A new era began for the BC Lions as the club announced 2 big moves on Wednesday. The Lions fired Head Coach and Co-General Manager Rick Campbell as well as promoted Ryan Rigmaiden to General Manager. Neil McEvoy will now serve as President of Football Operations after having been a Co-GM for the Lions over the last 4 years.
“We thank Rick Campbell for playing a major role in bringing our franchise back to respectability and contention while navigating us through some very tough waters upon his arrival. He’s a great coach and a great friend,” stated President Duane Vienneau. “We’re proud to have Neil and Ryan in their new roles with the preparation for 2025 already underway. Our goal remains the same: to be in Grey Cup contention every year.”
Rick Campbell was hired as the BC Lions head coach ahead of the 2020 season which was canceled. 2021 saw BC finish 5-9 and miss the playoffs. A step in the right direction from the 5-13 record the Lions had in 2019. Both the 2022 and 2023 seasons saw the club finish 12-6 in the regular season, wand in the Western Semi-Final at home, before losing the Western Final on the road in Winnipeg.
2024 saw the Lions finish 9-9 before losing 19-28 on the road to Saskatchewan in the Western Semi-Final. Expectations were high for the Lions in 2024 which saw them host the Grey Cup. Lions’ owner Amar Doman was supplying resources as he allowed the team to go over the salary cap making big signings such as bringing back quarterback Nathan Rourke following Vernon Adams Jr.’s midseason injury and bringing back DE Mathieu Betts following his stint with the Detroit Lions.
“Our owner has given us all the tools we need to build this football team, I just don’t feel like we performed this year like we’ve performed in the last couple of years and sometimes you have to make a change to get to that next level.” BC Lions President Duane Vienneu stated at Wednesday’s Media Conference.
Despite the disappointing season for Campbell in BC this past year, he already has some interest from the Edmonton Elks who have been given permission to interview him per Farhan Lalji.
The Lions made another big revelation as they revealed that they planned to look for an avenue to trade quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. who was the team’s starter to begin the 2024 season.
“We’re going to start making those phone calls literally tonight and we’ll gauge that market.” stated General Manager Ryan Rigmaiden “He’s a tremendous quarterback. You guys know what kind of leader and what kind of personality he is. Anybody that isn’t firm on quarterback, I think is going to want to at least have a conversation.”
VA had a terrific start to the season after he amassed 2,395 yards and 14 touchdowns with 5 interceptions over the first 7 games which had him on pace for the third most passing yards in a CFL season. Unfortunately, his 8th game was a rough performance which ended in him suffering an injury in a loss in Winnipeg. Adams started again in the Lions’ final regular season game against Montreal and went 26 of 36 for 385 yards and 2 touchdowns with 2 interceptions. The playoff loss saw Adams Jr. complete 20 of his 33 passes for 317 yards for 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
While VA is a high-level quarterback, BC might find it difficult to get significant value for him in a trade. 2024 was a year in which the depth of talent at the quarterback position in the CFL was on full display with the emergence of Davis Alexander in Montreal to Nick Arbuckle winning the Grey Cup MVP for Toronto. There are a lot of quarterbacks currently set to hit free agency this offseason who have played at high levels. With there potentially being many different options at quarterback for other teams it could be unlikely for a trade partner to want to send significant capital to BC knowing that the Lions need to get rid of Vernon Adams Jr. for salary reasons. He signed a hefty contract extension through 2026 with BC just last offseason.
Ryan Rigmaide became the 17th General Manager in the club’s history after spending the last 3 seasons as Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel. He first worked for the Lions from 2013 to 2017, and then he worked for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 2018 to 2020 as Director of College Scouting. Prior to working in the CFL, Rigmaiden worked in the Arena Football League with the Spokane Shock beginning in 2006 and rose to General Manager in 2010.
@JonathanClink on X
