New Lion Lemon hopes to boost D-line
New Lion looks to help club put pressure on opposing QBs, writes Steve Ewen.
Shawn Lemon and Odell Willis are good enough buddies that Willis was one of the first people Lemon messaged when he learned last week he had been traded to the B.C. Lions.
Lemon and Willis are also good enough buddies that Willis considered Lemon could well be pranking him about the pair sharing time on the Lions’ defensive line.
“He thought I was playing, because we joke around a lot,” Lemon explained after Wednesday’s practice at the Lions’ Surrey facility. “He was like, ‘For real?’ And then it went from there. We were both excited.”
The Lions landed Lemon, 29, last Tuesday from the Toronto Argonauts for the rights to a player on B.C.’s negotiation list. The Lions have had trouble getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the hope is that a defensive end rotation now featuring Lemon and fellow veterans Willis, 33, and Gabe Knapton, 29, can improve on that.
Lemon tried to break into the CFL in 2011 with a Winnipeg Blue Bombers team that already featured Willis. Lemon was released and went home after a few days, but he and Willis connected.
Lemon says over the years they’ve remained friends and routinely shared scouting reports on opposing offensive lineman.
Willis had little trouble invading a post-practice Lemon media scrum Wednesday. The jersey numbers for Lemon (9) and Willis (11) were a topic, as you’d might expect.
“You better call your offensive coach. Offensive coach ... you better be checking the scouting reports . ... 911 is on the way,” said Willis.
Lemon added: “Those are always the first responders. We’re trying to be the first responders (to the opposing quarterback).”
Lemon has 51 career sacks in 80 regular-season CFL games, and had 14 sacks two seasons ago for the Argonauts. There’s certainly a school of thought that adding him brings another threat up front for B.C. and also will keep the likes of Willis and Knapton from wearing down.
You can also argue the rights to a player on a negotiation list isn’t a hefty return, so Toronto undoubtedly feels that Lemon’s best days are behind him.
The Argonauts (1-5) have recorded just six sacks, which ties them for the league low. The Lions (2-3) have nine sacks, which is sixth-best in the nineteam circuit.
The Blue Bombers (4-3), Calgary Stampeders (6-0) and Edmonton Eskimos (4-2) all have 17 to lead the way. Lemon had one sack in five games with Toronto this season.
“I was most definitely surprised,” Lemon said of the trade. “But with professional football you have to hit the ground running with it. My lifestyle and career throughout the CFL has kind of been a bit of a surprise.”
He certainly gives the Lions more personality.
When he suits up Saturday for the Lions on the road against the unbeaten Stampeders, it will mark the sixth team in the league that he’s played for, including two separate stints with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He was talking Wednesday about the trials and tribulations of trades. He’s in the midst of having his wife and their pet dog move West.
Lemon is a lineman listed at 6-2 and 251 pounds. He talks about a dog and you automatically think of a German shepherd or something like that. It’s not the case. Lemon has a Yorkie named Dallas.
“I’ve had him since I was a junior in college and he’s my best friend. When I was in a college, we were living in apartments so I didn’t want to get a big dog. I got a little dog and I fell in love with him,” he said.
It’s easy to suggest he and Willis will also give the Lions stereo chatter when they’re lined up on opposite ends of the defensive line.
“You have to have fun doing this,” said Knapton, who came to B.C. in a December trade with the Montreal Alouettes, while Willis was a product of a February swap with the Ottawa Redblacks.
“That’s why you started playing — it was fun. As soon as you start treating it like a job, it’s hard. You have to laugh, you have to be loud, you have to joke with each other. We have a lot of that now. We have more than I’m probably used to from before, but I like it.”
You better call your offensive coach. Offensive coach ... you better be checking the scouting reports . ... 911 is on the way.