Chad Kelly becomes the first million-dollar player of CFL salary-cap era

Posted by Admin October 28, 2026 NFL

Quarterback Chad Kelly said earlier this year that he’d still like to return to the NFL. For now, he’ll continue to play in the CFL.

And he’ll be paid more than any player in the Canadian league’s 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 due to become a free agent after the current season.

Nathan Rourke was the CFL’s highest-paid player in 2026, at a salary of $684,700. Kelly ranked second, at $625,000.

Kelly was the last pick of the 2017 draft. After his NFL career fizzled out, in 2020, he landed in the CFL in 2022 and has flourished there.

To date, he has had no opportunities to follow in the footsteps of Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Joe Theismann, and Joe Kapp as quarterbacks who parlayed CFL success into NFL careers. At some point, why wouldn’t a team in the quarterback-needy NFL give Kelly a look?