Canadian defensive lineman Mathieu Betts had a positive experience with the Detroit Lions.
Betts did not accomplish his goal, which was earning a 53-man active roster or practice squad spot, but he left it all out on the field.
“They signed me to play defensive end and they figured out really quick that I could do that for them. They moved me to linebacker where I played pretty much most of my time there,” Betts explained.
“In the meeting room and all that stuff, I was spending most of my time with the linebackers which was new to me. I did it a little bit in 2019 in Chicago. It was hard for me because my mission was to make that team as a linebacker, which is not my natural position.”
After working out for Detroit in December and signing with the Lions in February, Betts made two solo tackles and one sack in three NFL preseason games. He went viral for running over Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Carson Wentz at Arrowhead Stadium.
“The reigning Super Bowl champs and Patrick Mahomes being who he is — the best player in the NFL — it was fun to go up against those guys. Arrowhead was packed because they had their starters playing so it was really fun to be part of that environment,” Betts said.
“I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have because I was locked in on doing what I had to do. Had the chance to get a couple of good rushes on the quarterbacks and got Carson Wentz at the end of the first half. That was fun, he’s a former NFL MVP. My phone was blowing up after that game, it was a really cool time for me.”
The 29-year-old was released among Detroit’s final roster cuts during a meeting with head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes. He cleared NFL waivers and was not added to the team’s practice squad. The six-foot-three, 250-pound defender did not want to wait around for his phone to ring.
“My agent, Sasha Ghavami, spoke to a lot of the NFL teams that had been keeping track of me for the last couple years. A lot of them liked my film but didn’t necessarily want me to get in there right away, nothing with a time frame,” Betts said.
“It was important to play football this year, so when I saw that it wasn’t gonna move fast, I didn’t want to sit out and wait a couple of weeks, a couple of months. It was a logical decision to try to make that team in training camp and if it didn’t work out, if no other team was gonna pick me up, I was gonna come back to B.C.”
Betts produced the best year of his pro football career in 2023 with the B.C. Lions: 95 QB pressures, 42 defensive tackles, 18 sacks and four forced fumbles over 18 regular season games. He broke Brett Johnson’s CFL record for single-season sacks by a Canadian player and earned CFL all-star status for the first time while being named the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
“How things moved for me in 2024, with all the new things with Detroit, new team, new league, new rules, new system, new playbook, new locker room, new teammates a lot of things were new for me with Detroit,” Betts explained.
“I felt that in order to play good football, the best fit for me was to come back with B.C. this year because it’s the continuity of what we’ve been doing for the past two years. I love this team, I like the players, I love the fans, I love the city of Vancouver — this is my football home.”
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