Montreal Alouettes want veteran safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy back for 2026 season

Head coach Jason Maas wants Marc-Antoine Dequoy to remain with the Montreal Alouettes, but says the ball firmly remains in the all-star safety’s court regarding his CFL future.

The six-foot-one, 195-pound Montreal native has spent his entire five-year CFL career with the Alouettes. He has appeared in two Grey Cups, winning in 2023, and earned two league all-star nods.

But the former Montreal Carabins star is slated to become a free agent Feb. 10 and has yet to sign an extension with the club.

“Marc-Antoine Dequoy knows how I feel about him … I know he knows how we (Maas and general manager Danny Maciocia) feel about him,” Maas said Monday during a zoom call from Calgary before the CFL winter meetings. “We’ve presented stuff to him, he’s got to make the ultimate decision, it’s his choice.

“I always like to tell our players at the beginning of training camp every year and I tell them at the end of the season, business is business but it’s also a choice. It’s a choice they make and it’s a choice we make but when the offer is presented, it’s their choice to accept and be a part of us as well. I’ll be excited if Dequoy is back.”

Dequoy, 31, registered 38 tackles (34 on defence, four on special teams), three sacks, one interception and a defensive touchdown in 15 regular-season games last year. Over five CFL seasons, he has registered 162 tackles, 21 special-teams tackles, three sacks, 12 interceptions, three defensive touchdowns and five forced fumbles in 73 regular-season contests.

He was a CFL all-star in 2023 and ’24.

“I’ve had multiple conversations with him,” Maciocia said. “I’ve sat down with his agent and we’ve had several discussions also.

“I think there’s a strong desire from his end to play in Montreal and even end his career in Montreal. I’m going to say I hope so (Dequoy re-signs), I’m banking on it. I would bet on it but I can’t guarantee you that will be the case.”

Maciocia sees a place for Dequoy with the Alouettes after his playing days.

“I can see him in the future being an ambassador for our organization,” he said. “I want that attachment and that link to exist for the longest of time.

“Now, just because it (extension) hasn’t come to fruition just yet … that doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t happen. There’s a strong appetite and desire from both ends to get it done but we’ll see how it all unfolds here over the next little while.”

Another big question this off-season for Montreal is the health of quarterback Davis Alexander, who was limited to seven regular-season starts due to a hamstring injury. Alexander led Montreal to a Grey Cup appearance versus Saskatchewan but again aggravated the hamstring late in the club’s 25-17 loss to the Roughriders at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium.

“I think we text every two or three days:” Maciocia said of Alexander. “He’s a big hockey fan so he’s checking in on what the Canadiens are doing, he’s a big (Colorado Avalanche) fan.

“They (Avs) are in town Jan. 29 so we’re going to try and schedule a little get-together, have him come down and catch a hockey game and at the same time we’ll have our medical people take a good, hard look at him. Even moving forward after that, the mindset is to have him in here every five-to-six weeks and just make sure we’ve got a quarterback that’s 100 per cent coming to training camp and again making sure there are no surprises.”

Maciocia said he won’t re-sign veteran American defensive end Shawn Lemon in free agency, especially with Canadians Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund, Joshua Archibald and Lwal Uguak on the roster. But he and Maas are still discussing whether the Alouettes will re-sign veteran quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who posted a 3-5 record in his eight starts last season, his first with the club.

Bethel-Thompson, 37, is slated to become a free agent next month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2026.