In January 2023, it was clear that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats felt that the 2023 season was an “All-In” season regarding building their roster to make a run for the 2023 Grey Cup. A huge part of the effort to build a championship roster was the Tiger-Cats’ urgent focus on obtaining Bo Levi Mitchell to lead their offence. Hamilton eventually signed Bo Levi Mitchell to a three-year contract that paid him $522,00 a season for three seasons.
During that 2023 season, Mitchell got injured multiple times and could only play in six games for Hamilton. During those games, he threw six touchdown passes and ten interceptions. Mitchell’s 67.5 QBR was the lowest of his career. Despite Mitchell’s struggle with injuries and poor play, the veteran CFL quarterback was angry about not getting a chance to be the Tiger-Cats starter during their East Semi-Final loss to the eventual 2023 Grey Cup champion Alouettes.
Because of Mitchell’s injuries and mediocre play, Hamilton restructured the quarterback’s contract during the 2024 off-season. The new contract reduced Mitchell’s base pay to $275,500 in 2024 but did include several incentive opportunities. Mitchell had a tremendous bounce-back season where he started all 18 games for Hamilton, threw for 5,451 yards, and 32 touchdowns. There were two blemishes on Mitchell’s 2024 performance. First, the Tiger-Cats failed to make the playoffs with a 7-11 record, and second, he threw the 3rd highest amount of interceptions for all starting quarterbacks in the CFL with 18 interceptions.
Recently, John Hodge at 3Down Nation published an article stating that Bo Levi Mitchell would like to return to Hamilton for the third year of his contract with the Tiger-Cats. One condition he said would be that he would like to once again restructure his contract. With Mitchell having a big season in 2024, a boost in pay could be reasonable, but this would result in the Tiger-Cats repeating a mistake in 2023, which is overpaying an aging quarterback who has struggled with injuries consistently for the last several seasons.
Realistically, a decision not to restructure Mitchell’s contract could lead to the quarterback choosing not to play him during the third year of his contract and potentially threatening to retire. For Hamilton, this would be a suitable time to make moves to free up money and build around the young quarterbacks on their roster. Instead of paying Mitchell more money, they could use that money to improve one of the worst defensive units in the 2024 season.
With this in mind, there are five reasons the Tiger-Cats should not agree to restructure Mitchell’s contract for the 2025 season.
Reason #1 – Mitchell has Failed to Play Up to Expectations Consistently
When Hamilton signed Mitchell as their quarterback, they expected him to play at a championship level. Instead, Mitchell could have performed at a better level in 2023. In 2024, he bounced back statistically, but the Tiger-Cats’ offence was loaded with weapons at wide receiver. Despite the improved performance, Mitchell could not put the Tiger-Cats in position to make the 2024 playoffs.
Reason #2 – Mitchell’s Track Record Shows that He is Injury-Prone
Recent CFL seasons show that Mitchell has struggled to stay healthy the last several seasons of his career. Those injury issues were the reason that he was available for the Tiger-Cats in the first place. In 2024, Mitchell avoided the injury bug, but betting on Mitchell staying healthy two seasons in a row is a gamble if the Tiger-Cats choose to use his 2024 performance as a basis for overpaying for an aging quarterback once again.
Reason #3 – Mitchell’s Success Does Not Equal Tiger-Cats Success
The Tiger-Cats front office could make a case that Mitchell’s 2024 performance was less about his ability to be a playmaker on offence and was just a result of playing well enough to accumulate gaudy stats. It makes sense for Mitchell’s 2024 season to be his best season recently because it is one of the only times he has played the entire season in the last several years. Evidence of this is his 18 interceptions because while he played better, he still made the wrong decision too often.
Reason #4 – Hamilton’s Roster Has a Wealth of Young Quarterback Talent
When looking at the Tiger-Cats quarterback room, it is easy to see that Mitchell is the outlier in the group. That quarterback room includes young CFL quarterback Taylor Powell, a rookie sensation in Mitchell’s absence during the 2023 season. Powell has the potential to be a successful quarterback in the CFL. Still, he needs an opportunity to grow, and a season after missing the playoffs is an excellent opportunity to build around a young quarterback with significant upside.
In addition to Powell, the Tiger-Cats also have Taulia Tagovailoa in their quarterback room. Last season, the Tiger-Cats signed the Big 10 conference standout, and it would make sense to give him an opportunity to prove whether or not he has what it takes to be a great quarterback in the CFL. Both Powell and Tagovailoa come at a lower price than Mitchell, and both quarterbacks have a much greater upside than Mitchell.
Reason #5 – Tiger-Cats Need to Focus on Improving their Defensive Unit
The primary reason that the Tiger-Cats failed to make the CFL playoffs during the 2024 season sits in the lap of the Tiger-Cats’ defensive unit. Hamilton’s 2024 defense allowed 6.78 yards/play in 2024, the third worst in the CFL. For Hamilton to have a legitimate chance to return to a championship level, they need to finish the job they started last season about re-building their defence with a specific focus on upgrading their defensive line and linebacking units.
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