As the 2026 season approaches, CFL.ca has a new series making the case for every team as a contender to win the 113th Grey Cup, highlighting three reasons why each club has a path to the championship. The series is not intended to make predictions, but to showcase the strengths and potential routes for each team entering the new campaign.
TORONTO — A year removed from a 5-13 season, the Toronto Argonauts look much more like the team that won two Grey Cups in three years than the one that missed the playoffs in 2025.
With key pieces back in place, 2026 presents an opportunity to prove that last season was a blip, not the closing of their championship window.
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1. CHAD KELLY UNDER CENTRE
The biggest factor to Toronto’s potential success in 2026 will be quarterback Chad Kelly.
The 2023 Most Outstanding Player returns after missing the entire 2025 season with a leg injury.
His return comes in a different environment. With head coach Ryan Dinwiddie off to Ottawa, the Argos promoted quarterbacks coach Mike Miller, maintaining continuity within a system that has produced elite quarterback play in each of the past three seasons.
Under Miller’s guidance since 2022, McLeod Bethel-Thompson led the CFL in passing yards, Kelly won MOP, and Nick Arbuckle earned Grey Cup MVP honours in 2024.
Kelly now returns as the clear starter, already having shown he can carry a team to a Grey Cup, while Arbuckle gives Toronto one of the strongest backup situations in the league.
“It’s weird, but I would say Toronto,” said Hamilton linebacker Wynton McManis, who departed from Toronto this off-season, when asked which team improved the most over the winter. “They got the quarterback back.”
If Kelly returns to form, Toronto doesn’t just improve, it immediately re-enters the Grey Cup conversation.
2. OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
With stability at quarterback restored, Toronto’s offence is positioned to be one of the most productive groups in the CFL.
The Argos already have a receiver group that has proven it can produce at a high level. Damonte Coxie was on pace for a 1,500-yard season in 2025 before injury cut him short, while Kevin Mital led the CFL with 102 receptions as the league’s most reliable possession target. Jake Herslow added nine touchdowns in just 13 games, finishing second in the CFL in receiving scores.
Makai Polk adds another layer after flashing 1,000-yard potential as a rookie in 2024. After spending most of last season in the NFL and rejoining the squad in Week 13, he showed he still has that big-play ability despite inconsistent quarterback play down the stretch.
What this group lacked in 2025 was time together. Coxie, Mital, Herslow and Polk combined for just 47 of a possible 72 starts, rarely sharing the field at full strength.
Now, they enter 2026 healthy, under 30, and with a full training camp alongside Kelly.
“(We’re) a lot better than we were last year,” said Polk during the CFL’s off-season content capture in April. “If we can execute and play the right way, a Grey Cup is possible.”
With continuity in place, the expectation is it shows up every week.
3. BRINGING BACK THE GREY CUP GANG ON DEFENCE
PICKETT SAYS NO WAY!
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🇨🇦: TSN, RDS
🌎: CFL+#CFL pic.twitter.com/lT2N7mxqJP— CFL (@CFL) July 20, 2025
After two Grey Cup wins in three seasons, Toronto’s defensive core was picked apart heading into 2025, and the drop-off was immediate. The Argos allowed a league-high 32.4 points per game last season.
This off-season, the focus shifted to bringing back players who already know how to win in Toronto.
The Argos reintroduced DaShaun Amos, Ralph Holley, and Robert Priester, all Grey Cup champions with the club. The reunion continued with linebacker Adarius Pickett returning after a productive stint in Ottawa.
“Pickett’s been putting in the work,” said Coxie. “He was cutting up in Ottawa, he was going crazy over there. He’s just bringing that energy back.”
This is a group that understands the system and expectations in Toronto. After a season spent searching for consistency, the Argos are betting that familiarity can stabilize the defence.
If that happens, it won’t need to carry the team. It just needs to complement an offence capable of doing the rest.
