All-star linebacker Adam Bighill has signed a two-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The 34-year-old Bighill was scheduled to become a free agent in February 2023.

Bighill will return to Winnipeg for a fifth season and his 11th in the Canadian Football League. 

He led the Blue Bombers in total defensive plays in 2022, with 72 tackles, two sacks, one interception and one tackle for a loss.

He was named a West Division All-Star for the eighth time in his career and a CFL Players’ Association All-Star for a fifth time. 

Bighill is a three-time winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player award, earning the honour in 2015, 2018 and 2021.

His 72 tackles this year moved him into seventh place on the CFL’s all-time list with 817.

A three-time Grey Cup champion — 2019 and 2021 with the Blue Bombers and 2011 with the BC Lions — Bighill has played in 164 games in his CFL career, including 65 over the last four seasons in Winnipeg.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2022.