The Lions have signed a CFL standout to a reserve/futures deal. Justin Dunk of 3DownNation reports that Detroit has signed defensive lineman Mathieu Betts to a futures deal. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press has confirmed the signing.
Betts won the Canadian Football League’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player award this past season while playing for the BC Lions. He finished the season with 44 tackles, three forced fumbles, and 18 sacks, with that latter mark being the most by a Canadian-born player in CFL history.
The 28-year-old defensive lineman has spent the past four seasons in the CFL, including a stint with Edmonton. He’s collected 27 sacks during his professional career, the majority of which have come over the past two years.
The Laval University product went undrafted in the 2019 draft. He caught on with the Bears for the preseason but was among Chicago’s final cuts.
Dude was a BEAST in the CFL last year, singlehandedly made the B.C defense worth watching.
Hope he can at least make it as a rotational lineman in Detroit, I think Buggs and Benito are gone, could be a very very intriguing depth piece all said and done, while not being a full needle mover in the end.
Love the signing!
Buggs is already gone. Just won a super bowl ring with the chiefs
The last great CFL player was Cameron Wake I think. Always a good story to see one of them make it.
It’s been a while since I’ve watched CFL.
Any CFL fans able to give me a comparison for the league skill level? Is the player quality similar, or even higher, to the recent XFL or USFL league relaunches? If NFL is SEC/B1G, and the USFL was the MAC, is CFL the Ivy League? Or the Sunbelt?
I ask because we’ve seen several, dozens really, of spring league guys get NFL gigs the past cpl years, especially on the recently expanded 15ppl practice squads, but it seems like it’s pretty rare to see a CFL to NFL transaction (even though we unsurprisingly see a decent # of NFL to CFL)
The CFL is a three down league with a larger field than Americans are familiar with so it could only be an apples to oranges comparison. I find that special teams play in the Canadian league is far more exciting than what American leagues have to offer. The CFL to NFL transactions are less frequent because the CFL holds it’s draft in early May with training camps and the exhibition season taking place later that month. A CFL player wanting to make a transition to the NFL might have to go through back to back training camps…which would be a pretty tough grind.
I’m really liking this DL. Hutchison, McNeil, Martin (a McNeil clone) and now this cat. And there’s rumors of the Lions signing Hassan Reddick.
Those aren’t rumors. Click bait websites are trying to wish true every possible pass rusher going to the lions right now. Nothing of substance.