CFL

Long-time Lions linebacker Solomon Elimimian signs with Roughriders

Veteran linebacker Solomon Elimimian has a new home. The six-foot-two, 225-pound Elimimian signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thursday. Elimimian spent his first nine CFL seasons with the B.C. Lions.

2-time defensive player of the year spent 9 years with B.C.

Veteran linebacker Solomon Elimimian signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thursday after nine years with the B.C. Lions. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Veteran linebacker Solomon Elimimian has a new home.

The six-foot-two, 225-pound Elimimian signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thursday. Elimimian spent his first nine CFL seasons with the B.C. Lions.

Elimimian has enjoyed a decorated CFL career thus far. He was the league's top rookie in 2010 and twice been named its outstanding defensive player (2014, '16). But in 2014 the 32-year-old became the first defensive player in the modern era to be named the CFL's top player.

The linebacker has been a CFL all-star four times, and in 2011 he helped B.C. win a Grey Cup title.

Elimimian, 32, has appeared in 118 career games, registering 745 tackles, eight interceptions and eight forced fumbles. He has recorded 100 or more tackles three times, including a CFL-record 144 in 2017.