The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed American quarterback Jake Dolegala to a contract extension. He was a pending free agent.
The 29-year-old played 13 regular-season games with the Tiger-Cats in 2025, recording 22 carries for 50 yards and one touchdown.
The six-foot-seven, 242-pound native of Hamburg, N.Y. has thrown for 2,953 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions over 33 regular-season CFL games as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, B.C. Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Tiger-Cats.
Dolegala had stints with the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, and Miami Dolphins prior to coming north, spending the entire 2019 season on Cincinnati’s practice roster.
The Tiger-Cats have also signed American running back Larry Rountree III and American receiver Jesse Matthews.
Rountree III was a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers. He dressed for 16 regular-season NFL games, rushing 49 times for 106 yards, catching three passes for 13 yards, and scoring one touchdown.
The five-foot-ten, 210-pound native of Raleigh, N.C. has since spent time with the Houston Texans and Birmingham Stallions. He played collegiately at the University of Missouri where he rushed for 3,720 yards, caught 47 passes for 289 yards, and scored 40 touchdowns.
Matthews has had NFL stints with the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons, though he never saw regular-season action with either team. The six-foot, 180-pound native of San Diego, Calif. played five collegiate seasons at San Diego State University where he caught 174 passes for 2,109 yards and 15 touchdowns over 49 games.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats finished first in the East Division standings in 2025 with an 11-7 record, though the team lost the East Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Bo Levi Mitchell led the CFL with 5,296 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions after starting all 18 regular-season games, earning the East Division’s nomination for Most Outstanding Player.
The Tiger-Cats ranked third in net offence, eighth in net defence, and first with a turnover differential of plus-ten. The club’s leading rusher was Greg Bell with 1,038 yards, leading receiver was Kenny Lawler with 1,443 yards, and leading tackler was Stavros Katsantonis with 69 tackles. Hamilton ranked fourth in attendance with average crowds of 22,858, which was a 3.9 percent increase from the previous year.
