The Toronto Argonauts announced that they have signed free agent Global defensive lineman Thiadric Hansen from Germany.
Hansen, 31, played four games with Winnipeg in 2023, tallying three defensive tackles, one sack, and two forced fumbles. In 2022, he suited up for 10 games recording three tackles. Hansen spent the 2021 season with the Bombers after an outstanding 2020 season with the Wroclaw Panthers in the Poland’s Liga Futbou Amerykanskiego where he played after the 2020 CFL season was cancelled due to COVID-19. With the delay to the start of the CFL season, Hansen joined the Cologne Centurions for part of the European League of Football season before Winnipeg came calling again.
The 6’2″, 243 pound native of Flensburg, Germany was the crown jewel of the Canadian Football League Global Initiative. He was selected 2nd overall in the 2019 CFL European Draft after posting outstanding numbers including a 38″ vertical (best among global players and third overall). He converted from linebacker to defensive end with the Bombers in 2019 and grew into a key part of the defensive line rotation by the end of the season. Hansen suited up in every Bombers game and recorded five tackles, a sack and two forced fumbles in limited playing time. His role increased as the season progressed, and he contributed with two memorable plays in the 2019 Grey Cup playoff run – a critical tackle on one of the two goal-line stands in the Western Final win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and then a colossal hit on a kickoff return in the Grey Cup that levelled two Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Hansen spent the six seasons with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in the GFL before signing to play with the Potsdam Royals. From 2012 to 2018, he recorded 527 tackles plus 62 tackles for loss, leading the team in tackles from 2016 to 2018.
