{"id":711207,"date":"2026-06-03T01:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/711207\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T01:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:22:08","slug":"mitchell-chasing-third-straight-season-of-5000-passing-yards-with-tiger-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/711207\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell chasing third straight season of 5,000 passing yards with Tiger-Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamilton Tiger Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell (19) during first half CFL football action against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in Hamilton, Ont., Sunday, June 16, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Peter PowerPeter Power\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Bo Levi Mitchell isn\u2019t showing signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old quarterback is coming off consecutive 5,000-yard passing campaigns with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And that\u2019s a first for a player whose decorated 13-year CFL career includes two Grey Cup wins (and two game MVPs), two league outstanding player awards and being named the East Division\u2019s top performer in each of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

Mitchell credits the latter to being on the same page as head coach Scott Milanovich, who is also Hamilton\u2019s offensive play caller.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more trust there,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe [Milanovich] probably has more plays than he\u2019s actually giving you but it\u2019s, \u2018What can my team handle right now,\u2019 and he makes those judgments throughout practice as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Mitchell led the CFL last season in passes (626), completions (428), yards (5,296) and touchdowns (career-best 36). After being limited to just six starts in 2023, Mitchell has appeared in all 18 regular-season contests the last two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Bo had a really good camp, he had about one bad day of practice,\u201d Milanovich said. \u201cHe has improved the last two years but I can see even this year just the comfort level of getting through the progressions.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] like we\u2019re on the same page now for the most part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton has depth behind Mitchell with American Jake Dolegala and Canadian Tre Ford. Ford, the former Hec Crighton Trophy winner at Waterloo, began last season as Edmonton\u2019s starter before giving way to veteran Cody Fajardo.<\/p>\n

Former Ticat Taylor Powell is now Fajardo\u2019s backup after signing with Edmonton in free agency.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the other eight teams\u2019 quarterback situations.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback Davis Alexander prepares for a preseason game against the Ottawa Redblacks last month. The Als’ starter is hoping for a healthier campaign in 2026, after a hamstring injury lingered through the season for him.Peter McCabe\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes \u2013 Davis Alexander takes his 11-0 mark (CFL record to start a career) into the \u201926 campaign. But he only made seven regular-season starts last year due to a hamstring ailment. He led Montreal into the Grey Cup before aggravating the injury in the Alouettes\u2019 25-17 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Dustin Crum, who spent the last three seasons with Ottawa, is the backup.<\/p>\n

Toronto Argonauts \u2013 Chad Kelly returns after missing all of last season with a leg injury suffered in the \u201924 East final. Kelly 32, was the CFL\u2019s outstanding player in \u201923. Nick Arbuckle, the \u201924 Grey Cup MVP, returns as the backup after setting career highs in starts (15), passes (504), completions (365, 72.4 per cent), yards (4,370), TDs (26) and interceptions (15) last season.<\/p>\n

Ottawa Redblacks \u2013 Jake Maier opens under centre ahead of veteran Dru Brown. Maier spent 2025 backing up veteran Trevor Harris with the Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders but threw for a career-high 4,244 yards in 2023 with Calgary. Maier and Brown are both 29, but Maier has more regular-season games (84 to 66) under his belt.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers \u2013 Veteran Zach Collaros enters a 14th CFL season and turns 38 in August. A three-time Grey Cup champion and twice the league\u2019s outstanding player, Collaros was 6-7 as the starter last year with 17 TDs and a career-high 16 interceptions, tied for most in the league. Canadian Taylor Elgersma, the \u201924 Hec Crighton Trophy winner at Laurier, is the projected backup.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders \u2013 Harris, 40, enters his 14th CFL campaign but was the league\u2019s most accurate passer last year (career-best 73.6 per cent) with 4,549 yards, 24 TDs and 11 interceptions over 16 regular-season starts. He capped his solid campaign by being named the Grey Cup MVP. Third-year player Jack Coan is the projected backup.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks \u2013 Fajardo, the \u201923 Grey Cup MVP with Montreal, finished second to Harris in completion percentage (73.2 per cent) while passing for 3,408 yards and 14 TDs with seven interceptions. But he was 6-7 as the starter and was sacked a CFL-high 40 times. Powell showed very well as a rookie with Hamilton and gives the Elks a solid option should Fajardo get hurt or struggle.<\/p>\n

Calgary Stampeders \u2013 Vernon Adams Jr. went 11-6 in his first season as Calgary\u2019s starter. He passed for 4,247 yards with 21 TDs and 14 interceptions while rushing for 332 yards (8.3-yard average) and two touchdowns. Josh Love is the projected backup with the off-season retirement of P.J. Walker.<\/p>\n

B.C. Lions \u2013 Nathan Rourke was the CFL\u2019s top Canadian and outstanding player last season, the first Canadian quarterback since Russ Jackson in 1969 to win both honours in the same season. Rourke established career-highs in passing yards (5,290, most ever by a Canadian), touchdowns (31), rushing yards (564, tops among quarterbacks) and rushing TDs (10). Chase Brice is the projected backup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Hamilton Tiger Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell (19) during first half CFL football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-711207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711207","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=711207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}