After 20 weeks of glorious Canadian Football League action and a month’s worth of speculation in this weekly feature, the nine CFL teams have officially named their major award nominees. While some markets — interestingly including Montreal — had tough decisions to make about the nomination process, many of the names that you see below have been confirmed by their stellar play for quite some time.
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The process to get nominated as a team’s Most Outstanding Player is not one to be taken lightly. While only one will win the trophy in Vancouver a month from now the reality is making it from high school to college is tough. College to the pros is even tougher, and being named the best player on your team full of professionals puts all nine of these names into elite status amongst CFL circles.
Let’s dive in on the MOP conversation and see who has the most compelling argument for 2024 Most Outstanding Player.
9. REGGIE BEGELTON | RECEIVER | CALGARY STAMPEDERS
I couldn’t respect Reggie Begelton’s consistency and professional approach any more. He has a crazy catch streak going and always seems to show up when the Calgary offence needs him the most, regardless of quarterback involved. He has a knack for turning an average play into a great one as we saw when he dragged half a dozen Argos’ defenders for 15 yards in Toronto earlier this season. The reality is amongst a packed West division and the current voting structure, Begelton won’t be near the top but he deserves this from the Calgary organization.
8. EUGENE LEWIS | RECEIVER | EDMONTON ELKS
Lewis will look to add to his eight-game touchdown streak this week in the Elks’ final game (Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca)
Similar to Begelton, Eugene Lewis never seems to falter in producing the jaw-dropping play. The challenge in Edmonton since his arrival has obviously been quarterback consistency in play or via injury. I really thought Lewis would return to league leader heights when McLeod Bethel-Thompson arrived. Despite that not coming to fruition, he finished on a heater of touchdowns and is primed to have a big 2025 after the Elks missed the playoffs again.
7. KA’DEEM CAREY | RUNNING BACK | TORONTO ARGONAUTS
Carey produced at a consistently high level in 2024, earning the Argos’ Outstanding Player nomination (Andrew Lahodynskyj/CFL.ca)
Carey had an awesome season buoyed by a run-dominant Argos offensive line. He broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark and sits third in the CFL heading into the final week, but he didn’t lead the CFL in any rushing category. With most running back love going to Brady Oliveira, this nomination was destined to fall flat of the ultimate prize as soon as it was announced, but his effort in season one with the Double Blue has rightfully been commended.
6. JUSTIN HARDY | OTTAWA REDBLACKS | RECEIVER
BROWN TO HARDY IN THE FINAL MINUTES 🫣#CFLGameDay
📺: @ctv
📷: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/7n6b1EGz8J— CFL (@CFL) October 19, 2024
Sitting for the final game of the regular season against Hamilton means Justin Hardy will fall three catches shy of the 100-grab mark. That may be disappointing for him on a personal level but the ultimate recognition has been applied with this team nomination. Quarterback play in Ottawa has been up and down, but Hardy has been the gift that just keeps on giving. He always seems to be open and led the CFL with eight games of 100-yards or more this season, while racking up 1,343 total. That’s pretty special.
5. JUSTIN MCINNIS | BC LIONS | RECEIVER
McInnis has put a career year together, staying steady in an up-and-down season in BC (BCLions.com)
Unless Tim White plans on going off for several hundreds of yards in Ottawa, Justin McInnis will be the first Canadian receiver to lead the CFL in receiving yards since Andy Fantuz. McInnis was hottest out of the gate and since QB Nathan Rourke joined the Lions’ den it’s been an up-and-down last couple of months. McInnis’ CFL-leading 137 targets and all those yards alongside the team nomination makes him my top receiver in this list that’s full of them.
4. ROLAN MILLIGAN JR. | SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS | DEFENSIVE BACK
Milligan picked up three team nominations this week and hopes to be just the second defensive player to ever be named MOP (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)
If receivers own the bottom half of this list, then defence and debate owns the top half. Milligan leads the CFL in interceptions with eight, and special teams tackles with 20. He essentially swept the Riders’ team award nominations and that alone is a special feat. Winning the big one would be grand, but I don’t believe Milligan can overcome Brady Oliveira AND the East nominee, be it Bo Levi Mitchell or Tyrice Beverette.
3. TYRICE BEVERETTE | MONTREAL ALOUETTES | LINEBACKER
Beverette has been the heat-and-soul of a ferocious Alouettes defence this year (Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.ca)
Rolan Milligan Jr. has more interceptions and special teams tackles, but total defensive plays and stat stuffing from all angles gives Beverette the advantage in a theoretical defensive 1-on-1 matchup here. Many quarterbacks I’ve spoken to this season say Beverette on film is the best defender in the CFL at any position. His close proximity to the football at linebacker has allowed for more plays made compared to Milligan, who primarily roams the back end.
The question here now that we know Beverette has Montreal’s nomination over Darnell Sankey and Cody Fajardo becomes whether or not his team defence and personal resume are able to sway Eastern voters over the singular stats of Hamilton’s league leading passer.
2. BRADY OLIVEIRA | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS | RUNNING BACK
He leads the CFL in rushing over William Stanback by 143 yards; he’s been the motor of the Bombers’ second half revival and is ready to impress over the coming weeks as voting is taking place. Oddly, the best thing for Brady Oliveira‘s MOP chances in 2024 might be seeing Saskatchewan win the West so he could run all over BC in the Western Semi-Final and punctuate his season-long efforts.
1. BO LEVI MITCHELL | HAMILTON TIGER-CATS | QUARTERBACK
This is not an award that should be quarterback exclusive, and an MOP not making the playoffs would certainly be something but Bo Levi Mitchell leads the CFL in passing yards by 1,021 yards and passing touchdowns by seven. He had nine games of 300-yards or more. In 2022 CFL MOP Zach Collaros had three while throwing for 843 fewer yards. In 2023 Chad Kelly won MOP with eight fewer touchdowns, 903 fewer yards and five fewer 300-yard games.
It’s time for voters to decide if they’re picking the most outstanding performance by a quarterback in years, or making wins a quarterback stat that ignores all the other variables which prevented Hamilton from entering the post-season.