VANCOUVER — The BC Lions made a big splash ahead of 2024 training camp with the signing of National defensive lineman Christian Covington, the team announced on Wednesday.
The Lions originally selected Covington in round five (43rd overall) of the 2015 CFL Draft.
“It’s truly an honour to come home and play in front of my friends and family,” Covington said.
“I’ve continued to follow the Lions throughout my professional career and it gives me great excitement to join the team at a pivotal time in franchise history. We all understand and embrace the goal of bringing the Grey Cup back home.”
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Covington (six-foot-two, 300 pounds)- moves back north after suiting up in 102 NFL games over the last nine seasons. A sixth-round draft pick of the Houston Texans in 2015, the big defensive tackle would suit up in 50 games with the squad while registering 39 combined tackles and 7.5 sacks.
He would also suit up in four total playoff games in his time with the Texans: 2015 AFC Wild Card Game, 2016 AFC Wild Card Game, 2016 AFC Divisional Game and 2018 AFC Wild Card Game.
Covington signed with the Dallas Cowboys for 2019 and racked up 28 combined tackles and a sack across 16 games. From there, he moved to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 where he suited up in 16 games with 39 combined tackles.
With the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021, Covington established a new career-high of 52 combined tackles plus one forced fumble in 16 games before appearing in four more contests with the Bolts in 2022. After attending 2023 training camp with the Detroit Lions, he would return for another stint with the Chargers and remained on their practice squad for the balance of the season.
Covington attended Rice University from 2011-14 with his best season coming in 2013 where he earned All-Conference USA First-Team honours after recording 43 total tackles, 11.5 tackles for a loss and four sacks.
He is the son of Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee and former Hamilton star defensive end Grover Covington. Christian was a standout at Vancouver College, helping the Fighting Irish capture the 2010 BC High School championship while also earning Provincial Defensive MVP honours that season.