There have been times in Canadian Football League history when there was almost a sense of panic over how many great quarterbacks were retiring at around the same time.
The most recent instance came when three of the league’s top four all-time passers – Anthony Calvillo, Ricky Ray and Henry Burris – all walked away within five seasons of each other, starting with Calvillo after the 2013 season.
In a nine-team league, being down a few high-quality starting quarterbacks can vastly alter the overall entertainment experience of the product.
But things happen in cycles in football, and the CFL is currently enjoying a high arc for its quarterback play across the league.
The early-season sample size may be small, but it tells a compelling story, highlighted by four 400-yard passing performances in three Week 2 games alone.
While defences are largely perceived to have the advantage early in a season because of the importance of timing on offence, that narrative has been turned on its side so far this season – especially when we talk about putting the ball in the air.
Teams are passing more, throwing the ball deeper, and doing so with a remarkably high degree of efficiency.
So far this season, teams are combining for 70.5 passes per game, up roughly 10 per cent from last season’s average of 64.1.
Completion percentage (70.4) is higher than any season league average in history, and, despite the high volume of throwing, interception rates are moving at all-time low pace at 0.9 per cent.
Quarterbacks are also making more throws to the deep areas of the field.
Last season, CFL teams averaged three passes of more than 30 yards per game. This season they are averaging 4.2.
In 2025, teams averaged 10 attempts per game targeting receivers at least 20 yards down the field. The three games played in Week 2 averaged 15 of those, a 50 per cent increase. Overall there have been 78 pass attempts of 20 yards or more this season, with exactly half of them being completed and eight going for touchdowns.
In terms of all passing on the season, the average pass attempt is at 11.1 yards, a full yard higher than last season’s average.
With such strong quarterback play across the league, teams are trusting their offences to go big-game hunting. The results have been some spectacular aerial performances.
So how did the CFL get here?
Well, the simple answer is that the league is enjoying the luxury of several future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who’ve been able to extend their careers at a very high level. At the same time, a new wave has arrived to challenge them for supremacy.
Trevor Harris, quarterback of the reigning Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders is 40. Bo Levi Mitchell, the two-time nominee for East Division Most Outstanding Player in 2024 and 2025 is 36. Zach Collaros, who has started five of the past six Grey Cup games for Winnipeg, is 37.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have BC Lions pivot Nathan Rourke, the league’s reigning Most Outstanding Player and the best Canadian quarterback in more than half a century. In Montreal there is Davis Alexander, once a bottom-of-the-depth-chart player who worked his way up to the hottest start in league history, now 12-0 in regular-season games over three seasons.
Rourke is 28 and Alexander, in just his second year as a starter, is 27.
Then you have a tier of quarterbacks right in their physical prime in Toronto’s Chad Kelly, 32, and Calgary’s Vernon Adams Jr., 33.
Kelly returned from 580 days away and threw for 445 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in his season debut against Montreal, slinging the ball all over the field despite being not quite as polished he’s been in the past. Once Kelly gets more comfortable with his teammates and his presence back on the field, there’s no telling what the 2023 Most Outstanding Player can do.
Though neither of Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo’s or Ottawa’s Jake Maier lit up the stat sheet in their season debuts during a 29-21 win for the Elks, Maier and Fajardo are among six starting quarterbacks yet to throw an interception this season, joining Rourke, Harris, Adams and Alexander.
The reason for all this aggressive passing of the football is simple – it works and teams have a high degree of trust in their quarterbacks to make big plays.
It’s going to make for a lot of great quarterback matchups this season, beginning with the Week 3 opener in Hamilton on Friday night, which features last season’s two nominees for Most Outstanding Player – Rourke and Mitchell.
Of course, this early pace isn’t likely to sustain itself, if for no other reason than injuries to starting quarterbacks are an inevitable part of the game. So far, there have been none, but that can change quickly.
But when fully stocked and healthy, the CFL’s current quarterback class is as talented as any we’ve seen in a very long time.
