Chad Kelly signs five-year extension to stay with Toronto Argonauts
The quarterback will remain with the CFL club through 2031, with a formal announcement scheduled for Tuesday.
TORONTO · Quarterback Chad Kelly has agreed to a five-year contract extension with the Toronto Argonauts, ensuring the star player remains with the CFL club through the 2031 season. The team has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon at BMO Field to make what it calls a “major announcement.” The deal comes as Kelly was slated to become a free agent in the off-season. Financial details were not immediately available, but Kelly is expected to surpass B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, who reportedly earns over $680,000, as the league’s highest-paid player.
Kelly, 32, is in the final season of a three-year, $1.865-million extension he signed in August 2023, a deal that made him the CFL’s highest-paid player at the time. Talks between Kelly and the Argos were reportedly put on hold last month until the end of the season. The native of Buffalo, N.Y., is enjoying his best statistical CFL season in 2026, having established career highs with 5,067 passing yards and 33 touchdowns, though he has also thrown a career-high 24 interceptions. He did not play in Toronto’s 33-16 home loss to the Montreal Alouettes in the regular-season finale on Friday. Kelly suffered a knee injury in the Argonauts’ 40-39 loss to Ottawa on Oct. 16, but the expectation is he will start Saturday in the East Division semifinal against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at BMO Field.
Kelly joined the Argonauts in 2022 and helped the squad win the Grey Cup that year, replacing an injured McLeod Bethel-Thompson in the fourth quarter as Toronto edged the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23. He became the club’s starter the following season and was named the league’s Most Outstanding Player after completing 270 of 394 passes (68.5 per cent) for 4,123 yards with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while rushing for 248 yards and eight touchdowns, tied for second-most in the CFL. He won 15 of his 16 starts as Toronto posted a 16-2 record, tying the CFL record for most regular-season victories and setting a franchise mark. Kelly rejoined the Argos in 2026 after missing the entire 2025 season due to a leg injury suffered in the 2024 East Division final. Nick Arbuckle replaced Kelly in Toronto’s 30-28 win over Montreal that year, then guided the Argos to a 41-24 Grey Cup victory over Winnipeg, earning game MVP honours. Kelly is the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, the former Buffalo Bills star. Before joining the CFL, Chad Kelly spent time in the NFL with the Denver Broncos (2017-18) and Indianapolis Colts (2019-2020). Denver selected him with the final pick of the 2017 NFL draft out of Ole Miss.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and Sportsnet