Colourful Foley returns to Leos’ den
The B.C. Lions and Ricky Foley are back in business.
Fresh off a 30-15 home victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Lions announced Sunday they’ve signed the defensive end for the remainder of the 2017 season.
Foley, always colourful, outspoken and definitely quotable, played with the Lions from 2006 to 2009 before heading east to his hometown Argos in 2010. He’s won the Grey Cup three times: in 2006 with the Lions, 2012 with Toronto and 2013 with Saskatchewan.
His last season with the Leos was spectacular: he was the league’s most outstanding Canadian after making 47 tackles and a dozen sacks. That coincided with the departure of defensive dynamo Cam Wake to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
He’s 35, so he won’t have quite the wheels he once did, but clearly Wally Buono thinks the veteran can bring some extra pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the outside. The Leos have only managed 13 sacks so far on the season, putting them fifth in the league.
There’s also the added factor of DeQuin Evans’ back injury, which kept him out of the lineup Saturday against the Riders.
And you can’t ignore the positive impact he’ll make on the team’s Canadian-to-international player ratio. A Canadian who can play is never a bad thing.
After Foley’s breakout 2009 performance with the Lions, he had NFL workouts with the Seahawks and the Jets, but didn’t stick down south. Instead he landed back home in Toronto, although he initially seemed to have made an agreement to come back to Vancouver. Instead he spurned them in favour of a chance to play close to home. Foley grew up on a family farm in Courtice, Ont., about 60 kilometres east of Toronto.
He thanked Buono at the time for his understanding. The coach said, at least publicly, that he understood.
According to the Lions, Foley will make his practice debut Wednesday ahead of the Lions’ game on Sunday in Regina against the Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium.