The 2019 Hamilton Tiger-Cats season was the 62nd 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 ...

and their 70th overall. It was the 150th year overall in the combined history of the Tiger-Cats and its predecessors the Wildcats and

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

; the team held

sesquicentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

celebrations throughout the season. The Tiger-Cats improved upon their 8–10 record from 2018 and finished the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

regular season with a franchise best 15–3 record. They finished in first place for the first time since

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and attempted unsuccessfully to win their 9th

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 ...

championship. This is the first season under co-general managers Drew Allemang and Shawn Burke, and the first full 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 Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

Orlondo Steinauer Orlondo Steinauer (born June 9, 1973) is the president of football operations and head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). As a player, he played professional Canadian football as a safety for 13 seasons with ...

. It was announced on December 3, 2018 that Steinauer would take the reins as the Tiger-Cats' head coach, replacing

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...

in that capacity. The plan was for Jones to remain with the team as an associate head coach and offensive coordinator, but he resigned with the club and joined the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL as head coach. On October 19, 2019, the Tiger-Cats 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). Starting ...

and recorded a franchise-record 13th win in a season. The team finished the season with 15 wins and with a

perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection, completeness, excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film * Perfect (1985 film), ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * Perfect (2018 f ...

home record for the first time since the CFL went to an 18-game schedule, winning all nine home games. Despite their success during the regular season, they lost to 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 their h ...

, a team that had a dominant performance during the 107th Grey Cup game. With the Blue Bombers ending a 29-year Grey Cup drought, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats now hold the longest active Grey Cup drought dating back to the 1999 season, having won the 87th Grey Cup that season.

Offseason

Foreign drafts

For the first time in its history, the CFL held drafts for foreign players from

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. Like all other CFL teams, the Tiger-Cats held three non-tradeable selections in the

2019 CFL–LFA Draft The 2019 CFL–LFA Draft took place on January 14, 2019. 27 players were chosen from an invited pool of 51 Mexican players: 34 from the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) (a professional American football league) and 17 seniors from Mexic ...

, which took place on January 14, 2019. The

2019 European CFL Draft The 2019 CFL European Draft took place on April 11, 2019. Nine players were chosen from a pool of 18 European players who attended the 2019 CFL Combine. Background In October 2018, Canadian Football League (CFL) commissioner Randy Ambrosie outlin ...

took place on April 11, 2019 where all teams held one non-tradeable pick.

CFL draft

The

2019 CFL Draft The 2019 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2019 at 8:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 73 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian universities, as well as Canadian players playing in the United States on NCAA or ...

took place on May 2, 2019. The Tiger-Cats held eight selections in the eight-round draft, including three picks within the first 11 overall selections after trading Ryan Bomben and Jamal Robinson to 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 ...

.Ticats acquire first overall pick in major trade with Als
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Preseason

Schedule

2019 Schedule
/ref>CFL on TSN broadcast schedule
/ref>

Regular season

Season standings

Season schedule

To accommodate for the viewership of the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Atlantic Division (NBA) ...

' 9pm EDT NBA Finals Game 6 start time on June 13, the CFL moved up the start time of the league opener that same day from 7:30pm to 7:00pm. CFL schedule through October 2019
/ref>

Post-season

Schedule

Team

Roster

Coaching staff

References

{{Hamilton Tiger-Cats seasons Hamilton Tiger-Cats seasons 2019 in Ontario 2019 Canadian Football League season by team