CALGARY — Vernon Adams Jr. is the Calgary Stampeders’ most outstanding player for 2026, headlining the six team award winners the club announced Thursday.
The winners were picked by local voting members of the Football Reporters of Canada, with one vote also cast by the Stampeders’ coaching staff.
Adams Jr. started all 17 games he played this season and threw for 4,533 yards with a league-leading 36 touchdown passes against six interceptions, adding 381 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. His 36 touchdown passes tie Dave Dickenson for the sixth-highest single-season total in franchise history, and in Week 8 he set a CFL record by reaching 18 touchdown passes on the year before throwing his first interception.
Clarence Hicks took the defensive award after starting all 18 games at defensive end. Hicks finished with a league-leading 12 sacks, 24 tackles and two forced fumbles, and Pro Football Focus credited him with 96 quarterback pressures — 21 more than any other player in the league.
Tyreik McAllister is the special teams winner in his first season in Calgary. He piled up 2,901 combined yards and scored three return touchdowns, tied for the league lead, and in Week 8 he became the first player in CFL history to score a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same game, all of them in the first half.
Christy Nkanu is the club’s top offensive lineman. The 2024 first-round pick started all 18 games at right guard and has yet to miss a game in his career, blocking for an offence that averaged 5.7 yards per carry, second-best in the league.
Jalen Philpot is the most outstanding Canadian after the first 1,000-yard season of his career. He led the team with 91 catches, 1,241 receiving yards and eight touchdowns, starting all 18 games.
Jesulayomi Ojutalayo is the rookie of the year on the strength of his special-teams work. His 26 special-teams tackles lead the league by four and tie him for fifth in the club’s record books for a single season.
Next on the league’s awards calendar, the Stampeders said, are the 2026 West Division All-CFL Team and the 2026 CFL All-Star Team.