With All-CFL voting now open, the comparisons and contentious debates are flowing like water from a broken dam.

With so many quality defenders, the question becomes: who is a lock and what does it take to become one?

To be assured an All-CFL spot means to be head and shoulders above a large group of already above-average players. I’ve decided to pick two players from each of the three defensive levels (line, backers, secondary) with a special seventh pick being the best of the rest, or players on the outside looking in at their respective positional groups.

Is it perfect? Never, but in a crop of playmakers this deep, there aren’t many better ways to sift through the numbers and the impact without chopping it all apart.

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In a balanced year of sack artists near the top of the league standings, or in a season where interceptions were rampant across a handful of players, you could argue that one positional group deserves the vast majority of ‘top defenders’ love here.

However, all three levels have frustrated opposing offences for much of the second half of the season after the scoring machines and ultra-efficient quarterbacks came back down to earth slightly following an unhinged start to 2025.

Micah Awe secures BC’s second INT of the first quarter! 😳

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