Quarterback Chad Kelly said this earlier this year he still wants to return to the NFL. For now, he will continue to play in the CFL.
And he will be paid more than any player in the Canadian league salary cap era.
Via Justin Dunk of 3DownNation.com, Kelly’s new five-year, $5.55 million contract with the Toronto Argonauts makes him the first million dollar player since the CFL implemented a team-by-team spending limit.
Kelly, now 32, was set to become a free agent after the current season.
Nathan Rourke was the CFL’s highest-paid player in 2026, with a salary of $684,700. Kelly came in second, with $625,000.
Kelly was the last pick of the 2017 draft. After his NFL career failed, in 2020, he landed in the CFL in 2022 and has flourished there.
To date, he has not had the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Joe Theismann and Joe Kapp as quarterbacks who shared CFL success in NFL careers. At some point, why wouldn’t an NFL team in need of a quarterback take a look at Kelly?
