The 2021 Hamilton Tiger-Cats season was the 63rd 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 71st overall. The Tiger-Cats qualified for the playoffs for the third consecutive year following their week 14 win over the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

on November 5, 2021. The team defeated the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

and

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 ...

in the playoffs to qualify for their 22nd

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 ...

game appearance. In a rematch of the previous season's game against 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 ...

, the Tiger-Cats lost to the Blue Bombers 33–25 in overtime in the

108th Grey Cup The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The ...

game. The 2021 season was the second season under co-general managers Drew Allemang and Shawn Burke and the second 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 ...

Orlondo Steinauer. An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule. On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021.

Offseason

CFL Global Draft

The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021. With the format being a snake draft, the Tiger-Cats selected eighth in the odd-numbered rounds and second in the even-numbered rounds.

CFL National Draft

The

2021 CFL Draft The 2021 CFL National Draft was a selection of National players by Canadian Football League teams that took place at May 4, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 54 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadia ...

took place on May 4, 2021. The Tiger-Cats had the most selections in the six-round draft with seven picks after acquiring another first-round pick (ninth overall) from the

as part of the

Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a mem ...

trade. The team had the first pick in odd rounds and the ninth pick in even rounds.

Preseason

Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021.

Planned schedule

Regular season

Season standings

Season schedule

The Tiger-Cats initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 10 and ending on October 29. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

, the

delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Tiger-Cats began their 14-game season on August 5, 2021.

Post-season

Schedule

Team

Roster

Coaching staff

References

{{Hamilton Tiger-Cats seasons Hamilton Tiger-Cats seasons 2021 in Ontario 2021 Canadian Football League season by team