Veteran QB Mitchell chasing third straight 5,000-yard season with Tiger-Cats

Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t showing signs of slowing down.

The 36-year-old quarterback is coming off consecutive 5,000-yard passing campaigns with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And that’s 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’s top performer in each of the last two seasons.

Mitchell credits the latter to being on the same page as head coach Scott Milanovich, who is also Hamilton’s offensive playcaller.

“There’s more trust there,” Mitchell said. “He (Milanovich) probably has more plays than he’s actually giving you but it’s, ‘What can my team handle right now,’ and he makes those judgments throughout practice as well.

“That’s one of the things that I think makes him such a great playcaller, the ability to see something in practice and say, ‘Hey, try that again,’ or, ‘That doesn’t look good, the timing is not right, Bo’s not seeing it, that play is out.’ Being able to do that so your playcaller and the quarterback are seeing and feeling the same thing about every play and coverage.”

The six-foot-one, 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.

“I thought Bo had a really good camp, he had about one bad day of practice,” Milanovich said. “He has improved the last two years but I can see even this year just the comfort level of getting through the progressions.

“(It’s) like we’re on the same page now for the most part.”

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’s starter before giving way to veteran Cody Fajardo.

Former Ticat Taylor Powell is now Fajardo’s backup after signing with Edmonton in free agency.

Here’s a look at the other eight teams’ quarterback situations:

Montreal Alouettes — Davis Alexander takes his 11-0 mark (CFL record to start a career) into the ’26 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’ 25-17 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Dustin Crum, who spent the last three seasons with Ottawa, is the backup.

Toronto Argonauts — Chad Kelly returns after missing all of last season with a leg injury suffered in the ’24 East final. Kelly 32, was the CFL’s outstanding player in ’23. Nick Arbuckle, the ’24 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.

Ottawa Redblacks — 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.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers — Veteran Zach Collaros enters a 14th CFL season and turns 38 in August. A three-time Grey Cup champion and twice the league’s 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 ’24 Hec Crighton Trophy winner at Laurier, is the projected backup.

Saskatchewan Roughriders — Harris, 40, enters his 14th CFL campaign but was the league’s 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.

Edmonton Elks — Fajardo, the ’23 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.

Calgary Stampeders — Vernon Adams Jr. went 11-6 in his first season as Calgary’s 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.

B.C. Lions — Nathan Rourke was the CFL’s 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2026.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press