Montreal Alouettes All-Star Lineman Signs With Toronto Argonauts
Just days before a pivotal East division clash in Week 4 between the dually-undefeated Toronto Argonauts and defending CFL champion Montreal Alouettes., the Argos signed former Als offensive lineman Landon Rice.
The veteran Rice, 36, played 10 games with Montreal last season, helping the Alouettes beat Winnipeg to win the Grey Cup. The 6-foot-6, 317-pound lineman spent the last four-and-a-half seasons in Montreal, playing 55 games while being named an East All-Star twice and the Als' Most Outstanding Lineman in 2022.
The Manitoba native was signed by Hamilton as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and spent the first five-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Ticats, playing 68 games and getting to the Grey Cup twice in that span. The 2007 Vanier Cup champion with the University of Manitoba Bison has played 132 regular season games and has been to the playoffs in nine of his 10 years in the CFL.
Before his late-career resurgence and All-Star turn in Montreal during the 2021 and 2022 CFL seasons, the unheralded Canadian interior lineman was mostly known as one of the players in the infamous Montreal-Hamilton trade involving quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Rice joins the 2-0 Argonauts, which will be hosting his former team, Montreal (3-0), in a Friday night showdown at BMO Field. It's a rematch of last year's East Final, which saw the Argos fall to their longtime rivals.
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MIKE MITCHELL