TORONTO, CANADA - JULY 4: CFL regular season game action between the Hamilton TigerCats and the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field on July 4, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Christian Bender/Toronto Argonauts)
It was a moment the Toronto Argonauts had been waiting for, coming from a player they’re used to getting big plays from.
When Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander took the snap from former Argo Justin Lawrence, he stared down receiver Cole Spieker, who was running an out pattern seven yards downfield, a couple of yards past the first down marker.
Argo cornerback Tarvarus McFadden had seen that movie before and knew how it ended. The Argos were playing cover-3 and the entire play was in front of him. It allowed him to get a great jump on the ball, step in front of Spieker, and intercept the pass.
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The man known as “T-Time” would race 38 yards down the sideline before being forced out of bounds at the Alouettes 15-yard line. A couple of plays later, Deonta McMahon would carry the ball into the end zone, giving the Argos an 18-4 lead.
“I’m sure that he (Alexander) read that I was probably going to be in a deep third,” McFadden told Argonauts.ca. “But I saw him staring at me, so I just jumped and made a play on the ball. It was film, and my Spidey senses were tingling; second and short I figured they were going to go to the sticks, so I just made a play on the ball.”
The word interception has been often used in the same sentence as McFadden’s name. It started at Florida State, where as a sophomore he picked off eight passes, was named an All-American, won the Jack Tatum Award as the best defensive back in the NCAA, and was a finalist for the Bronco Nagurski Award as the top defensive player in the country.
But interceptions have been relatively tough to come by for the Boatmen this year. Through a half-dozen games the team has just four, with McFadden grabbing half of them.
He’s confident things are progressing with the defence and that the picks will come. He feels that players may have been trying to do too much earlier in the season, and that by simply being assignment friendly and letting the game come to them, the big plays will come.
“You’ve just got to know when you can take your chances and makes certain plays and when you can’t,” the Fort Lauderdale, Florida native explained. “If you know you’re in a deep third zone as a defensive back and you see an out route, you can’t drop the out route because maybe you’re exposing something different. You have to trust the guys around you are doing their job, so that your job is a lot easier.”
While McFadden has been making big plays, his fellow starting cornerback Benjie Franklin has been relatively quiet. Not that he isn’t playing well, but he’s still without a pick, and remarkably hasn’t been credited with a pass knockdown. Last year he led the CFL in that category with 13.
He also went on an amazing post-season run in 2024, when he had four interceptions in three games, returning two of them for touchdowns.
How does he see his role in the defence?
“Being that guy that they lean on when it comes down to making plays,” Franklin told Argonauts.ca. “I feel like my time is going to come. I don’t want to rush and think about it too much, when the plays come, they’re going to come. Once I make those plays, I’m not going to stop. I’ll let everything take care of itself.”
That seems to mirror what happened last season. He had a slow start as he was learning the nuances of the Canadian game but became a defensive weapon as the season progressed. It was set a high bar for this season, but it’s one Franklin wants to clear.
“I want to do better than what I did last year,” the Houston, Texas native explained. “I know it’s been a slow start, but I want to take those opportunities whenever I get them. I feel like they’re going to come, so I have to make the best of them and do what I do best. Whenever that ball is in the air, I feel it’s mine, so I’ve got to do what I do.”
Both McFadden and Franklin admit that the win over Winnipeg in last year’s championship game feels like it was yesterday, but yesterday is gone. The Argos have some work to do to get back into a playoff spot, and a Grey Cup rematch with the Blue Bombers on Saturday night at BMO Field may provide the jump start they need.