The Detroit Lions have signed the Canadian Football League's top defensive player for 2023 to their roster according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.com.

Mathieu Betts won this year's Defensive Player of the Year award.  Betts posted 42 tackles, 18 sacks, and four forced fumbles for the B.C. Lions during the 2023 season. The 18 sacks broke a league record for a Canadian-born player, who spent two seasons with Edmonton — the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID — before moving on to the Lions for the last two seasons.

The Bears signed Betts as an undrafted free agent in 2019, but he failed to make the team out of training camp.