The

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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

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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

was the 59th season for the team in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

and their 144th season overall. The Argonauts finished in fourth 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 second straight year the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () 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 between the winners ...

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 (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

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 (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

defeated the

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

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 (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

. This was the team's fifth season under

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Scott Milanovich Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also the head coach of the Toront ...

, 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. 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 ...

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 19 ...

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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

. 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. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...

, as renovations now allow

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

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, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

officially taking ownership on January 1, 2016.

Offseason

CFL draft

The 2016 CFL Draft 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 filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' horror series, beginning with the short movie '' Within the Woods'' (1978). He has also f ...

for another fourth-round pick.

Preseason

: 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 football player who was a quarterback. Ray spent the majority of his professional career with the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) ...

, 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 to the

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

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

Cody Fajardo Cody Michael Fajardo (born March 29, 1992) is an American professional football quarterback for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Early life Fajardo was born in Brea, California. He played high school football for Servit ...

, and Drew Willy all taking snaps under centre. The receiving corps remained largely unchanged from the previous season with Tori Gurley,

Kevin Elliott Kevin Elliott (born December 21, 1988) is a former gridiron football wide receiver. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2012 and was also a member of the Buffalo Bills, Brooklyn Bolts ( FXFL), Toronto Argonauts ...

, and

Vidal Hazelton Vidal Hazelton (born January 29, 1988) is an American former professional football wide receiver. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played college football for the USC Trojans and the Cincinnati Bearca ...

(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 professional football wide receiver and return specialist. Born in New Iberia, Louisiana, he played college football with the McNeese State Cowboys, where his highest one-game total had been 3 ...

and Kenny Shaw. 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 t ...

. 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 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 to the NFL's

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

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) NFC West, West division. The ...

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

, as well as trade OL Matt Sewell and QB

Mitchell Gale Mitchell Gale (born January 7, 1990) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Abilene Christian University. He was a member of the Toronto Argonauts, H ...

to the

for DE

Shawn Lemon Shawn Lemon (born August 25, 1988) is an American professional gridiron football, football defensive lineman. He played college football at Akron Zips football, Akron. He has been a member of eight Canadian Football League (CFL) teams (BC Lions, ...

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

2016 in sports in Ontario