OUT OF THE TUNNEL: TOP 10 DEFENSIVE FREE AGENTS

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

Teams across the CFL have been busy re-signing players as the looming free agency period begins on February 11. This is the time of year that the league can carve out just a little bit of the news cycles in the eight CFL cities.

Over the next two weeks we will go over the top 10 defensive and offensive players beginning with the defence this week.

Across all of football the focus has become larger on the defensive line and the CFL is doing the same. The most disruptive players in the league play along the defensive line beginning with the top potential free agent in this year’s pool. Teams need pressure from multiple angles and get to the quarterback quickly. This is why we have six defensive linemen on the list.

There are a pair of linebackers that includes the top Canadian potential free agent and just a pair of defensive backs.

Here is our top ten as of Monday, January 27.

#1 Willie Jefferson – DE (WPG): Jefferson is the top potential free agent in the CFL. He has been a biggest disruptive force along the defensive line for the past three seasons and he isn’t showing signs of slowing down.

It’s also not a surprise that teams Jefferson has played on have won the Grey Cup in two of the past five seasons. Jefferson has also never missed the playoffs when he has played a full season in the CFL

Jefferson was the league’s top defensive player by way of his 12 sacks and league leading 16 knockdowns. He has been named a division and league all-star the past three season and will turn just 29 on January 31.

#2 Larry Dean – LB (EDM): One of the more dynamic tackling machines in the CFL is Larry Dean. He began his career by playing four seasons in the CFL before signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2016.

He turned in a pair of all-star seasons in 2017 and 2018 before inking with the Eskimos in February of last season. From there he led the Eskimos in tackles with 86 which included six tackles for loss.

#3 – Cam Judge – LB (SSK): The top available Canadian plays on the defensive side of the football and has done nothing but improve since coming into the league.

Cam Judge was the second overall pick in the 2017 CFL draft and it took some time for him to become a part of the Roughrider defence. He played the full 18 games in 2018 before turning in an incredible 2019.

Judge was a defensive stalwart with 61 tackles, five sacks and two interceptions while still being a special teams demon with 12 tackles.

#4 Dylan Wynn – DT (Ham): With CFL offences focussing more and more on the ball coming out of the quarterback’s hands as fast as possible, pressure up the middle is becoming more important.

Ticat tackle Dylan Wynn may be one of the best up the middle. After a weird start to 2019 that began with the Arizona Hotshots of the AAF, Wynn returned to the CFL with Hamilton and finished fourth in the league with 11 sacks.

#5 Micah Johnson – DT (SSK): The current king of interior players may still be Micah Johnson. It was a tough start to the season as Johnson was still recovering from a knee injury but in the end, he regained his dominant role along the defensive line.

His four sacks and 15 of his 28 tackles came in the last eight weeks of the season when the Roughriders defence was at its best.

Johnson will be 32 in June but still has a few more great seasons left in the tank.

#6 Ja’Gared Davis – DE (HAM): While not as dominant as Willie Jefferson, Ja’Gared Davis can be a force to be reckoned with along the defensive line.

The 29-year-old has done nothing but get to the quarterback since entering the league in 2016. 2019 was his best with a career high 13 sacks while adding five knockdowns, three forced fumbles and three tackles for loss.

Davis has also played in four straight Grey Cups.

#7 Cleyon Laing – DE (TOR): The second Canadian on our list is defensive end Cleyon Laing. The ratio-buster picked up seven sacks and 57 tackles in 2019.

He picked up his fourth East Division all-star nod in 2019 to go along with his two Grey Cup rings from 2016 and 2017.

He’s only 29-years-old so a team taking a chance on a solid multi-year deal with Laing would be a great building block on their defence.

#8 Jumal Rolle – DB (HAM): There is a reason why the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were in the Grey Cup and it was the play of their defence. Rolle is the third member of the Ticats on this list.

Rolle spent five nomadic seasons in the NFL before joining the Ticats in 2018 and he has seven interceptions in the past two seasons with five of them coming in 2019. He would have more, but teams started to stay away from the shutdown corner.

#9 Ed Gainey – HB (SSK): The Roughriders again had one of the top defences in the CFL in 2019 and Gainey is the third potential free agent on this list from the green and white.

He had just a pair of interceptions in 2019 but had a career high 56 tackles. Gainey is just two seasons removed from his miraculous 10 interceptions season in 2017 and was a league all-star in 2017 and 2018.

It feels like Gainey has been in the league forever and in CFL terms eight seasons is a lifetime. But here’s the catch he only turns 30 in June! There is still some tread in those tires.

#10 J.R. Tavai – DE (OTT): This is our wildcard player, but we fell in love with this USC product in 2019.

The NFL outside linebacker fits perfectly as a CFL defensive end. After seeing spot duty in 2018, Tavai racked up seven sacks and 49 tackles last season. He found his stride late in the season with five sacks coming in the final seven weeks of the season.

What is key to Tavai is that at 6’2” and 270 pounds he is also a solid run stopper as well as being able to get to the quarterback.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)