Makes them a little bit better. They don’t have to be the best recovery guys when you’re getting pressure on the quarterback.”

Receiver Justin Hardy, for one.

He had his fourth straight 1,000 yard-season and, while 34 years old, doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Hardy admitted it was “definitely a challenging season.

“The fight was there; it has been there all year,” he said. “We just couldn’t get it done for so many games, so it was definitely frustrating in that sense.”

Asked if he was interested in returning, he said, “everybody has a fair chance” of signing him.

“I’m not saying no to anything,” he said. “I’ll just get with my agent, listen to everybody, and see where we go from there.”

American linebacker Nyles Morgan led the team in tackles and is the Redblacks’ nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and said “yes” when asked if he plans on being back in 2027.

“I think that there is going to be a lot of change coming up here pretty soon,” Morgan said. “I just give my all to wherever I am and certainly give it more than enough here. And, obviously, the guys I struggled with, I would love to see us win as well.”

Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier showed what he can do when healthy for an entire season, and re-signing him should be a priority as well.

“I’ve always said I love Ottawa,” said Cormier, a Sackville, N.B., native who, with 66 defensive tackles, was second on the team behind Morgan’s 89. “I love the city. It’s been a great adjustment coming from a small town to a big small town, which is really what Ottawa is. I love it here. I have no idea what tomorrow looks like for me, but yeah, I’m just moving forward and experiencing free agency as it comes my way, whether that’s in February or January or December. I’m grateful for the season that I was able to put together and the relationships I was able to build and grow, and I’m just going to kind of move forward as it comes.”