Lions Sign CFL Defensive Lineman

Lions sign CFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The Detroit Lions have signed defensive lineman Mathieu Betts to a free-agent contract, according to a TSN report. 

Betts, 28, has been in the Canadian Football League since 2019. Playing with the BC Lions in 2023, he became the Canadian single-season sack leader with 18 sacks. He started all 18 games for the BC Lions, and had 44 tackles, three forced fumbles and a blocked kick. Betts was named the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2023.

He began his CFL career with the now-Edmonton Elks in 2019.

Prior to his professional career, Betts spent four seasons at the university level with the Laval Rouge et Or. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2015, after posting 12 sacks in eight regular season games.

Upon the conclusion of his university career, he was selected to play in the 2019 East-West Shrine Bowl. Betts was drafted third overall in the CFL Draft that year by Edmonton, but initially signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent.

Confirmed. Mathieu Betts will sign a futures contract with the Detroit Lions. #CFLFA @lions pic.twitter.com/KFnZJMHXBM

— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) February 13, 2024

After failing to make the Bears’ roster in 2019, he went to the CFL to begin his career with Edmonton. He joined the BC Lions in 2022, and has been productive each of the last two seasons.

The Lions struggled to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks last season. Only second-year EDGE Aidan Hutchinson finished the season with double-digit sacks. Betts will join a defensive ends room that features Hutchinson, John Cominsky, Josh Paschal and James Houston.

Detroit is reportedly hiring a new defensive line coach, Terrell Williams, a role which John Scott Jr. held in 2023.