The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are lining up against a familiar foe on Sunday, but it will be a new face under centre drawing most of their attention.
The Toronto Argonauts are set to usher in the Chad Kelly era when their provincial rivals come to visit in Week 2 and the Ticats won’t be taking the Grey Cup hero lightly in his second career start.
“Well, you can’t deny he is a champion and he’s confident,” head coach Orlondo Steinauer told the Hamilton media this week. “He’s not afraid to make plays when things break down. You’ve got to be on your toes that way and he appears to be able to make the majority of all the throws and make them well.”
Kelly became a household name in the CFL after Argonauts’ starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson suffered a dislocated thumb in the fourth quarter of the 109th Grey Cup. He completed four-of-six passes for 43 yards after coming off the bench and set up the game-winning touchdown with a memorable 20-yard scramble on second-and-15 to upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The 29-year-old signed with the Argos ahead of the 2022 season and ran for six touchdowns as the team’s primary short-yardage quarterback, starting just one game in his first CFL campaign. He went 23-of-35 for 264 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the regular-season finale against Montreal, rushing six times for 35 yards and a score.
While Kelly’s sample size is extremely limited, those on the Ticats’ defence who played with him in Toronto know exactly what he’s capable of.
“Chad is a gamer. One thing I know about Chad is he’s gonna leave it all out there on the field and he’s gonna do everything it takes to help his team win and put the team in the best position possible,” said defensive end Ja’Gared Davis, who was part of Toronto’s championship roster last season.
“He’s a leader, regardless of how people might look at or view him. When he stepped in in the Grey Cup, we had no doubt that he was gonna go out and get the job done. That’s what he did and rest assured, that’s what you’d expect out of him week in and week out. With this being the home opener and him finally being the man, I expect big things from him. I expect nothing less than the best from Chad.”
Chad, the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, first rose to prominence while attending the University of Mississippi, capturing national attention with an upset victory over No. 2 ranked Alabama in 2015. He threw for 6,800 yards, 50 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in two seasons at Ole Miss, but fell to the final pick in the 2017 NFL Draft due to off-the-field concerns.
Kelly would spend four seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts before making his way to Canada but never threw a pass. After a year of tutelage behind Bethel-Thompson, he was named the Argos’ starter when the veteran pivot departed for the USFL this offseason.
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie has been vocal about his belief in the six-foot-two, 212-pound quarterback’s physical talents from the beginning and it will now be up to opposing defences to figure out how to defend them without the benefit of an abundance of film.
“I think he has a decent grasp of their offence and I think there’s gonna be new wrinkles that we’re unprepared for based off of his skill set and the way Ryan sees the best way to use it,” Steinauer acknowledged.
“We’ll better know as the game unfolds what their plan is. Going in, we can only go off of what we’ve seen on tape and off of times when he just obviously wasn’t the starter.”
Despite that unique challenge, strong-side linebacker Chris Edwards, who also played with Kelly last season in Toronto, believes the Ticats have the formula to stop him.
“We’ve got a lot of different coverages and a lot of different looks. Him being a new quarterback, it could kind of throw him off a little bit,” he told reporters this week. “All we’ve got to do is execute, be physical, and stop the run.”
The Ticats (0-1) will kick off against Kelly and the Argos (0-0) at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 18 at BMO Field in Toronto. They are currently point favourites.
