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CFL.ca Staff
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MONTREAL — The Alouettes announced on Tuesday morning that the club has re-signed import linebacker Kyries Hebert and non-import long snapper Martin Bédard to a pair of new three-year deals.
The team also announced that non-import kicker Sean Whyte has signed on for another two seasons.
Hebert thrived last season after undergoing a position change at training camp, as the safety-turned-linebacker played a big role in the Alouettes’ stifling defence. The 32-year-old Eunice, Louisiana native had racked up a league-leading seven sacks in the first five games of the 2013 CFL season and was named the CFL’s Defensive Player of the Month for July. He finished the season with nine sacks — good for third place among Alouettes.
Hebert tallied a career-best 68 defensive tackles with the Alouettes last year, including one forced fumble as well as a fumble recovery. In addition to his duties on defence, the second-year Alouette also contributed on special teams with six tackles.
In Week 5 against Edmonton, Hebert wreaked havoc among the Eskimos offence, racking up a season-high 10 defensive tackles and a pair of quarterback sacks in a 32-27 win at Percival Molson Stadium. It was a performance that also earned him the CFL’s Defensive Player of the Week honours.
The Alouettes linebacker was also named the winner of the CFL’s 2013 Tom Pate Award during the league’s Most Outstanding Player Awards gala in Regina.
Bédard continues to be a valuable commodity for the Alouettes on special teams as he has consistently delivered perfect snaps on field goal attempts, extra points, and punts over his past five seasons — all with Montreal.
In 2013, the Laval-native played in the club’s first seven games before sustaining a shoulder injury which brought his season to an abrupt end.
Bédard has seen action in 79 career contests with Montreal and has recorded 36 special teams tackles.
Bédard played his AAA collegiate football with the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal Spartiates and his Midget AAA football with the Laval Bulldogs.
Whyte played in all 18 regular season games last season, kicking 127 punts for 5,317 yards, maintaining an average of 41,8 yards per punt while adding seven singles.
Whyte earned the CFL’s Special Teams Player of the Week honours after matching his career-best six field goals in a single game, accounting for 18 of the Alouettes’ 36 points in a Week 5 victory over Edmonton. Last year, he connected on 41 of his 50 field goal attempts on his way to being named an East Division All-Star.
In 2011, he etched his name into the Alouettes’ record books by breaking the team’s all-time consecutive field goals mark with 24, shattering the previous club record of 21 set by Don Sweet in 1976.
