The BC Lions announced on Thursday that they have signed Canadian long-snapper Kyle Nelson. They also announced that they have released 3 players including Canadian defensive lineman David Menard. They have also released 2 American defensive backs Parnell Motley and Lawrence Woods III. Additionally, they announced that American defensive tackle Steven Richardson has retired.
LS Kyle Nelson – Utah State (37 y/o, 6’6, 240lbs)
Kyle Nelson joins the BC Lions after having spent 10 years in the NFL, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers where he appeared in 89 games from 2014 to 2020. He played 6 games with the San Diego Chargers in 2012 and 11 games with the Washington Redskins in 2013 before joining San Fran Cisco. He last played in an NFL game in 2021 with the Indianapolis Colts.
Nelson played his collegiate ball with New Mexico State where he appeared in 50 games. He caught 66 passes with the program for 559 yards and 2 touchdowns in addition to his long snapping duties.
DL David Menard – Montreal (33 y/o, 6’1, 259 lbs)
David Menard joined the BC Lions after being a 4th round pick in the 2014 CFL Draft. Since then he has appeared in 108 CFL regular season games. Outside of 14 games with the Montreal Alouettes in 2021, all of his games have been played with BC. Over his career, he has made 79 tackles and 29 sacks.
Last season Menard played in 18 games for the Lions recording 14 tackles and 3 sacks. Menard’s release is one that may surprise people as he is only 1 year removed from a 9-sack season in 2022 and had 8 sacks in 2021.
DB Parnell Motley- Oklahoma (26 y/o, 6’0, 184 lbs)
Motley signed with the Lions in January. He played in 1 game for Montreal in 2022 recording 2 tackles. He also appeared in 5 NFL games for 3 different teams recording 5 solo tackles and 3 assisted tackles between 2020 and 2021.
Motley played his collegiate ball with Oklahoma appearing in 52 games with 33 starts from 2016 to 2019. He recorded 130 solo tackles, 46 assisted tackles, 6 interceptions, 6 forced fumbles, and a touchdown.
DB Lawrence Woods III – Truman State (26 y/o, 5’9, 180 lbs)
The Lions signed Woods this past December. He had played in 21 games with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats over the last 2 seasons recording 23 tackles and 11 special teams tackles. He also returned 56 kickoffs for an average of 22.6 yards per return with 1 touchdown in 2022.
Following his collegiate career Woods spent the 2021 training camp with the New Orleans Saints who signed him as an undrafted free agent.
Woods played in 25 games for Truman State from 2017 to 2019 recording 79 tackles, 27 knockdowns, 5 interceptions, and 2 sacks. He had 5 kickoff return touchdowns in college.
DL Steven Richardson – Minnesota (28 y/o, 5’11, 304 lbs)
Richardson signed with the Lions in November after recovering from 2 consecutive Achilles tears. The stove played in 25 CFL regular season games with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the 2019 and 2022 seasons recording 38 tackles and 6 sacks. He was renowned for his ability to stop the run while also being a formidable pass rusher.
He played his college ball for Minnesota where he played in 48 games with 44 starts from 2014 to 2017. He recorded 51 solo tackles, 52 assisted tackles, and 12.5 sacks with the program. He spent some time on the LA Chargers’s practice squad after signing with them as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
Richardson retires with the last couple of seasons being unfortunately a non participant due to injury. He was a Grey Cup Champion in both of his CFL seasons.
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