The Calgary Stampeders have signed national defensive back Courtney Stephen, who spent the first six seasons of his CFL career with Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In 96 career regular-season games for the Ticats, the 29-year-old Brampton, Ont., native amassed 221 defensive tackles including nine tackles for loss, 39 special-teams tackles, 12 interceptions, two sacks, six forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 16 knockdowns. Stephen also played nine post-season contests for Hamilton including the 2014 Grey Cup.

“Courtney is an established CFL veteran who has experience as a starter at safety and has also excelled on special teams,” said Stampeders president and general manager John Hufnagel. “He provides depth for us in both of those areas and he’ll certainly have an opportunity to earn a significant role on the team in training camp.”

In 2018, Stephen led the Ticats with 17 special-tackles. He also had six defensive tackles, one interception and one forced fumble. Stephen dressed for both of Hamilton’s playoff games and recorded one special-teams tackle.

“I’m really excited to be joining a first-class organization and I’m looking forward to winning lots of games,” said Stephen. “At this stage of my career, winning the Grey Cup is the most important thing to me and there’s no better place to try and do that than with the defending champions.”

Stephen is a previous teammate of three current Stamps players – Junior Turner in community football, Rob Maver in high school and Juwan Brescacin in university.