Staying in the Six: Oakman re-signs with Argos; Clements joins club

CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO — Shawn Oakman is staying in the double blue.

The veteran defensive lineman has agreed to a new deal with the Toronto Argonauts, the team announced on Wednesday. He hit the open market on Tuesday.

The Argos also announced that they have released defensive lineman Thomas Costigan and signed linebacker Malik Clements.

Oakman, 31, played 15 games in 2023 and recorded 27 defensive tackles, six sacks, and one forced fumble in his third CFL season. The six-foot-nine, 286-pound defensive lineman joined the Argos in 2021 and was nominated as a CFL All-Star that season after a six-sack campaign.

The Texas native would follow up his rookie season with a Division All-Star nod in 2022 after another six-sack season, capping it off with a Grey Cup championship. For his career, Oakman has tallied 90 defensive tackles, 18 sacks, and two forced fumbles in 45 regular-season games.

Clements, 27, played 12 games for Winnipeg last season recording 23 defensive tackles, six special teams tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble. The six-foot, 216-pound linebacker spent the last two seasons with the Bombers, going to the Grey Cup each year after playing seven games for Edmonton in 2021.

For his career, the Virginia native has recorded 65 defensive tackles, 12 special teams tackles, four sacks and one forced fumble in 31 career games. The University of Cincinnati (2015-2018) alum played 50 games for the Bearcats and tallied 197 tackles, nine for loss, two sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Costigan was signed by the Argos in 2023 after two years with the Edmonton Elks (2021-2022). Overall the defensive lineman had six sacks, 17 defensive tackles and two forced fumbles in 13 games with the Boatmen.

Finally, the Argos also announced they have signed American defensive lineman LaDarius Hamilton.

Hamilton, 26, spent time with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 after a two-year stint with Green Bay (2021-2023), where the defensive lineman played in nine games, tallying four tackles. The six-foot-two, 260-pound native of Texas broke into the NFL with Dallas in 2020, followed by a stint in Tampa Bay before his move to Lambeau Field.

Hamilton attended North Texas from 2016 to 2019 and over the course of 51 games recorded 121 tackles, 28.5 for loss, 17 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. Named First-Team All-Conference in 2018 and C-USA All-Freshman in 2016.

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