Brady Oliveira

Brady Oliveira (born August 15, 1997) is a Canadian professional football running back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). After finishing his college career among the University of North Dakota's all-time leading rushers, he was drafted with the 14th overall pick in the 2019 CFL draft, making him the first overall running back selected. He is a two-time Grey Cup champion after winning with the Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021. He was also named to the All-CFL team in 2023 and 2024 and also won the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award in both of those years while being named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2024.

Early life As a youth, Brady initially played soccer due to his father playing the sport but his skills transferred to football. The coach for the North Winnipeg Nomads asked his mother if he could play football as they had an injured player and she allowed the request. In his 370-yard game against Sturgeon High School, he broke the WHSFL record for single-game touchdowns with six.

He was named 2012 WHSFL Rookie of the Year as a sophomore in 2012.

Oliveira spent the 2013 season at the Canada Prep Academy in Ontario.

College career Oliveira finished his career at UND as the program's 7th all-time leading rusher with 2,822 yards (5.6 yards per carry average).

He earned All-Big-Sky Conference honors in 2016 and 2017. UND competed as an FCS independent school in 2018 with no All-Conference teams applicable. He was named to the 2016 Hero Sports Sophomore All-American team after posting 897 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Oliveira was among 169 nominees for the Allstate Good Works Team recognizing "distinguished accomplishments off the field."

He was invited to and participated in the 2019 College Gridiron Showcase college football all-star event in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oliveira was named one of five finalists for the second annual Jon Cornish Trophy given to the most outstanding Canadian player in collegiate football. Oliveira was named the Red Jarrett Male Athlete of the Year at the 2019 UND Night of Champions as the school's top male athlete.

Professional career

Oliveira went undrafted in the 2019 NFL draft but was selected 14th overall in the 2019 CFL draft by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. On May 13, 2019, it was announced that he had signed his first professional contract with the Blue Bombers. Oliveira injured his ankle during a Week 3 game against the Edmonton Eskimos while working on the kick return team which required surgery, and as a result he missed the rest of the 2019 CFL season. The Blue Bombers went on to win the 107th Grey Cup with Oliveira on the injured list. He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season.

In 2021, Oliveira played in 13 regular season games and started in six with the incumbent starting running back, Andrew Harris, on the injured list. Oliveira had 94 rushing attempts for 429 yards and two touchdowns and nine receptions for 74 yards. That year, he played and started in all 18 regular season games where he rushed for over 1,000 yards for the first time in his CFL career, while also scoring five total touchdowns.

In February 2024, Oliveira was eligible to test free agency. However, prior to entering free agency, the Blue Bombers announced that he had signed a two-year contract extension with the team on February 6, 2024. Oliveira was a non-participant for training camp for the 2024 season due to a knee injury, but nonetheless played in the season-opening Grey Cup rematch against the Alouettes. After recording 11 carries for 38 yards and three receptions for 17 yards, he was unable to finish that game after re-aggravating his knee injury. He was inactive for the team's week 2 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks and was named the backup to Johnny Augustine for the Blue Bombers' next game against the BC Lions. After a fourth straight loss and just 26 rushing yards in the loss to the Stampeders, Oliveira recorded back-to-back 100-yard rushing games in weeks 5 and 6, with both resulting in wins. While he maintained strong production in the following games, he did not score a touchdown until the week 16 game against the Edmonton Elks, where he had 18 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns. At the end of the year, he was named to the All-CFL team and won both the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award and CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. After recovering from an 0–4 start to finish first in the West Division, the Blue Bombers hosted the West Final where Oliveira had 20 carries for 119 yards and one touchdown and two catches for 22 yards in the victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In his third start in a Grey Cup game, he had 11 carries for 84 yards and one touchdown and two receptions for 18 yards in the 111th Grey Cup loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Oliveira entered the 2025 season as the league's highest-paid running back and defending Most Outstanding Player. In the team's opening game, he had two carries for 49 yards, including a career-long 43-yard run in the first half where he sustained an injury and was out for the rest of the game. He missed two games due to injury and returned for the team's week 5 game against the Calgary Stampeders. He played and started in 15 regular season games where he had 201 carries for 1,163 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a career-high 61 receptions for 546 yards to finish second in the league for yards-from-scrimmage with 1,709.

On December 15, 2025, it was announced that Oliveira had signed a three-year extension with the Blue Bombers, keeping him under contract with the team through to the 2028 season. The contract will reportedly pay him $290,000 in 2026, and then $300,000 in 2027 and 2028 with guaranteed money the final year of the contract.

Career statistics

CFL

College

Personal life Oliveira's father Adail, was a soccer player in Brazil and kickboxer in Canada. His sister got a soccer scholarship to the University of Winnipeg where she studied criminal justice and later worked at the Manitoba Law Courts.

Oliveira appears on the CBC show Must Love Dogs with his partner, rescue influencer Alex Blumberg, produced by Omnifilm Entertainment.