Chad Kelly took one NFL snap, then rocketed to stardom in Canada

TORONTO - Chad Kelly, the former NFL clipboard carrier now electrifying the Canadian Football League, barely took any snaps between 2016 and this season.

2016 was the freewheeling quarterback's final year at Ole Miss. He tore his ACL on a QB pressure, didn't get an NFL combine invite, was drafted last overall, and ultimately recorded one NFL touch. When Case Keenum exited a 2018 Broncos game to be assessed for concussion symptoms, Kelly dutifully kneeled with the ball to run out the clock before halftime. He described that play to ESPN this year as the ultimate tease.

Kelly grew up in Buffalo, where his uncle, the Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, famously led the Bills to four straight Super Bowl defeats. Folk heroism awaited Chad Kelly on the far side of Lake Ontario. The Toronto Argonauts tapped Kelly, their little-used backup in 2022, to come off the bench and erase a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter of last year's Grey Cup championship game.

Scrambling for 20 yards to prolong the title-winning drive, Kelly was rocked at the end of the run but held onto the pigskin.

"I kept active even with a couple years where I wasn't really playing football," Kelly told theScore recently. "I kept focused. Kept working hard. It showed in that moment."

Injuries and disruptive behavior impeded Kelly, 29, when he was younger. Clemson, his first college team, cut Kelly for screaming at coaches during a spring game. The Broncos released him following a criminal trespassing arrest less than two weeks after he spelled Keenum. Kelly joined the Colts' practice squad, then paused to coach the offense at East Mississippi Community College, the JUCO powerhouse where he landed after his Clemson dismissal.

Signing in Canada last year propelled him to stardom. Named Argonauts starter in 2023, Kelly emerged as a proficient dual threat and CFL Most Outstanding Player candidate. He's the face of a historic franchise that recently turned 150 years old and is in the midst of coasting to a division title and bye to the playoff semifinals.

Toronto has only lost this season when Kelly was banged up or resting. Suddenly indispensable, he inked a three-year, $1.865-million contract extension in August that made him the CFL's highest-paid player.

The Argonauts gush about his abilities. When Kelly signed the extension, general manager Pinball Clemons said the possessions he guides are must-see TV. Kelly's arm strength forces his wideouts to be in tiptop shape, Toronto receiving leader DaVaris Daniels told reporters: "You've got to be able to run the whole field every play."

"(Kelly's) athletic. He can extend plays when the pocket breaks down. He can run with it," Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie told theScore. "We've had a lot of big plays this year that he ad-libbed. That's something we haven't had in the past."

In 2022, Kelly attempted only 45 passes during the season in relief of starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who dislocated his thumb in the Grey Cup and proceeded to move to the USFL. Unleashed this year, Kelly ranks among the CFL leaders in completion rate (68.3%), passer rating (109.9), passing touchdowns (22), and rushing scores (eight).

"In the NFL, he never got the chance to prove himself on the field, other than on a few preseason snaps," Dinwiddie said. "Last year was a great learning experience for him to sit and watch the CFL, not just get thrown in the fire right away. He played well at the end of the year. We felt comfortable moving into this year that he was going to be our guy."

Kelly was raised to helm an offense. He could fire the ball 70 yards downfield from a young age, he once told the New York Post. His uncle Jim taught him how to take three-, five-, and seven-step drops. Kelly was the No. 8 QB in 247Sports' composite rankings of his high school class, trailing Jameis Winston but upstaging the likes of Nathan Peterman and Nate Sudfeld.

A JUCO national champion at East Mississippi in 2014, Kelly transferred to Ole Miss and authored epic performances. The Rebels upset Alabama - the eventual NCAA champ - 43-37 on the road in his third start. Kelly passed and rushed for a combined 478 yards and six touchdowns in a 53-52 overtime loss to Arkansas. He was the MVP of a Sugar Bowl smackdown of Oklahoma State.

While rehabbing his ACL tear, Kelly ruptured a ligament in his throwing wrist at Ole Miss' NFL pro day. He slipped in the 2017 draft and was picked 253rd, joining the Broncos as "Mr. Irrelevant," but surpassed Paxton Lynch on the depth chart to become Keenum's backup in his second season.

In Week 6 of 2018, three Rams defenders aggressively piled on Keenum to cause a turnover on downs. Broncos edge rusher Bradley Chubb promptly sacked Jared Goff twice, forcing a punt that left time for center Matt Paradis to hand the ball to Kelly. He's the only quarterback to be deployed for precisely one NFL snap since 2012, when Stathead began to track this data.

In 2019, the Colts promoted Kelly to their active roster following Andrew Luck's surprise retirement. He dressed for one game but was otherwise listed as inactive. The Argonauts traded for Kelly's CFL negotiation rights in 2021, then let him demonstrate how his years on the sideline helped him grow as a passer.

"It's about managing the game. Knowing when to take the shots. Taking what the defense gives me more than ever. Understanding who I need to (look) off of and where my eyes need to be," Kelly said. "I think my growth of understanding offenses and protections to where I'm at right now is fantastic. I've been in so many systems. I've never spent more than two years in an offense. I feel really comfortable in this offense at this time."

Kelly's cannon arm and dynamism suit the Canadian brand of football. CFL QBs get fewer downs - three max - to pass to all corners of the vast 110-yard by 65-yard field. His vision and assertiveness have impressed Matt Dunigan, the CFL on TSN broadcast analyst who quarterbacked Toronto to a Grey Cup title in 1991.

"With experience comes more confidence to stick a ball in there and throw with authority, without hesitation," Dunigan said in a phone interview. "When you're able to pull the trigger and rip it, that's when you see true arm strength. We've seen that happen many times with Chad Kelly this year."

Playing in Canada affirmed to Kelly that every snap matters. Toronto would've had to punt or kick a long field goal late in the '22 Grey Cup if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers sacked him on second-and-15. His evasion of pressure moved the chains and set up A.J. Ouellette's title-sealing touchdown plunge.

"My coaches always would say that you have four downs. (In the CFL), you cut that in half. You've really got to have positive yards on first down in order to be in second and manageable," Kelly said. "I've appreciated each single down, one play at a time, more than I ever have in my life playing football for 20 years."

Kelly's scramble was the latest indelible play to power an Argonauts championship. (Toronto's won 18 in all, the Canadian record.) A 109-yard fumble return score swung the 2017 Grey Cup. Dunigan was fitted for a ring in '91 after Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, the Notre Dame legend, ran back this kickoff in the frigid Winnipeg cold.

These days, the Argonauts are Toronto's most competitive franchise, outshining the stagnant Raptors as well as Blue Jays and Maple Leafs teams that wither annually in the playoffs. The Argos' average margin of victory in 2023 is 11.7 points. Kelly has competed all season with "fire in his eyes," running back Andrew Harris, the CFL's fifth-leading career rusher, told reporters after one blowout win.

"He strives for perfection. At points, he brings that out of us," Harris said.

"It comes across loud and clear that he puts his teammates before himself. That's an intangible that makes him such a good fit there," Dunigan said. "He's a humble quarterback who puts in the time and is tough as nails."

Kelly's on track to make his first playoff start in the Argonauts' next consequential game, the CFL East Division final on Nov. 11. Odds are he'll face the West-leading Blue Bombers in a Grey Cup rematch on Nov. 19. Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros - a college roommate of Jason and Travis Kelce at Cincinnati - is the CFL's two-time reigning MOP and paces the league with 32 passing touchdowns.

Wisdom gleaned from his journey equipped Kelly to lead a winner. He told various media outlets heading into this season that he regretted foolish past decisions, had eliminated distractions in his life, and was more focused than ever on his craft. His stint on East Mississippi's coaching staff - Kelly clocked 15-hour days as an offensive assistant in the 2021 season - broadened his perspective on the sport.

"Coming back to playing football, I have a new appreciation for how much time and effort coaches really put in," Kelly said. "I want to give them my all on and off the field. I want to give them everything I have: blood, sweat, and tears each and every day."

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.