Argos make Chad Kelly a million-dollar quarterback

The first time Chad Kelly faced the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League playoffs, he should never have gotten on the field.

But after starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson was injured in the fourth quarter of the 2022 Grey Cup, Kelly stepped into the breach to drive the Toronto Argonauts to an unexpected championship.

Heading into Saturday’s East Division semi-final with Winnipeg, the 32-year-old’s life couldn’t be more different four years on. The Buffalo native has two Grey Cup rings to his name, a most-outstanding-player award, and now, after a showy announcement at BMO Field on Tuesday, a new five-year deal to remain in Toronto as the face of the Argos.

While the exact financials weren’t disclosed by the team, according to TSN, it was for a total of $5,555,250, making Kelly the first million-dollar player in the league’s salary cap era, which began in 2007.

“I came to love Canada on a whole other level that I never knew I could love a place so much [other] than my home,” he said of his five-year CFL tenure. “And now this is my home forever.”

Standing on stage wearing a blue suit in front of his wife and his two children, his parents, and his entire team, Kelly talked about the journey that he has been on since he washed out of the National Football League six years ago after being waived by the Indianapolis Colts. That took him back to one of his alma maters, East Mississippi, where he briefly worked as offensive coach.

The CFL gave him another shot as a player, and he hasn’t looked back. According to Kelly, he won’t be looking south any more either.

“We’re not even talking about that,” he said of the NFL. “It’s CFL now. This is an amazing place. I love this place. This is where I see my future forever.”

His new contract takes him back to a familiar perch as the best-paid player in the league. He had it previously when he signed a three-year deal after his MOP season in 2023 for $1.865-million. But since then, Nathan Rourke of the B.C. Lions had overtaken him, with his $684,700 this year pushing Kelly into second place.

The CFL cap for the 2026 season is just under $6.3-million, but is expected to rise. That’s in no small part due to an increase in broadcast revenues, which are expected to jump from $50-million this year to around $83-million for 2027.

The next five years should allow Kelly to put his permanent imprint on North America’s oldest professional sports franchise, which has been in existence since 1873.

It was left to general manager Michael (Pinball) Clemons, arguably still the CFL’s greatest front man 26 years on from hanging up his cleats, to put Kelly’s stature with the franchise in perspective. The eight-time Grey Cup champion reeled off some of the illustrious names to have played quarterback for the team: Doug Flutie, Condredge Holloway, Damon Allen, Ricky Ray.

For Kelly, who grew up in Western New York as the nephew of former Bills quarterbacking great Jim Kelly, to have an opportunity to chase Flutie, another former Buffalo quarterback, meant everything. Flutie, who played two seasons for the Argos in the mid-nineties, still holds single-season records for passing yards (5,720) and touchdowns (47).

Kelly, who is a little over 8,000 yards behind Ray for the career franchise yardage mark, is coming off a career season when he had 5,067 yards and 33 touchdowns.

“It’s huge,” he said of chasing Flutie’s records. “Obviously, I remember watching him not only in the CFL but at Buffalo and New England, and to be even thinking about there’s a possibility . . .

“Obviously, there’s a lot more work to be put in to be chasing a lot more than just that. Obviously, he’s the epitome. Him and Warren Moon are the epitome of CFL football, right?”

Kelly’s time in the CFL has hardly been spotless. He was suspended the first nine games of the 2024 season after violating the league’s gender-based violence policy. And his entire 2025 season was a write-off after he broke his leg in the 2024 playoffs.

The fact that he was able to successfully return to the field this season, prompting the Argos to commit to him long-term, brought him close to tears at times on Tuesday.

Though his hard work was rewarded, he understands that he can help elevate others around the CFL. Indeed, he expects others to get similar deals. As a guy who at one point during this process explored tying his salary to a percentage of the league’s salary cap, he understands his role as a trail blazer.

“I think this is just an opportunity to show what the value of a starting quarterback in the CFL is,” he said. “That’s how I look at it – to be able to help those guys out and to help everybody out, not just quarterbacks.

“I think there’s a lot of guys that are worthy of five-year deals.”