If you ask Toronto Argonauts’ right tackle Dejon Allen, he did not seem to be challenged by any defensive lineman in the CFL this past season.
“It was fairly easy this year, I’m not going to lie. I want to say [Anthony] Lanier from Saskatchewan [was the toughest],” Allen said when pressed further about his answer. “J.G. (Ja’Gared Davis) has always been the best defensive lineman to me. He had a rough year this year but he could easily come back next year and be the best.”
But you found it easy?
“This year, yeah — I did a great job,” Allen said.
The 29-year-old lost count of how many pancake blocks he had and believes it should be a statistic kept for offensive linemen, officially tracked and registered. He responded with an emphatic “now we talkin'” when asked whether people should tell Pro Football Focus to track pancake blocks.
According to PFF, Allen allowed a league-low 11 quarterback pressures on 499 pass-blocking snaps while helping Toronto set a franchise record with 16 regular season wins. The six-foot-two, 300-pound protector had a spectacular season for the double blue who allowed just 19 sacks, the fewest by any team in the league and the least amount surrendered by any CFL team in over a decade.
His quarterback Chad Kelly earned the league’s George Reed Most Outstanding Player award. Kelly completed 68.5 percent of his passes for 4,123 yards with 23 touchdowns against 12 interceptions along with 41 carries for 248 yards and eight touchdowns while leading the Argonauts to a 15-1 record as a starter.
In addition to Allen being named top lineman and Kelly MOP, Argos won the Most Outstanding Special Teams Player (Javon Leake), Most Outstanding Rookie (Qwan’tez Stiggers) and Coach of the Year (Ryan Dinwiddie).
Despite the individual accolades, Toronto’s season came to a stunning end with a 38-17 loss in the East Final to the eventual Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes. That was only the second time all season that the Argonauts failed to score at least 20 points.
“This award is great but I’m still devastated from the loss we took in the Eastern Final,” Allen said. “I’m going to be devastated all off-season but it just motivates me.”
Allen, who signed with the Argos in 2021, has been an East Division all-star for the past two seasons. He was named a CFL all-star for the first time in his career in 2023.
The University of Hawaii product is signed through the 2024 season and therefore is not one of the Argos’ 32 pending free agents who could hit the open market in February.
