The 2026 CFL season will be brimming with a lot of the things we’ve come to expect from the great northern league.
Spectacular runs and catches, sparkling defensive plays, momentum swings galore and drama, drama, drama.
And what else? Milestones. Plenty of them.
The league’s senior director, player and game statistics, Jeff Krever, recently assembled a lengthy list of possible milestone reaches for the upcoming season, and I’ve narrowed it down to a list of seven that really intrigue me.
By the way, Jeff is nearing his own milestone in 2026, as I do believe he is now just a dozen or so away from answering, like, ten thousand of my email inquiries on something statistical.
Here are seven notable markers on the 2026 milestones watch.
WILLIE JEFFERSON 100 CAREER KNOCKDOWNS
Oh, how I love to watch Willie Jefferson reach up and swat the moon from the sky.
Winnipeg’s defensive end extraordinaire keeps insisting he be part of a conversation that is mostly reserved for defensive backs.
But last season, Big Willie took over second spot on the all-time knockdowns list, finishing the year at 94, jumping over Argo great Adrion Smith (90) in the process.
Next stop, 100 career knockdowns.
After that? Maybe, just maybe, he can reel in the all-time leader, former Stampeder and Roughrider Eddie Davis (played for the Birmingham Barracudas too), who finished with 111 rejections, almost all of them far, far from the line of scrimmage.
Willie Jefferson bats it down!
That’s his 15th pass knockdown of the season!#CFLGameday
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Jefferson led all defenders in 2025 with 16 knockdowns and if he matches that total in 2026, he’d be just one back of Davis at season’s end.
In the top 50 of the all-time pass knocker-downers, there is only one other defensive lineman on the list and that is Anwar Stewart, tied for 32nd with 45 in 184 career games with Calgary and Montreal.
Jefferson has gotten his 94 in 178 games.
When it comes to stopping the pass at the earliest of moments, Willie Jefferson stands alone, with the century mark looming large in 2026.
ZACH COLLAROS AND TREVOR HARRIS 40,000 PASSING YARDS
The 40,000 yards mark is a big, big one in the world of pro quarterbacking.
Hamilton’s Bo Levi Mitchell crossed that threshold last season, leaping over hall-of-famers Doug Flutie and Matt Dunigan in the process, landing in eighth spot (with 44,319 yards at season’s end), and the immortal Ron Lancaster — one of only seven QBs to ever pass the 50,000 yards mark — next in line above him.
With Winnipeg’s Zach Collaros and Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris both starting their careers in Toronto as understudies to Ricky Ray (fourth on the list at 60,736) back in 2012, it feels fitting that they might each reach this milestone in the same season.
Harris (37,697 yards) is closest, with Collaros not far behind (35,983).
Harris, in particular, has a shot at unseating the 10-place Flutie (41,355) this season, standing 3,658 yards behind the six-time MOP.
Only 11 quarterbacks have ever gotten to 40,000 yards, and in 2026 we might see two more added to that list.
VERNON ADAMS JR. AND CODY FAJARDO 25,000 PASSING YARDS
As with Collaros and Harris crossing 40K, having Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo and Calgary’s Vernon Adams Jr. hit the same milestone in the same season would feel a bit sympathetic, considering their respective journeys.
Each of them faced an extended period of struggle when it came to being considered starting quarterbacks, and each of them persevered.
Fajardo (21,407 career yards) seemed rooted in ‘sneak’ mode, considered the guy who could trot off the sideline and barge ahead for you in short yardage. But injuries to pivots ahead of him on the depth chart led him to getting a starting opportunity in Saskatchewan.
Adams (20,437 yards), too, had trouble being taken seriously as QB1. He even agreed to play receiver at one time in order to keep on playing football. Then, a second debut with the Alouettes got him more playing time and an upward trajectory as a quarterback.
Each has been overlooked. And then performed. And been discarded. And then performed again.
And now they’re each on the brink of 25,000 yards, a foothold that would put them within sight of 30k and perhaps even a spot in the top 20, all-time, somewhere down the road.
T.J. LEE 700 CAREER TACKLES
All hail veteran BC Lions defender T.J. Lee.
The 35-year-old from Seattle enters his 12th CFL season — all with the Lions — with 615 tackles, placing him 18th on the all-time list and second in Lions’ history, behind only Solomon Elimimian (833).
It’s all the more impressive when you consider the Lions released Lee ahead of the 2025 season before signing him once again last September, at which time he showed off his adhesive qualities, helping greatly to pull together what had been an underperforming defence.
He’ll need — by a smidge — his biggest season ever to get to 700, as 82 tackles in a single campaign is his career high, accomplished twice.
A 32-tackle season would get him to 15th all-time, ahead of Larry Wruck. 53 tackles would land him in 12th spot, passing CFL greats Don Wilson, Calvin Tiggle and Kyries Hebert.
It should be noted that Montreal’s Micah Awe (568) and Saskatchewan’s Jameer Thurman (529) are poised to hit the 600-tackle level in 2026, with BC’s Darnell Sankey (456) and Garry Peters (440) as well as Toronto’s Cameron Judge (435) all approaching 500 tackles. If free agent Branden Dozier (448) signs on somewhere, you can add him to that list.
ALEXANDRE GAGNÉ 150 SPECIAL TEAMS TACKLES
The CFL’s active leader in special teams tackles with 129, Montreal Alouette linebacker Alexandre Gagné has racked up that total in eight seasons, the first three spent in Saskatchewan.
In 2025, he hit a personal best with 25 STT, finishing second to teammate Tyrell Richards (30). Gagné tied the CFL record for special teams tackles in a single game (seven) in a Week 1 bout against Toronto.
The 34-year-old native of Saint-Hubert, QC needs only nine special teams tackles to take over the Alouettes’ club record of 94, held by Chip Cox.
Getting to 150 would land Gagné in 14th spot, all-time.
RENÉ PAREDES 2,500 POINTS
Placekicker René Paredes has been a dependable, rock-solid constant for the Calgary Stampeders, ever since he first booted for them back in 2011.
And I’m not just talking about his incredible talent for providing almost exactly the same expression for his headshot photo year after year, after year (look it up, it’s astounding).
In his 15th season as a Stampeder, the 41-year-old has a chance to get to the 2,500 point plateau with a mere 43 points.
Along the way, Paredes can reach the 250 games played mark with three more. (Note: BC kicker Sean Whyte is nine games away from the 250 milestone and Winnipeg offensive lineman Stanley Bryant is 17 games away)
Paredes is a fair distance back of Mark McLoughlin’s club record for points (2,957) but he could possibly surpass him, this season, for the franchise lead in field goals.
Paredes has 629 to his credit, and that’s 35 shy of McLoughlin.
NIC DEMSKI, EUGENE LEWIS AND REGGIE BEGELTON 500 RECEPTIONS
Winnipeg receiver Nic Demski might only need one game to hit this sterling milestone, heading into the season with 494 catches over his first 10 CFL seasons, a total that makes him the league’s active leader in passes caught.
Ottawa’s Eugene Lewis is next, with a total of 473 (eight seasons), so he’ll need a few games to cross the same frontier.
Calgary’s Reggie Begelton (427 catches in eight seasons) would probably already be past the marker had he not seen his 2025 campaign ended by a serious leg injury in Week 2.
Three of the league’s more dominant receivers of the last decade, all looking for the same milestone in 2026.
