{"id":357122,"date":"2025-12-20T06:40:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/357122\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T06:40:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T06:40:23","slug":"b-c-lions-sign-star-linebacker-darnell-sankey-to-one-year-contract-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/357122\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. Lions sign star linebacker Darnell Sankey to one-year contract \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2013 The B.C. Lions have signed American linebacker Darnell Sankey to a one-year contract, the CFL club announced Friday.<\/p>\n

Sankey spent the last three seasons with the Montreal Alouettes, helping them win a Grey Cup in 2023.<\/p>\n

He was an East Division All-CFL selection in 2024 and 2025, but the Alouettes released him on Dec. 11. He was set to become a free agent in February.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Montreal
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMontreal Alouettes’ Darnell Sankey (1) hits Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Joey Corcoran (81) during first half Eastern semi-final action, in Montreal on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov<\/p>\n

Montreal general manager Danny Maciocia said at the time that the move would allow Sankey to get a head start on free agency while the Alouettes went in a different direction at middle linebacker next season.<\/p>\n

Sankey totalled 101 defensive tackles and two sacks in the regular season in 2025 before the Alouettes fell 25-17 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Grey Cup game.<\/p>\n

In three years with the Alouettes, Sankey had 239 defensive tackles, four sacks, two interceptions and five forced fumbles in 41 regular-season games.<\/p>\n

Sankey made his CFL debut with Calgary Stampeders in 2021, appearing in all 14 regular season games and registering 97 defensive tackles, one sack and a forced fumble while earning West Division All-CFL honours.<\/p>\n

He had a standout 2022 season with Saskatchewan with 120 defensive tackles, three sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

In between his time with the Roughriders and the Alouettes, the 31-year-old from San Jose, Calif., won a championship in the XFL with the Arlington Renegades.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2013 The B.C. Lions have signed American linebacker Darnell Sankey to a one-year contract, the CFL club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-357122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}