![\"Kelly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8c53d5e5029ac97100510a313c280237.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nMONTREAL \u2014 Chad Kelly had already spent close to 600 days anticipating his CFL comeback. Then he waited another week.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Argonauts open their season Friday night against the Montreal Alouettes after beginning the 2026 campaign on a bye week. Kelly, the league\u2019s outstanding player in 2023, hasn\u2019t played since the 2024 East final and returns to a place where it all came crashing down.<\/p>\n
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The 32-year-old quarterback will step back onto Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, the same field where he suffered a gruesome leg injury on Nov. 9, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m anxious to get out there and just play football again,” he told reporters in Toronto. \u201cGet back to playing like my old self \u2014 manage the football game, take the shots when they’re there, and just try to lead our team to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Kelly is tended to by medical staff after his injury during the third quarter of the CFL Eastern final, Nov. 9, 2024 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes<\/p>\n
(The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
The Alouettes\u2019 game plan following such a long layoff? Make him uncomfortable early.<\/p>\n
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“He’s definitely a great quarterback, he definitely knows what he’s doing out there. But just for him coming back, I feel like there’s gonna be a little bit of rust, a little bit of webs on him,\u201d star linebacker Tyrice Beverette said. \u201cIf we get after him early, hit him, give him different looks, never let him get comfortable, we can have some success there. Get some turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Alouettes forced two turnovers \u2014 including a momentum-shifting pick-six from Robert Kennedy III \u2014 in their thrilling 30-27 overtime victory against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to kick off the CFL season last week.<\/p>\n
Montreal head coach Jason Maas, a former CFL quarterback, expects a motivated Kelly rather than a rusty one, not that the Alouettes won’t try to take advantage of his extended absence.<\/p>\n
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“I don’t look at it as rust,\u201d Maas said. \u201cHe’ll be prepared, he’ll be ready. He’ll probably be anxious or excited (if) anything, and sometimes that plays to your benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to hit him and that’s the one thing you don’t emulate all the time,\u201d he added. \u201cHe played two weeks ago (in pre-season), so obviously he has been in there. But it’s going to be for a full game this time and we get more opportunities that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fc9aa0b30337306836a05716f6f57036.jpeg\"\/)
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Mike Miller introduced as the Toronto Argonauts’ head coach, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sammy Kogan<\/p>\n
(The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Beyond Kelly\u2019s return, Friday\u2019s meeting also marks Mike Miller\u2019s first game as the Argonauts\u2019 head coach. The 56-year-old Miller, Toronto\u2019s quarterbacks coach from 2022 to 2025, replaced longtime coach Ryan Dinwiddie after his surprise move to join the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n
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To get Miller his first win, the Argos will have to solve Davis Alexander, a quarterback who has never lost a CFL regular-season start.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s so talented. He’s a great competitor,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe is a tough guy. He wears that on his sleeve. So a lot of respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander holds a perfect 12-0 record in the regular season, with his only CFL loss coming in last year\u2019s Grey Cup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders while hampered by a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don’t think our motivation really comes from that,\u201d said Argos defensive back DaShaun Amos. \u201cA lot of our motivation is going to come from within. We got Mike Miller’s first year as a head coach, this is our first opportunity to give him his first win as a head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Davis, it’s one of those things that you respect. Numbers don’t lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alexander](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0f93b93f1353a1686107f5dfb3744c2a.jpeg\"\/)
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Alexander (10) makes the throw against the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton on June 4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Barry Gray<\/p>\n
(The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
The Alouettes are shuffling in three new starters due to injury. Wide receiver Cole Spieker and Canadian centre Justin Lawrence have been placed on the six-game injury list with ankle ailments, while defensive back Najee Murray (foot) will miss at least one game.<\/p>\n
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Marco Dubois of LaSalle, Que., replaces Spieker at slot back, Cyrille Hogan-Saindon enters for Lawrence and Arthur Hamlin starts for Murray. Running back Travis Theis remains in the lineup after exiting last week\u2019s win with a head injury.<\/p>\n
On the other side, defensive lineman DeWayne Hendrix and wide receiver Jake Herslow are out. The Argonauts also signed receiver Kevin Mital of St. Hubert, Que., to a one-year contract extension through 2027 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Toronto welcomes back several members from its 2024 Grey Cup championship team, with Amos, defensive lineman Ralph Holley, linebacker Adarius Pickett and safety Robert Priester all returning as part of a revamped roster with Kelly under centre.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI know the injury was pretty bad, but for him to work hard and get back on the field, whether it’s here or anywhere, that’s actually amazing,\u201d Alouettes defensive back Kabion Ento said. \u201cHe’s another quarterback coming in here trying to beat us. As a defence, we’re just gonna try to stick together and defend with purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Chad Kelly had already spent close to 600 days anticipating his CFL comeback. Then he waited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[93657,49,48,521,522,520,77018,14975,14974,15655,25358,50472,263445,75446,2338,941,7338,56220,118184,82,944,15656],"class_list":["post-731793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-adarius-pickett","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-cfl-season","tag-chad-kelly","tag-dashaun-amos","tag-hamilton-tiger-cats","tag-head-coach","tag-jason-maas","tag-kabion-ento","tag-mike-miller","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-alouettes","tag-quarterback","tag-ralph-holley","tag-robert-kennedy-iii","tag-sports","tag-the-canadian-press","tag-toronto-argonauts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731793","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=731793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}