The

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

was the 59th season for the team in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

and their 144th season overall. The Argonauts finished in 4th place in the East Division with a 5–13 record and missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. It also marks the 2nd straight year the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

hosts have failed to make the playoffs after the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

last season. After the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

defeated the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

in overtime in week 18 on October 21, 2016, the Argonauts were eliminated from the playoffs while they were playing in the second quarter against the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

. This was the team's fifth season under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Scott Milanovich Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the ...

, and the sixth under

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Jim Barker James Barker (born August 25, 1956) is a senior advisor for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Barker has been the general manager of the Calgary Stampeders from 2005-07, and the Argonauts from 2011-2016. He was also th ...

. It was announced in January 2017 that Jim Barker would be relieved of his duties as general manager after a disappointing

2016 CFL season The 2016 CFL season was the 63rd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 59th Canadian Football League season. Toronto hosted the 104th Grey Cup on November 27. The regular season began on June 23 and ended on November 5. ...

which saw the Argonauts win a league low 5 games that season, tied with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

for league worst that season. Shortly after Jim Barker's termination, Scott Milanovich resigned from his duties as the Argonauts' head coach to work as an assistant coach with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

. This was the first season for the Argonauts at their new home stadium,

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former Exhibit ...

, as renovations now allow

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

to be played there. The team had averaged 16,380 in fan attendance and had a season high 24,812 fans attend the home opener. The club also had a new ownership group, with

Larry Tanenbaum Lawrence M. Tanenbaum (born 1945) is a Canadian businessman and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). He owns a 25% stake in MLSE through his holding company Kilmer Sports Inc. Early life Tanenbaum was born to a Jewish family, ...

and

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

officially taking ownership on January 1, 2016.

Offseason

CFL draft

The

2016 CFL Draft The 2016 CFL Draft took place on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7:00 PM ET on TSN2 and RDS2. 70 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. The draft wa ...

took place on May 10, 2016. The Argonauts had nine selections in the eight-round draft after trading

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low ...

for another fourth-round pick.

Preseason

2016 Schedule
/ref> : Games played with colour uniforms.

Regular season

Standings

Schedule

: Games played with colour uniforms. : Games played with white uniforms.

Team

The team was led at quarterback by

Ricky Ray Ricky Ray (born October 22, 1979) is an American former professional Canadian football quarterback. Ray spent the majority of his professional career with the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He also ...

, who had three statistically brilliant seasons between 2012 and 2014, earning eastern Most Outstanding Player nominations in the latter two years. Ray battled injuries in each of his five seasons as an Argonaut and has not played an entire 18 game season since his last season in Edmonton. Following the departure of

Trevor Harris Trevor Harris (born May 31, 1986) is an the United States, American professional Canadian football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free ...

to the

Ottawa RedBlacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

in early 2016, the backup QB situation was a bit of a revolving door; with Logan Kilgore,

Dan LeFevour Daniel Terrence LeFevour (born March 19, 1987) is a former Canadian football quarterback. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and spent time with three other NFL teams (without appearing in a re ...

Cody Fajardo Cody Michael Fajardo () (born March 29, 1992) is an American professional Canadian football quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Nevada and was their starting quarterback fro ...

, and

Drew Willy Drew Willy (born November 13, 1986) is a former American professional Canadian football quarterback. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Buffalo. Willy has also been a member o ...

all taking snaps under centre. The receiving corps remained largely unchanged from the previous season with

Tori Gurley Tori Gurley (born Norristorius Gurley on November 22, 1987) is a gridiron football player who is currently a free agent, having most recently been a member of the Ottawa Redblacks organization, of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played c ...

, Kevin Elliott, and

Vidal Hazelton Vidal Hazelton (born January 29, 1988) is a former Gridiron football wide receiver. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played college football at Cincinnati Bearcats football, Cincinnati. He formerly pl ...

(The Big Three) returning after posting productive seasons in 2015, also returning to the receiving group were

Diontae Spencer Diontae Spencer (born March 19, 1992) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). Born in New Iberia, Louisiana, he played college football with the McNeese State Cowb ...

and

Kenny Shaw Kenny Shaw (born January 15, 1992) is a professional Canadian football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles. He has also been a member of the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Ja ...

. On October 3, 2016, the team announced they had released Gurley, Elliott, and Hazelton, along with

Phil Bates Philip Bates (born 30 March 1953) is an English musician who has been a member of many notable bands, including Trickster and Quill, and was the lead guitarist, songwriter and joint lead vocalist for ELO Part II from 1993 through to 1999 and the ...

. The move was considered a shock by most, but post-game comments by

in Montreal on October 2, 2016 following a loss to the Als revealed the move which was about to take place was about more than just on-field issues. "We've got some good football players here that I'm not sure are real committed to what we need to have take place, and it's little things; being late, not showing up prepared, screwing around and that's where we're at right now, it's not going to stay that way." Running back

Brandon Whitaker Brandon Marcel Whitaker (born September 7, 1985) is a professional Canadian football running back who is currently a free agent, having most recently played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed as an undra ...

was leaned on heavily and was having a productive season. He finished second in the league in rushing yards with 1009 on 186 carries, which was his second career 1000-yard rushing season, earning him a third consecutive Eastern All-Star award. On the defensive side of the ball, following last season's departure of star defensive linemen Cleyon Laing and

Tristan Okpalaugo Tristan Okpalaugo (born October 10, 1989) is an American football outside linebacker who is currently a free agent. He signed with the Miami Dolphins as undrafted free agent in 2013. He played college football at Fresno State. Early years He att ...

to the NFL's

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

respectively, the Argos were able to secure the services of Justin Hickman and

Bryan Hall Bryan Hall may refer to: * Bryan Hall (sportscaster) (born 1934), Canadian radio presenter * Bryan Hall (gridiron football) (born 1988), American football linebacker * Bryan Hall (Gainesville, Florida), a historic building in Gainesville, Florida, ...

from the

, as well as trade OL Matt Sewell and QB

Mitchell Gale Mitchell Gale (born January 7, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Abilene Christian University and attended Alva High School in Alva, Oklahoma. Gale has been a member of the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilto ...

to the

for DE Shawn Lemon and a conditional 2018 draft pick. Lemon seemed to fit into Defensive Coordinator Rich Stubler's system well, as he finished with 14 sacks (career high) in 16 games and earned his first East Division All-Star nomination.

Roster

Coaching staff

References

{{2016 CFL season by team Toronto Argonauts seasons 2016 Canadian Football League season by team