Vancouver – The BC Lions announced on Tuesday that American defensive back Jalon Edwards-Cooper and American offensive lineman Larnel Coleman have been signed to the team’s practice roster.
Edwards Cooper (five-foot-11, 175 pounds) returns to the Lions after suiting up in 29 regular season games in black and orange from 2021-23 while recording 79 defensive tackles, three interceptions and a forced fumble.
The Texas native registered a career-high 36 tackles in 2023 and scored his first CFL touchdown on a 47-yard blocked field goal return in a week five win over the Montreal Alouettes.
Edwards-Cooper signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on the opening day of 2024 free agency before being released as part of the team’s final training camp cuts.
Before moving north, he suited up in 46 games with the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions from 2016-19 and racked up 139 combined tackles (97 solo, 42 assisted), 16.5 tackles for a loss, 32 pass breakups, six interceptions, five sacks and four forced fumbles.
Coleman (six-foot-six, 310 pounds) joins the Lions after a training camp appearance with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to start 2024. A seventh-round draft pick (231st overall) of the Miami Dolphins in 2021, Coleman spent his rookie season on the practice squad before making one appearance in week three of the 2022 campaign. He would land on the Carolina Panthers’ practice roster to close out 2022 before XFL stints with the Houston Roughnecks and Birmingham Stallions in 2023.
Coleman suited up in 36 games at UMASS from 2017-20 where he appeared at both guard and tackle for the Minutemen.
