Photo: Toronto Argonauts
It didn’t take long for Max Duggan to find a new home in the Canadian Football League as he has signed with the Ottawa Redblacks.
The move appeared on the league’s transactions wire on Monday and has since been confirmed by a source to 3DownNation.
The 25-year-old passer was cut by the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday. He originally joined the team’s practice roster last summer and later dressed for three regular-season games, completing 13-of-17 pass attempts for 109 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed six times for 46 yards.
Toronto’s head coach at the time was Ryan Dinwiddie, who is now the head coach and general manager of the Redblacks.
Duggan was a seventh-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers. He spent one season with the team but didn’t take any regular-season offensive snaps, spending most of his rookie year on the practice roster. He was released by the Chargers near the end of training camp in 2024.
The six-foot-two, 207-pound passer played collegiately at Texas Christian University, where he threw for 9,618 yards, 73 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions over 47 games. He went 25-18 as a starter and rushed for 1,856 yards and 28 scores.
Duggan had his best season in 2022 when he completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 3,698 yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He also ran for 423 yards and nine scores, leading the Horned Frogs to a 12-2 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
That year, he finished second behind Caleb Williams in voting for the Heisman Trophy but earned several other accolades, including the Davey O’Brien Award, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. He was also named the Big 12 Athlete of the Year, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Big 12, and a second-team All-American.
The native of Council Bluffs, Ia. played for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the UFL in 2025, completing 57.3 percent of his passes for 696 yards, four touchdowns, and four interceptions. He also ran for 300 yards and five scores, going 5-0 as a starter.
Duggan recorded a 4.52-second forty-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Combine along with a 4.45-second shuttle, 7.26-second three-cone, 30.5-inch vertical jump, and nine-foot, eight-inch broad jump.
According to the transactions wire, the Redblacks released quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams in a corresponding move.
The Ottawa Redblacks opened training camp on May 10. The team will play its two preseason games against the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, May 22 and Friday, May 29. Final roster cuts are due on Saturday, May 30, after which the team will play its first regular-season game against the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, June 6.
Ottawa recently selected Purdue offensive lineman Giordano Vaccaro with their first-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft and it appears he could be a day-one starter. The team’s other major offseason additions include quarterback Jake Maier, running back Greg Bell, linebacker A.J. Allen, and strong-side linebacker C.J. Reavis.
In 2025, the Redblacks finished fourth in the East Division standings with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Ryan Dinwiddie was hired as the team’s head coach and general manager after the firing of Bob Dyce.
