The Detroit Lions have ignited their team walls with the historic signing of two new, lethal power ignitions.
Mathieu Betts, a Canadian defensive end, was signed by the Detroit Lions on Tuesday. This past season, Betts was without a doubt the most effective pass rusher in the CFL. With his lightning-fast first step and strong speed, he can get into the opponent’s backfield and put pressure on quarterbacks early in plays. In December, Betts participated in workouts for the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, and Detroit.
DE Mathieu Betts, 28 years old, 6’3″, 250 pounds
The B.C. Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have offered Betts around $300,000, but he is turning them down. If he had accepted, he would have been the highest-paid defensive player in the CFL and would have had a chance to make an NFL squad.
For the BC Lions of the CFL last season, Betts started all 18 games during the regular season. With eighteen, he broke the record for most sacks by a Canadian in a single season. 44 tackles, four forced fumbles, and a pass defense were also recorded by him.
In addition to being selected for the CFL All-Star squad, Betts was awarded the CFL Defensive Player of the Year award in the previous campaign. He was selected by Pro Football Focus for the 2023 CFL Awards’ Most Outstanding Pass-Rusher category.
Betts had a total of 95 pressures during the CFL season, which was 23 more than second place, according to Pro Football Focus. At 19.4% during the regular season, he also had the greatest pass-rush victory percentage.
He has one tackle in 2023’s two playoff games. Still, his presence had a significant impact. He completed 10 quarterback rushes across the two playoff games, according to my count. Of those, an incredible 8 came during the team’s victory over the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Semi-Final.
With 45 starts during the regular season, Betts has participated in 55 CFL games and totaled 81 tackles and 27 sacks. The Edmonton Elks selected him third overall in the 2019 CFL Draft, and he joined the league. As an undrafted free agent in 2019, he signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Bears, despite being released at the final roster cuts.
Betts played collegiate football for Laval in Canada, where he led the country in sacks (12) over the course of eight regular season games and was named U Sports Most Outstanding Rookie in 2015. In 2016 and 2018, he and Laval won the Vanier Cup. The J.P. Metras Trophy, which is given to the best lineman in U Sports, has only been won by him three times.
Pro Football Focus ranked the Detroit Lions as having the sixth best run defense in the NFL for the 2023 regular and postseason. PFF ranked the Lions 19th in pass rush defense. Betts will be a huge help to the Detroit Lions’ pass rush if he can duplicate even a small portion of his CFL success.
Since the Redwings and the Montreal Canadiens play in the same division, Mathieu Betts will have more opportunity to see his favorite hockey team while residing in Detroit than he did during his previous two seasons in Vancouver. In terms of geography, it is also considerably closer to Montreal, his hometown.
