Esks.com Staff
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Eskimos have signed free agent offensive lineman Cliff Washburn, the club announced today.
Washburn (6-6, 315 lbs) played with both Toronto (2008) and Saskatchewan (2009) before returning to the NFL. The 31 year old native of Shelby, North Carolina has had stints in the NFL with Chicago, NY Giants, Denver, Minnesota, Dallas and Houston, where he saw action at defensive end, tight end and tackle.
He was a two year starting defensive lineman for Hamburg in NFL Europe. He spent the 2010 as the starting left tackle with Las Vegas in the UFL.
Washburn was a basketball star at the Citadel where he scored over 1,200 career points. He didn’t take up football until his senior year when he became the starting defensive end and tied a single season school record with 12 sacks.
Eskimo General Manager Eric Tillman says “Cliff’s size and athleticism gives us with some interesting ratio flexibility on our O-line. Tim Prinsen is a excellent young coach, and we believe the addition of Cliff will not only improve the overall talent in his group, but also light a few competitive fires. As we have said from the outset, protecting Ricky Ray is one of our top priorities”.
