Photo: Reuben Polansky/3DownNation. All rights reserved.
Despite missing the entire 2025 season due to injury and recently turning 32, Chad Kelly still has hopes of making it back to the NFL.
“(Returning to the NFL is) always the goal,” Kelly told Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “It’s always a goal of quarterbacks, whatever league you’re in, is to get to the top of the top. … My talent speaks for itself.”
Kelly most recently played in the CFL’s East Final in 2024, when he suffered a broken tibia and fibula. Though the Argonauts were hopeful he would return to the field at some point in 2025 — he even teased a comeback on social media in September — he was ultimately shut down for the year.
Now fully healthy, Kelly will be the Week 1 starter for Toronto in 2026, barring any unforeseen setbacks.
The six-foot-one, 215-pound passer was dominant the last time he played a full season in 2023, winning the league’s Most Outstanding Player award. He threw for 4,123 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, and rushed 40 times for 248 yards and eight scores. He led the Argonauts to a 16-2 regular-season record, the best in franchise history.
“I just have a relentless pursuit of being great, of trying to be perfect,” said Kelly. “Every time I step on the field, I got to do my job and that’s how I tried to control (that season). I managed the game and then when the game needed a play to be made, I made the play. The receivers showed up every day trying to get better and the same with the offensive line. It’s a collaborative effort. Anytime anybody wins an MVP, it’s not just them.”
Kelly addressed his 2018 arrest, which prompted his release from the Denver Broncos. He was the team’s No. 2 quarterback behind Case Keenum at the time, having beaten out former first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch for the role in training camp.
The quarterback was arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal trespassing for allegedly entering a private residence after attending a team party, where he admitted to police he’d been drinking. He subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanour second-degree criminal trespassing.
“I wish I would have stayed home that night,” he said. “You definitely regret it. You’re definitely young and dumb.”
“I knew mentally I wasn’t in a good place. I think there were a lot of things and emotions that I let get in the way of things and now I can learn to control myself. I’ve obviously worked on what I needed to get help with, and I did. And now I feel like I’m a new person. I’m a father, I’m a husband now. I just want to represent my last name and my family’s name in the right light and hopefully change things.”
Kelly was less forthcoming about his 2024 suspension, though he told Tomasson he’s still limited in terms of what he can say about it.
“Let’s say that the real story will get out,” said Kelly. “When we’re allowed to say the real thing, the real thing will show up in light and I think they’ll be some people wondering.”
The native of Buffalo, N.Y., was suspended for the first nine regular-season games in 2024 after a third-party investigation concluded he violated its gender-based violence and harassment policy. The CFL launched the investigation in response to a lawsuit that was filed by a former team employee, who claimed she was fired by the Argonauts after rejecting Kelly’s romantic advances. The case was settled out of court, and no criminal charges were ever filed.
It appears Kelly has moved on. He and his wife, Theresa, are expecting their second child in May. He also launched the Chad Kelly Foundation, which benefits children with mental health issues and disabilities.
“You realize you do things at a younger age and you can be young and dumb, but then you become a father, a husband and you start a foundation and a lot changes,” said Kelly. “Things happen and you just try to grow. I wish I’d met my wife 15 years earlier because I think I’d be on a way different path.”
Jim Barker, Toronto’s director of player personnel, told Tomasson he doesn’t envision Kelly getting an NFL shot due in part to his age. He still holds the quarterback in extremely high esteem, however, suggesting 2026 will be the best season of his CFL career.
“I think he’ll be better than he was before (the injury),” said Barker. “I think he has a better understanding of the league. … I wouldn’t trade him for any quarterback in the league.”
With CFL training camps set to open in less than a month, it won’t be long before fans get a chance to see Kelly back on the field. The Argonauts will hold training camp in Guelph, Ont., where the team will be based until the end of the World Cup, which has taken over BMO Field for the first part of the summer.
“I pray that I’m healthy and I have a great season,” said Kelly. “We do great things, and you never know (about being back in the NFL). You leave it in God’s hands.”
