2021 Hamilton Tiger-Cats season

The 2021 Hamilton Tiger-Cats season was the 63rd season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 71st overall. The Tiger-Cats qualified for the playoffs for the third consecutive year following their week 14 win over the BC Lions on November 5, 2021. The team defeated the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts in the playoffs to qualify for their 22nd Grey Cup game appearance. In a rematch of the previous season's game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Tiger-Cats lost to the Blue Bombers 33–25 in overtime in the 108th Grey Cup game.
The 2021 season was the second season under co-general managers Drew Allemang and Shawn Burke and the second season under head coach Orlondo Steinauer.
An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule. On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021.

Offseason

CFL Global Draft

The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021. With the format being a snake draft, the Tiger-Cats selected eighth in the odd-numbered rounds and second in the even-numbered rounds.

Round

Pick

Player

Position

University/Club Team

Nationality

Joel Whitford

Washington

CFL National Draft

The 2021 CFL draft took place on May 4, 2021. The Tiger-Cats had the most selections in the six-round draft with seven picks after acquiring another first-round pick from the Montreal Alouettes as part of the Johnny Manziel trade. The team had the first pick in odd rounds and the ninth pick in even rounds.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	University Team	Hometown
1	1	Jake Burt	TE	Boston College	Lynnfield, MA
1	9	Nick Cross	LB	British Columbia	Regina, SK
2	18	Deane Leonard	DB	Mississippi	Calgary, AB
3	19	Mohamed Diallo	DL	Central Michigan	Toronto, ON
4	36	Jarek Richards	LB	Saint Mary's	Montreal, QC
5	37	Felix Garand-Gauthier	FB	Laval	Mirabel, QC
6	54	Myles Manalo	LB	Western	Burlington, ON

Preseason

Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021.

Regular season

Season schedule

The Tiger-Cats initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 10 and ending on October 29. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the Canadian Football League delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Tiger-Cats began their 14-game season on August 5, 2021.