Detroit Lions sign 2023 CFL defensive player of the year Mathieu Betts

The Detroit Lions have signed Mathieu Betts, a pass rusher who was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player.

The Detroit Lions are signing edge defender Mathieu Betts, as first reported by TSN’s Farhan Lalji and later confirmed by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. UPDATE: The signing has now been confirmed by the team.

We’ve written about Betts before, as the Lions hosted him for a visit back in December. In 2023, he was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player after recording 18 sacks in 18 games for the BC Lions.

Betts actually spent some time in the NFL, signing with the Chicago Bears after going undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft. He was waived, though, during the team’s final roster cuts and ended up being the third overall pick in the subsequent CFL Draft days later. He spent his first two years in the league with the Edmonton Eskimos, logging just two sacks in 19 game appearances. But after joining the BC Lions in 2022, his career took off. He has a total of 27 sacks and four forced fumbles in the past two seasons (18 games each).

At 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, he’s a bit undersized for a true three-down edge defender, but he could give the Lions some competition at the SAM linebacker position with a guy like James Houston, who is set to be an exclusive rights free agent but is likely to be back. Detroit could lose more of their depth on the edge, including Romeo Okwara, Julian Okwara, and Charles Harris.

For now, the edge defenders currently signed on for the 2024 season (in addition to Betts) are Aidan Hutchinson, Josh Paschal, John Cominsky, and Mitchell Agude. You can see all of the Lions’ active contracts in our 2024 tracker.