Toronto Argonauts’ head coach Ryan Dinwiddie believes franchise quarterback Chad Kelly could be healthy for training camp in May.
“It sounds like it. He was walking two weeks after the surgery. I told him to quit pushing it so much, we got plenty of time. He’s probably about six weeks till he starts training, doing all those things. He’s doing some light stuff with therapy. It looks like he’s gonna be ready for camp,” Dinwiddie said from the CFL’s winter meetings.
Kelly broke the tibia and fibula bones in his right leg during the East Final on Saturday, Nov. 9, and had surgery in Montreal shortly thereafter. He was driven back to Toronto and celebrated with his teammates during the Grey Cup rally on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The 30-year-old has been doing his rehab in Toronto with team trainers and medical staff.
“We have had a progress report and things are moving forward. He is in pretty well every day for therapy. The surgery was considered as successful and there is hope — no guarantee — for an on-time report to training camp. We will have our next major update in February,” general manager Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons said from Charlotte, N.C.
“I don’t think it would be prudent to try to assess exactly where things are. I think there’s a lot of early healing that needs to take place. The first part of it didn’t include training or extracurricular, but he is in a stage now where he can begin to have some of the therapy portion of it where he actually is able to put some pressure. We don’t want to rush that process.”
After returning from a nine-game suspension for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy, Kelly completed 67.8 percent of his passes for 2,451 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions, while rushing 48 times for 214 yards and five majors. The six-foot-one, 216-pound passer started eight regular season games, producing a 5-3 record as well as two wins in the playoffs.
Kelly signed with Toronto in February 2022 following four years in the NFL. That campaign ended with the native of Buffalo, N.Y. completing four-of-six passes for 43 yards with a key 20-yard run late in the 109th Grey Cup, which the Argonauts won over the heavily-favoured Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23.
The 2023 Most Outstanding Player is scheduled to earn $625,000 in the upcoming season.
The post Toronto Argonauts hopeful Chad Kelly could be healthy for CFL training camp in May appeared first on 3DownNation.
