The Toronto Argonauts have extended the anchor of their defense, Canadian LB Henoc Muamba.
There was some question heading into last season as to whether it was wise to add a then 31-year-old linebacker to a young and already star-studded positional group.
It was.
Muamba not only had something left in the tank, he was the star of an outstanding defense. The best way to gauge his effectiveness is to look at how the defense performed when he was on the field compared to when he wasn’t.
According to Will Gertler of Argos Fancast and argosfans.com, during Muamba’s 9+ games patrolling the middle of the field, the Argos allowed 24 fewer rushing yards and 117 fewer passing yards per game, while the completion percentage of opposing quarterbacks dropped almost 8% compared to the 5+ games he missed.
Muamba was also the leader everyone hoped he’d be both on and off the field. In a strange season which saw the team lose their defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, this was perhaps even more valuable than the stats he posted.