When Pro Football Focus released its June rankings it confirmed what the Toronto Argonauts already knew; their offensive tackles are having a tremendous start to the season.
Isiah Cage mans the left side of the line and was named the CFL’s best offensive tackle with a rating of 75.7. Dejon Allen mans the right side and earned a grade of 75.4, with the entire o-line leading the league with a group score of 72.7.
CFL fans may have learned about Allen for the first time last season when he was voted the league’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. Those same fans my not know much about Cage, whose CFL career has been extremely frustrating to date.
The Chicago native is the longest tenured Argo player, joining the team in 2018. But due to a horrendous run of bad luck he played just 13 games in his first four seasons due to injuries. Perhaps the cruelest came in 2021. He was dominant in training camp, virtually unbeatable in one-on-one drills. Then, during the last scrimmage play of the day, he suffered a season-ending leg injury.
He bounced back last year, remaining relatively healthy. The Wisconsin Eau-Claire product played in 10 regular season games plus the Eastern Final and – touch wood – has been healthy this season.
The PFF recognition has helped validate the hard work it took to return.
“Everything I’ve had to go through just to get to that point, it does help justify it,” Cage told Argonauts.ca. “I’ve always believed that regardless of the injuries I could still play at a high level. It is good to get out there and show that, and kind of put it on paper per se.”
The 6’5”, 312-pound tackle is right, he is playing at a high level. Aside from Cage himself, perhaps the person happiest about his recognition is Allen, who understands how much work his teammate has done to get back to this level.
“I tell him all the time how happy I am to see him back on the field,” Allen told Argonauts.ca. “He’s a great guy to be around. He’s very physical. He’s one of the most physical players I’ve ever played with, so I love to see him on the field.”
While he’s pleased with the recognition, Cage hates talking about it. He hesitated when asked about the acknowledgement, but when pushed, finally admitted it was rewarding.
“I don’t like to put too much into that stuff,” he said. “I just like to keep my head down and keep working. Obviously, for the o-line it is nice to get recognition for something that isn’t negative; a lot of time people only notice us when we’re not doing our job, so it’s not bad to get some recognition, but it’s over the course of a month so you can’t read too much into that.”
You can, however, look to the data that would back up the accolades. Perhaps the most obvious – and the stat most gratifying to an offensive lineman – is that the Argonauts lead the league in rushing with 135.6 yards per game, a full 26.8 yards per game more than second place Calgary.
That doesn’t mean they can’t be even better, according to Allen.
“There’s always room for improvement,” said the Compton, California product. “You talk to our offensive line coach (Kris) Sweet; he’s never satisfied. Never satisfied,” he added with a smile.
Despite taking home the hardware last year as the CFL’s top o-lineman, during the off-season Allen continued to try and up his game. He feels that he’s playing even better than he did last year.
In which area does he think he’s shown the most improvement?
“Probably my pass blocking,” said Allen. “I’ve been doing pretty well at pass blocking. Run blocking is something I can work on. I think I’m doing well on both ends.”
He has been, as has the rest of the group.
One of the hardest things for an offence to do is run the ball when the other team is expecting it. Last week against a very good Alouettes defence, the Argos entered the fourth quarter with a 27-18 lead and wanted to keep the ball on the ground to help kill the clock.
They ran five times for 29 yards on their first drive of the final quarter, culminating in a five-yard touchdown run by Deonta McMahon. On their final drive, and now nursing a 16-point lead, they ran the ball nine times for 41 yards, leading to a Lirim Hajrullahu field goal.
The drive took 6:58 off the clock.
It’s that kind of production that bodes well for the Argos. The interior group of Ryan Hunter, Peter Nicastro, and Gregor Mackellar has also been playing at a level high enough to compensate for the loss of 2023 CFL all-star centre Darius Ciraco, who has been out with an injury.
The five pack will be tested on Saturday in Hamilton against a physical Tiger-Cat front seven, hungry for a win after starting the season with five consecutive losses.