Argos leaning toward leaving Chad Kelly on injured list for entire season
Written by The Canadian Press on October 3, 2025
TORONTO — The odds are good that Chad Kelly won’t play a down this season for the Toronto Argonauts.
The CFL’s outstanding player in 2023 has spent the entire season on the injured list recovering from the serious leg injury he suffered in last year’s East Division final. Veteran Nick Arbuckle will start Saturday when Toronto (5-9) hosts the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (9-5) with its playoff hopes hanging by a thread.
Hamilton can eliminate the defending Grey Cup champions from playoff contention with a victory. The contest is Toronto’s final this season at BMO Field, while the Ticats will play their last regular-season road game.
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie has kept the door open to Kelly’s return all season. He did so again Friday, but added the club is leaning toward leaving the veteran quarterback on the six-game injured list for the remainder of the campaign.
“I think that’s kind of the writing on the wall,” Dinwiddie said. “We haven’t really made a definite decision on that, but that’s kind of where we’re leaning.
“We’ll see. You never know, but I think that’s probably the safest bet, and that’s kind of where we’re at.”
The expectation is that will happen should Hamilton win Saturday. With no playoff games to look ahead to, there’d be no viable reason for the Argos to play Kelly and risk him either aggravating the leg ailment or suffering a different injury.
The six-foot-one, 216-pound Kelly suffered a fractured right tibia and fibula in Toronto’s 30-28 East Division final win over Montreal last year. Arbuckle replaced Kelly in the conference final, then led the Argos to their 41-24 Grey Cup win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last November.
Arbuckle was named the game MVP after passing for 252 yards and two TDs with two interceptions. On Saturday, Arbuckle will make his 14th start this season for Toronto.
Jarret Doege made the other start for Toronto while Arbuckle was out with a calf injury.
Arbuckle has performed admirably this season, standing second in CFL passing (4,370 yards, just 36 behind leader Bo Levi Mitchell of Hamilton). Arbuckle also has 26 TDs — two behind Mitchell — and completed 72.6 per cent of his passes despite having been sacked a league-high 38 times.
Kelly is in his fourth season with Toronto. The native of Buffalo, N.Y. — who’s also the nephew of former Buffalo Bills star quarterback Jim Kelly — has completed 471 of 697 passes (67.6 per cent) for 6,871 yards in 45 career CFL regular-season games with 35 TDs and 23 interceptions.
He has been part of two Grey Cup-winning Argos teams (2022, ’24).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2025.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press