The Montreal Alouettes have signed veteran pass rusher Shawn Lemon, per sources.
The move reunites Lemon with his University of Akron teammate Almondo Sewell. The team released defensive end Nick Usher on Sunday to make room for the 34-year-old on the roster. Montreal was tied for last in the league in sacks with seven through five games entering Week 7.
Lemon was in training camp with the B.C. Lions but was released mid-way through mostly due to a ratio move. He spent the past two seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, producing a career year in 2022.
The 11-year veteran recorded a personal best 29 defensive tackles and 14 quarterback sacks to go along with five forced fumbles, earning a CFL all-star selection along with the West Division nomination for the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player award.
The six-foot-one, 242-pound defensive lineman has appeared in 135 regular-season CFL games with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Elks, Ottawa Redblacks, Stamps, Argonauts and Leos, winning two Grey Cups. He has registered 221 defensive tackles, 29 forced fumbles, one interception and 92 sacks in his career.
Lemon becomes the CFL’s active leader in sacks and sits eight quarterback takedowns away from 100. If he can get to the century mark, the Charleston, South Carolina native would be the 13th player in league history (data since 1981) to record 100 career sacks.
All-time CFL career sack list:
- Grover Covington — 157 sacks | 168 games | 0.93 sacks per game
- Elfrid Payton — 153 sacks | 205 games | 0.75 sacks per game
- Bobby Jurasin — 140 sacks | 199 games | 0.70 sacks per game
- James Parker — 139.5 sacks | 161 games | 0.87 sacks per game
- Joe Montford — 135 sacks | 185 games | 0.73 sacks per game
- John Bowman — 134 sacks | 230 games | 0.58 sacks per game
- Charleston Hughes — 132 sacks | 190 games | 0.69 sacks per game
- Vince Goldsmith — 130.5 sacks | 163 games | 0.80 sacks per game
- Steward Hill — 126 sacks | 164 games | 0.77 sacks per game
- Tyrone Jones — 110 sacks | 151 games | 0.73 sacks per game
- Rodney Harding — 105 sacks | 201 games | 0.52 sacks per game
- Odell Willis — 101 sacks | 191 games | 0.53 sacks per game
- Shawn Lemon — 92 sacks | 135 games | 0.68 sacks per game
The Alouettes (2-3) are currently on a bye with their next game scheduled for Sunday, July 30 against Calgary.
