We’ve been waiting more than six months to say this: welcome to Week 1!

The 2026 season starts Thursday and it’s great to be back. And with a brand-new campaign upon us, it’s time to have a little fun with some preseason predictions. We’ve got our choices for some of the major CFL individual awards we’ll see handed out in November.

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And if you want to see how accurate we are at these, look at how we fared last year when we went a stellar 0/4 with our predictions.

With nowhere to go but up, here’s what we’ve come up with for 2026.

MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER | NATHAN ROURKE | BC LIONS

It really felt like going with anyone other than Nathan Rourke would have been overthinking it. When you consider what he accomplished last season, his age, and his supporting cast, there’s a reason Rourke is the heavy betting favourite for a second straight MOP nod.

With the likes of Keon Hatcher Sr., James Butler, and Justin McInnis in the fold, Rourke has elite playmakers around him. And knowing how close the Lions came to advancing to the Grey Cup last year, there’s a ton of motivation for Rourke, too. Oh, and let’s not forget, Rourke had a slow start out of the gates and missed two games early last year and still racked up 5,290........

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