{"id":437397,"date":"2026-01-27T23:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437397\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:21:14","slug":"toronto-argonauts-sign-former-riders-first-round-cfl-draft-pick-dakoda-shepley-after-long-nfl-stint-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437397\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Argonauts sign former Riders first-round CFL draft pick Dakoda Shepley after long NFL stint: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Callena Williams\/Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Argonauts have signed Canadian offensive lineman Dakoda Shepley following a six-year run in the National Football League, per sources. As per 3DownNation reporter John Hodge, the deal will make Shepley the highest-paid offensive lineman in the CFL.<\/p>\n

The Windsor, Ont. native been a free agent since he was released with an injury designation by the Dallas Cowboys in August.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old was originally selected by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the first round, fifth overall during the 2018 CFL Draft. He attended training camp with the New York Jets<\/a> that same year but was waived after the preseason.<\/p>\n

Shepley signed with the Riders in 2019<\/a> and played 18 regular-season games that year, becoming a full-time starter at guard. He helped the Roughriders finish first in the West Division with a 13-5 record as Cody Fajardo<\/a> became a star at quarterback. The six-foot-five, 290-pound blocker opted out of the 2020 CFL season to pursue the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move paid off for Shepley as he earned nearly $2 million USD with the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, and Indianapolis Colts<\/a> combined. He dressed in 16 regular-season NFL games: eight with Seattle, seven with Dallas, and one with San Francisco.<\/p>\n

At the 2018 CFL combine, Shepley recorded 225 pounds on the bench press 27 times, ran a 5.15-second hand-timed 40-yard dash, 4.72-second shuttle, 8.01-second three-cone, recorded a 31-inch vertical jump, and an eight-foot, 9.5-inch broad jump. The performance drew interest from NFL teams, as did his attendance at Eastern Michigan\u2019s pro day.<\/p>\n

Shepley played four seasons at the University of British Columbia (2014-2017) where he started 31 of 32 regular-season games. While with the Thunderbirds, he lined up at left tackle and right guard, earning Canada West all-star honours in 2017. He played in the 2017 U Sports East-West Bowl and won 2015 Vanier Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Callena Williams\/Dallas Cowboys. The Toronto Argonauts have signed Canadian offensive lineman Dakoda Shepley following a six-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[166835,166836,100127,22069,48,7028,520,181541,1721,43,181542,44,514,45083,948,24373,4400,1739,181543,41,39,42,40,3302,15656,22937,89278,29211,181544],"class_list":["post-437397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-argonauts","tag-argos","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-cfl","tag-dakoda-shepley","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-headlines","tag-jim-barker","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-riders","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-saskatchewan","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-thunderbirds","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-argonauts","tag-toronto-argos","tag-ubc","tag-university-of-british-columbia","tag-vanier-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437397","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=437397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}