The Toronto Argonauts have signed Canadian offensive and defensive lineman Quinn Smith.
Smith played 40 games for the Calgary Stampeders and last played in the CFL during the 2017 season. He was selected in the first round, seventh overall during the 2014 CFL Draft. The 29-year-old has made 26 tackles and eight sacks while appearing in two Grey Cup games, helping the Stamps win a title in 2014.
In September 2016, Smith was suspended three games for violating the CFL’s drug policy. He was caught using methandienone, a steroid popular with bodybuilders (including Arnold Schwarzenegger.)
It was the first violation under the league’s new anti-doping policy launched in April that year, which featured expanded testing conducted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. The league had previously gone more than a year without drug testing.
Under the new policy, CFL players are supposed to receive a two-game suspension for a first offence but because Smith tested positive at the 2014 CFL Combine, he was subjected to a three-game ban.
“I want to apologize for bringing this situation into your lives, especially the Calgary Stampeders, who have always treated me like family. I am sorry to have failed a drug test,” Smith said in 2016. “It is our responsibility as men and as players to know what is going in and out of our bodies. I have not lived up to that. This is my mistake and no one else’s.”
The six-foot-two, 304-pound Scarborough native follows the Argos recent trend of signing hometown talent.
