The Toronto Argonauts head into their week one game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders with an extremely impressive crop of linebackers headlined by Marcus Ball and Bear Woods. The Argos brought back Khalil Bass in free agency and possess an impressive group of emerging linebackers in Nakas Onyeka, Terrance Plummer, Akeem Jordan, Nelkas Kwemo, and Justin Herdman.
Taylor Reed
The final linebacker on the roster could end up turning into a CFL star – free agent signing Taylor Reed. Reed comes with plenty of CFL experience from his days with the Calgary Stampeders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Ottawa Redblacks. The former RedBlack also has age on his side at only 26 years old and is coming off of one of his best all-around seasons with Ottawa in 2017.
Reed has experienced extended stints of success in his career but also has been injury prone and dealt with inconsistencies early in his career. His two best seasons came in 2014 with Hamilton where he recorded eight sacks and in 2017 where he finished with 94 tackles. For his career, Reed has 17 sacks at linebacker in five seasons. Two of those seasons include just eight and ten games. He also has 315 career tackles, two interceptions, and five forced fumbles on his CFL resumé.
Throughout his CFL career, Reed has proven to be quite an explosive option at linebacker when he has stayed healthy. Unfortunately for the Argonauts, Reed has been placed on the six-game injured list to start the 2018 season. The interesting thing is that it has yet to be announced why Reed is on the six-game injured list; there has been no word as to the extent of Reed’s injury.
Luckily for the Argos, they have tons of depth at linebacker, especially after bringing back Khalil Bass. Bass, Plummer, and Jordan should see quite a bit of time at MLB with Reed and Bear Woods on the six-game injured list.
The Last Word
Despite the reported injury to Reed, the Argonauts got one great linebacker in free agency. Reed’s signing will benefit Woods when the latter returns from the six-game injured list as well. Woods will play in special packages on defense with Reed taking the majority of time at MLB when he returns. When Reed returns, expect him to make an instant impact and truly turn into a CFL star.
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