The Toronto Argonauts (9-6) have been arguably the hottest team in the Canadian Football League in the second half of the year, with wins in four straight games entering Week 18, but face a tough task in a game against reigning Most Outstanding Player Nathan Rourke and the BC Lions Saturday on TSN.
One of the players most responsible for corralling BC’s dangerous passing attack will be Argonauts safety Bubba Bolden, who has been a revelation in the secondary for Toronto in his second season in the CFL.
Bolden joined First Up on TSN1050 on Friday morning to discuss this week’s game against the Lions, his journey to the CFL and his expectations for the rest of the season.
“It’s big every week,” Bolden said of the upcoming matchup. “We respect our opponents, but at the end of the day, come Saturday, we all gotta go out there on that field and put our team on the line, see who’s better.”
The Lions enter this matchup with the top-ranked offence in the CFL in yardage (430.4 yards per game) and the fourth highest-scoring offence in the league (30.6 points per game).
Rourke has 3,851 passing yards and 20 touchdowns in 12 games played this season.
“We’re up for the challenge and it should be a great game tomorrow,” Bolden said.
The 27-year-old Bolden has been a star in his first season with the Argonauts, who signed the DB the same day he was released by the Montreal Alouettes on July 7 earlier this season. In 11 games with the Argos, Bolden has 66 tackles, one tackle for loss, three sacks and a pass defended.
Playing in Toronto isn’t what he had predicted for himself during a promising stint with the Miami Hurricanes in his college days, but he says he’s come around on playing football north of the border.
“It wasn’t really something I ever envisioned ... I had an injury my senior year of college that kind of derailed my path,” Bolden said. “I ended up making it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent, went to Seattle, then with Cleveland, had a short stint with the Vikings last year in OTAs and then after that my agent was just like ‘you should go up to the CFL, get back to playing again.’
“I just kind of took that opportunity, came up here, was in Montreal originally. Things didn’t work out there, then found myself here in Toronto. It’s been the best move for me and best situation for me since college, honestly. I’m just excited to be playing football again, being back on that field and making an actual impact. It’s been a long journey but it’s been a rewarding one at the same time.”
Bolden endured an unceremonious breakup with the Alouettes that still motivates him now. That motivation may become more prevalent as the season wears on, with the Argonauts slated to play top-seeded Montreal in the season finale and during the postseason in the East Final, should they advance that far.
“We play them the last game of the season, which will be a big game, and then obviously in the playoffs. There’ll be a lot of revenge,” Bolden said. “I got love for the guys over there, I got love for the organization, but at the same time, I think they let something go that they didn’t know that they had.”
The Argonauts have surged in the second half of the season, partially behind a perfect 4-0 record at home. They didn’t play their first home game until Aug. 6, as BMO Field was temporarily used to host matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, forcing the Boatmen to hold camp and practice in Guelph and play on the road for the first two months of the year.
Though Bolden was not with the team during training camp, his outlook aligns with other players on the team in saying that the unusual schedule has helped the team grow closer together. He thinks it will provide a unique advantage in the playoffs down the stretch.
“One hundred per cent. At the very start [of the season], that stretch being in Guelph, it kind of just made our team really come together.” Bolden said. “Being on the road for all those weeks was challenging, but at the same time, it did something for our team ... It put the team in a hard situation, being on the road for pretty much three months.
“Doing that really brought the team together,” Bolden continued. “We had our hardships throughout those times, so coming out on the other side, I feel like now we’re starting to click a lot more and once this train is rolling with these guys over here, it’s going to be hard to stop. We got some real guys over here that can really play football. We’re excited about it, and I think we can go all the way and win it all.”
