{"id":702684,"date":"2026-05-30T00:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702684\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T00:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:32:12","slug":"two-edmonton-elks-defensive-linemen-out-for-season-with-achilles-tears-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702684\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Edmonton Elks defensive linemen out for season with Achilles tears: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Jimmy Jeong\/CFL.ca<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Elks will be without two key defensive linemen for the entirety of the 2026 season after each suffered preseason injuries.<\/p>\n

According to a report from TSN\u2019s Farhan Lalji<\/a>, veteran American defensive end Brandon Barlow and rookie Canadian defensive tackle Darien Newell have both been diagnosed with Achilles tears. As a result, their year is over.<\/p>\n

Barlow joined the Elks as a free agent in 2025, recording 35 defensive tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, and one interception over 18 regular-season games. The 28-year-old previously spent time with the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, amassing 123 defensive tackles, three special teams tackles, 17 sacks, four forced fumbles, and one interception in 60 career CFL appearances.<\/p>\n

Newell was selected with the tenth overall pick in the 2025 CFL Draft, but was barred from signing a contract last season after he tested positive for nine banned substances during the Combine<\/a>. Though his infraction was not made public until after his selection, teams were made aware beforehand, which caused the consensus first-round talent to drop to the top of the second round. The six-foot-three, 287-pound pass rusher was a two-time first-team U Sports All-Canadian and one-time second-team U Sports All-Canadian at Queen\u2019s University, where he made 92 total tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, two pass knockdowns, and one forced fumble in 37 games.<\/p>\n

Though neither player was slated to start for the Elks this season, both were expected to contribute in the rotation.<\/p>\n

Edmonton will also be without veteran Canadian offensive tackle Brett Boyko to start the season, as he will be placed on the six-game injured list due to a hand issue. 2026 second-round pick Benjamin Sangmuah, an uber-athletic defensive back prospect out of UBC, will join him on the six-game after suffering a knee injury.<\/p>\n

On a positive note, receivers Kaion Julien-Grant and Joe Robustelli are expected to be ready to play in time for Week 1, despite battling minor injuries in training camp.<\/p>\n

The Elks will play their second preseason game against the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, May 29, at 9:00 p.m. Final roster cuts are due on Saturday, May 30, after which the team will play its first regular-season game against the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday, June 6.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Jimmy Jeong\/CFL.ca The Edmonton Elks will be without two key defensive linemen for the entirety of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,104562,210633,255693,227160,49,48,7028,521,522,520,241035,23752,77213,527,5718,2002,82],"class_list":["post-702684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-achilles","tag-benjamin-sangmuah","tag-brandon-barlow","tag-brett-boyko","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-darien-newell","tag-edmonton","tag-elks","tag-football","tag-injury","tag-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702684","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=702684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}