Major changes are expected in the CFL offseason

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Remaining details on the Calgary Stampeders during the 2024 CFL season.

That was the consensus among those Stampeders who were brought in to give weekend interviews with the media on Sunday.

That’s why the upcoming offseason roster will have a lot of attention to detail — on all fronts, including both the players and the coaching staff.

Changes are indeed coming.

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“Yeah … I definitely think as an organization you do your best to win — and we didn’t,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said. “So we are ready to improve. And there are some areas that I have definitely targeted.

“We’re going to have to fix it up a little bit. I’m sure we can do it.”

That could start with Dickenson himself, depending on conversations with president Jay McNeil and special adviser John Hufnagel.

Will the CFL veteran return is the first question on the agenda.

And if so, will he return to the dual role of GM and head coach he’s held the past two years?

The wily old QB says he’s ready to work on the Red and White’s future.

“I have a plan,” Dickenson, 51, said. “I expect it to work and we’ll just have to see how it goes as we move forward.” Like I’m pretty sure I have an idea of ​​what this team lost on. And for myself, I think there are some things we as an organization need to do better.

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“I’ll probably get more answers here in a few days.”

Good, because there weren’t enough answers during the 2024 5-12-1 fiasco.

The questions only mount as the losses — including eight in the last 10 games — mount.

The faces of each unit — offensive captain Reggie Begelton, defensive standout Cam Judge and kicking legend Rene Paredes — feel like they know what went wrong.

“This year has been a testament to the detail and the professionalism — just everyone looking at themselves and asking themselves how much they love the game,” Begelton said. “And it’s about putting in the extra work and not wanting to let your teammates down. So you do the right thing every time—just be the best version of yourself. If you are committed to being the best version of yourself, I promise many good things will happen.

“We have a lot of young guys who haven’t had that kind of guidance,” Begelton continued. “Ignorance is bliss and it comes with experience and hopefully you know a lot of them have a year under their belt. So it’s one of those things where you say, ‘You’re going to take it to the next level — do you really want to win?’ Or are you here for the check?” So it’s a character-building year and we’ll see who really worked in the offseason in the spring.”

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Here’s who actually pays attention to — and respects — the details of their football duties.

“It was the details,” agreed star midfielder Judge. “I think sometimes we got away from the details, especially in important moments of the game when you want to be on top. Sometimes guys maybe even try to do too much and play well.

“So I feel it wasn’t just a lot of glaring issues,” the judge continued. “Honestly, I felt like no matter what happened, all the little things added up. Maybe you’re adding them together, that’s a glaring problem. So we definitely need to tweak the details more from game to game.

“We’d play a good game and then the last half of the fourth quarter — maybe even the whole fourth quarter — like we don’t know how to play football. So it’s tough because you know we can do it and we did it that same night.”

After such a sloppy season, no one is exempt from the offseason.

The process began on Sunday with exit interviews, medical examinations and paperwork. Then, after Monday’s team party, every player and coach goes home knowing that if they come back, the 2025 Stampeders will look very different in the spring.

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It should be after the year that wasn’t.

“We’re going to start with our individual meetings,” Dickenson said. “We’ll see how it fits. But…yeah…everyone should be better.

“I expect there’s going to be some changes to the team and the way we do things,” the GM/head coach continued. “I mean… you have to get your options first. You know…CFL free agency doesn’t start until mid-February. So you can make all these plans to do this and that, but you might not be able to do it. You are at the mercy of what is available. But we’ll get started and cover everything from personnel to scouting, communication, coaching and positional meetings to strength, conditioning and training.

“We need to take a big breath and then you look at it and try to find the right balance.”

And hopefully come back with a better feel in 2025 to lead the Stampeders back toward their highs of the last 20 CFL seasons.

“As a player who’s been here for a long, long time and loves the city and loves this organization, we’ve been giving up for the last five years – I’ll be honest,” added Parades, who has confirmed he will return to the team – aged 40 — in 2025. “You know… we haven’t won a playoff game since 2018. You know… we haven’t had a home playoff game since ’18. And last year we barely made it to the playoffs. And this year we didn’t do it. So it’s hard for me to say, but we were declining as an organization.

“Things have to change.”

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X: @ToddSaelhofPM

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