Brady Oliveira loves playing for Winnipeg Blue Bombers but wants 'best situation' as pending CFL free agent

Canadian running back Brady Oliveira is arguably the top pending free agent in the CFL and though he’d like to return to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it’s clear he wants to maximize the value of his next contract while chasing another championship ring.

“I think everyone knows the last number of years here have been amazing. Playing for my hometown, it’s been incredible. I have nothing but good things to say about my time here and would I love to be back? Absolutely, but I think I owe it to myself to sit down with my agent and to talk to my family and kind of see what the best scenario and situation is for me,” Oliveira told the media in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

“I know what I can bring. I know I’m a calibre of player that can help a team win a championship, so I want to put myself in the best situation to win a championship. This is why I play this game — I don’t play for awards, any of that stuff. I play to win a Grey Cup, so I’m going to put myself in the best situation.”

Oliveira might not play for personal accolades but he’s won a bunch of them. He’s one of fewer than two-dozen players ever to win multiple Most Outstanding Canadian awards and only four Canadians ever to be named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, though Nathan Rourke will likely be added to both lists later this month.

The bruising ball-carrier is already the CFL’s eighth-leading Canadian rusher, according to statistician Jeff Krever, and needs only 1,365 more yards to move into third behind just Andrew Harris (10,380) and Normie Kwong (9,022). Oliveira also needs only one more 1,000-yard season to tie Harris for the Canadian record of five.

“He’s arguably the best tailback in the league,” said head coach Mike O’Shea on Monday. “We love his style, we love the way he plays, hometown kid — not that that even matters. He’s just really, really good, so (re-signing Oliveira) would obviously be a priority.”

The 28-year-old won’t repeat as the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player this year but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a great season. He rushed for 1,163 yards and three touchdowns to lead the league at 5.8 yards per carry (min. 50 attempts) and caught 61 passes for 546 yards, marking new career-highs as a receiver.

With that said, Oliveira had a quiet performance in the East Semi-Final, managing only 39 yards from scrimmage on 10 touches. His opportunities were limited given how poorly the team started, falling behind 25-3 before halftime, though he committed a key error in the fourth quarter with his team trailing 32-30. Oliveira lost a fumble deep in Winnipeg territory, which the Alouettes recovered and turned into a touchdown four plays later.

“I understand that mistakes will happen throughout the course of the season — obviously, you want to limit those mistakes in pro football and that (fumble) was costly at a costly time in the game,” said Oliveira. “It was a great play that was made from that defensive lineman and I definitely will be thinking about that for a while.”

Oliveira declined to comment on the team’s offensive scheme this year, which was recently criticized by Zach Collaros. The veteran quarterback indicated that the offence repped plays during training camp that were never called during the regular season. He also suggested the offence didn’t master any concepts they could rely upon in key moments. O’Shea complimented offensive coordinator Jason Hogan’s work ethic, though he also wishes he’d provided the offence with more support.

The five-foot-ten, 229-pound ball-carrier has a special relationship with Hogan, given that he served as the team’s running backs coach for three season prior to becoming Winnipeg’s offensive coordinator. Oliveira has always spoken highly of Hogan, who he thanked no fewer than three times during his M.O.P. acceptance speech last year in Vancouver.

The two men had a long meeting during garbage bag day on Sunday, which Oliveira felt was productive.

“(This year) felt different for me. I didn’t get to spend as much time (with Hogan) as I’d liked. That guy had a lot going on and we all know he’s a rookie OC and there’s going to be growing pains throughout the season. He obviously had to manage a lot more now than just myself and the running backs — a very small room to a very large room now with the entire offence as a whole,” said Oliveira.

“We know this offence didn’t live up to our standards of being an explosive offence that wins a lot of football games. We all know that we didn’t do that, so we also had that conversation as well. The conversation I had with [Hogan] was a good one. It was some tough moments in there, but a lot of great moments as well. I still have a lot of respect for him and love for him and that will never change.”

When asked point blank if it was a mistake for Hogan to become the team’s offensive coordinator in 2025, Oliveira spoke in support of his coach.

“I don’t think it was a mistake,” he said. “I think he deserved an opportunity to showcase his abilities. The guy works extremely hard, he showed that the last number of seasons, so I think that’s why he was awarded that opportunity to be an offensive coordinator.”

The University of North Dakota product turned down massive contract offers from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and B.C. Lions the last time he was a free agent. He earned $240,000 in Winnipeg this year — almost $100,000 more than any other running back — but one could argue that he’s due a raise, especially with the CFL’s recent salary cap increase.

“I’ve still got a lot more tread on the tires. I’ve got a lot more in me. I look forward to attacking another offseason because I think I attack these offseasons better than anyone. I’m gonna have a whole new fire, I guess — I know there’s so much more that I can show. We’ll see what’s best for my future but I love it here. I truly do, it’s been amazing, but you don’t know how many years you get to play this game and when I look at my last two seasons under this contract, I think they got everything out of me,” said Oliveira.

“I think everyone knows that there were some big suitors out there when I did my deal a few years ago. This is where I wanted to be, but understanding that I don’t know how many more years I have to play this game — I still know I have some time — but we’ll see, so I think I owe it to myself to capitalize on that because I’ve earned that, I worked my butt off to put myself in that position to kind of get what I deserve.”

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Zach Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 13 regular-season games, going 6-7 as a starter.

The Blue Bombers ranked fifth in net offence, third in net defence, and eighth with a turnover differential of minus-eleven. The club’s leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, leading receiver was Nic Demski with 1,001 yards, and leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with average crowds of 32,343, which was a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year.

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