GUELPH \u2014 After missing all of last season, waiting another week to open the 2026 campaign is no big deal for Chad Kelly.<\/p>\n
Kelly returns under centre June 12 when Toronto opens its season visiting Montreal. It will mark the quarterback\u2019s first action since suffering a serious leg injury in the Argonauts\u2019 30-28 East Division final win over the Alouettes.<\/p>\n
Veteran Nick Arbuckle finished that contest, then earned MVP honours in Toronto\u2019s 41-24 Grey Cup victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
Kelly\u2019s injury sidelined him for all of 2025. Arbuckle made 15 starts before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury as Toronto (5-13) finished third in the East Division, missing the CFL playoffs.<\/p>\n
Being forced to watch Toronto struggle was a bitter pill to swallow for Kelly, the CFL\u2019s outstanding player in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely was,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time you watch a snap, you\u2019re asking, \u2018What would you do? How would you react? What would you be thinking on this play?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYou overthink it so much but that\u2019s in your DNA \u2026 that\u2019s playing ball. This is a special place to be, I love it, and I\u2019m just thankful being back out here and having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie departed at season\u2019s end to become the Ottawa Redblacks\u2019 head coach and general manager. Mike Miller, Toronto\u2019s quarterback coach from 2022-25, was promoted to replace Dinwiddie.<\/p>\n
Miller will also be Toronto\u2019s offensive co-ordinator and again work with Kelly. Miller said Kelly wasn\u2019t hampered by the injury during training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made some really great throws and some very consistent throws,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThe thing we always stress and are encouraged with is his management and managing those game situations, which we stress with all of our quarterbacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cChad just continues to go out and play and that\u2019s all we\u2019re focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto shored up its offensive line with the off-season signing of guard Dakoda Shepley. The 31-year-old Windsor, Ont., native comes north following six NFL seasons with San Francisco (2020), Seattle (2021), Dallas (2022,), Indianapolis (2023) and the Cowboys again (2023-2025).<\/p>\n
Last season, Toronto allowed the most sacks in the CFL (56) and had the fewest rushing yards (51.6 per game).<\/p>\n
The receiving corps is minus Canadian Dejon Brissett (Calgary, free agent) and veteran American DaVaris Daniels (retired). But Americans Damonte Coxie (48 catches, 854 yards, six TDs), Makai Polk (1,024 yards in \u201924) and Jake Herslow (59 catches, 756 yards, nine TDs) as well as Canadian Kevin Mital (102 catches, 886 yards, four TDs) all return.<\/p>\n
Defensively, Ralph Holley\u2019s return is welcomed. The six-foot-one, 285-pound defensive tackle was a key member of Toronto\u2019s \u201924 Grey Cup squad, finishing tied for the league lead in sacks (eight) before joining the NFL\u2019s Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n
Defensive end Andrew Chatfield Jr. had a team-high seven sacks last season and should benefit from Holley\u2019s inside presence.<\/p>\n
Also back are linebacker Adarius Pickett and defensive backs DaShaun Amos and Robert Priester. Pickett was the East Division\u2019s top defensive player in \u201923 with the Argos before heading to Ottawa while Amos and Priester helped the franchise win Grey Cups in 2022 and \u201924 but spent last season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Redblacks, respectively.<\/p>\n
Pickett also reunites with Canadian linebacker Cameron Judge. The two were teammates at UCLA.<\/p>\n
But veteran middle linebacker Wynton McManis, long considered the heart and soul of Toronto\u2019s defence, is now with Hamilton. American Isaac Darkangelo, who had 82 tackles (60 defensive, 22 special teams), two sacks and two forced fumbles in 2025, takes over from McManis.<\/p>\n
In addition to having an opening-week bye, Toronto will be away from BMO Field until August due to the World Cup. The Argos will practise in Guelph, Ont., and play \u201chome\u201d games in Regina (June 26), Winnipeg (July 10) and Hamilton (July 18) before hosting the Calgary Stampeders on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n
Miller said Toronto isn\u2019t dwelling upon its early-season situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be a cohesive unit,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to spend a lot of time together and so we embrace that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly added great teams not only deal with adversity, but overcome it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the CFL you have to focus on one game at a time, one play at a time and that\u2019s definitely how we\u2019re approaching this year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the time comes we\u2019ll get back to BMO and hopefully we have a great record going in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller, in his first season as a head coach, has a clear vision regarding how he wants the Argos to play this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmart, fast and extremely physical,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk more about (\u201926 team goal) as we get into the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut our immediate goal all the time is to prepare with detail, execute with urgency and play very physical. It\u2019s always about how we respond from one play to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n
SEASON SNAPSHOT<\/p>\n
2025 record: 5-13, third in East Division.<\/p>\n
Did you know?: The Toronto Argonauts have won the Grey Cup 19 times, the most in CFL history.<\/p>\n
Key additions: OL Dakoda Shepley (NFL), DBs DaShaun Amos (Hamilton) and Robert Priester (Ottawa), LB Adarius Pickett (Ottawa), DLs Ralph Holley (Cleveland NFL) and Dewayne Hendrix (B.C.)<\/p>\n
Key losses: HC Ryan Dinwiddie (Ottawa), WRs DaVaris Daniels (retired) and Dejon Brissett (Calgary), LBs Aaron Casey (released) and Wynton McManis (Hamilton), OL Anthony Vandal (released), RBs Deonta McMahon (Calgary) and Spencer Brown (released).<\/p>\n
Players to watch: QB Chad Kelly, WRs Damonte Coxie, Makai Polk, Kevin Mital and Jake Herslow, LBs Pickett, Cameron Judge and Isaac Darkangelo, K Lirim Hajrullahu.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GUELPH \u2014 After missing all of last season, waiting another week to open the 2026 campaign is no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-708538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}