{"id":956980,"date":"2026-11-03T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/956980\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T16:58:12","slug":"adarius-pickett-believes-he-should-win-cfl-most-outstanding-defensive-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/956980\/","title":{"rendered":"Adarius Pickett believes he should win CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player"},"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: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Though his team\u2019s season came to an end in the East Semi-Final, Toronto Argonauts strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett was recently named one of three finalists for Most Outstanding Defensive Player<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After being the runner-up for the award in 2023, the five-foot-eleven, 195-pounder believes he deserves to win this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would believe so with all the things that I do.\u00a0I think I have a very dynamic game \u2014\u00a0I\u2019m rushing, I\u2019m covering, playing really at every level, so I think I have a very dynamic game,\u201d said Pickett on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job is to go out there and compete at a high level, and I feel like I did that. I\u2019m thankful for my teammates that surrounded me, and allowed me to play how I play \u2014\u00a0playing a very physical game, and was able to put on some numbers, but\u00a0at the end of the day, just contribute\u00a0to winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old recorded 103 defensive tackles, six tackles for loss, five pass knockdowns, three sacks, and two forced fumbles over 17 regular-season games. He had another strong performance on Saturday, as Pickett tallied five defensive tackles, one special teams tackle, and one pass knockdown in a 25-22 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

It was a surprising result.<\/p>\n

The Argonauts entered the matchup as 4.5-point favourites and had a relatively strong crowd of 21,786 behind them at BMO Field. Toronto\u2019s defence allowed only 18 points and 292 yards of net offence in the loss. The unit also generated four turnovers.<\/p>\n

In the CFL, a defensive performance like that usually results in a win. This time, it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think ever in my life I\u2019ve lost a game where the game went like that, where we played that well on defence,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s never really been a game where I really lost like that, so definitely a funky game, but at the end of the day, it just wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Argonauts weren\u2019t a popular preseason pick to host a playoff game. The club was coming off a losing season and were led by a first-time head coach in Mike Miller following the departure of Ryan Dinwiddie to the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n

Despite the early playoff exit, Pickett was impressed by how Miller navigated his first season at the helm of the Good Ship Argo.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Miller] led a team that was 5-13\u00a0last year to a team that was 9-9\u00a0and got a chance to host the East Semi-Final playoff game, and\u00a0a game where we should have probably won the game,\u201d said Pickett.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a hell of a job coming in, especially with the adversity that he experienced. Being on the road seven games to start the season as a first-year head coach\u00a0is real challenging, real adverse. He did a great job guiding the guys, leading the group, and putting us in a position to\u00a0win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickett was one of the CFL\u2019s highest-paid defensive backs in 2026, earning nearly $200,000<\/a>. He is a pending free agent<\/a>, though he\u2019s made no secret of his desire to remain in Double Blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to be here\u00a0if they want me, too,\u201d he said. \u201cI think\u00a0that\u2019s part of the business. You gotta\u00a0be where you\u2019re wanted at.\u00a0I think I\u2019ve done enough to show why I should be, but\u00a0we\u2019ll see. We talk about that down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chad Kelly recently reset the quarterback market with a five-year contract extension that will pay him over $1 million per season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the salary cap expected to continue rising, Pickett is hopeful that players at all positions will be able to join in the spoils.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope so.\u00a0I don\u2019t make all those decisions, but I would hope it goes up for everybody. I think it\u2019d be good for the league, trying to\u00a0bring other players here to the league, too. Competing against other leagues,\u00a0I think that\u2019d be good just to see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think\u00a0we work real hard and\u00a0are true professionals out here in Canada, so I think it\u2019d be good for everybody.\u201d<\/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: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. Though his team\u2019s season came to an end in the East Semi-Final,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,93657,100127,22069,49,48,7028,521,522,520,14975,527,14108,172241,82,3302],"class_list":["post-956980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-adarius-pickett","tag-argonauts","tag-argos","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-chad-kelly","tag-football","tag-free-agency","tag-pickett","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956980","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=956980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}