Fantasy: New heights expected for Bo Levi Mitchell

It’s only April and the season is barely less than three months away but the way-too-early fantasy predictions are back, and this time CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye is looking at the quarterbacks. Oh, and is it ever really too early to start talking about fantasy? 

TORONTO — A Grey Cup Champion and Grey Cup MVP by age 24, meteoric is one way to describe Bo Levi Mitchell’s rise to stardom.

Always considered one of the league’s brightest and most exciting young pivots, a 28-6 record through his first 34 starts puts Mitchell among elite company. And now at age 26, forget the word ‘young’ — the Katy, Texas native might just be the best quarterback in the league, period.

While the field is wide open — there’s very little separating the league’s nine starting quarterbacks, from veterans Henry Burris, Ricky Ray and Darian Durant to the up-and-coming Jonathon Jennings — can Mitchell stand out from the rest?

Despite losing two of his top targets, CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye thinks so, projecting Mitchell to eclipse both the 5,000 passing yard and 30 touchdown pass marks for the first time in his career.

Nye offers his projections for all nine starting quarterbacks plus others below:

Most Outstanding Player is about the only thing Mitchell hasn’t won in an already-polished CFL career, and a season of this calibre would no doubt make him a favourite to win that honour, far eclipsing previous his career highs of 26 touchdown passes and 4,551 passing yards. But he isn’t the only one slated to turn heads in 2016.

Also notable on this list is 33-year-old Riders quarterback Darian Durant, who Nye has finishing second in passing yards despite making only 11 starts in his last two seasons due to injury. A return to top form by Durant would make the Riders a contender for the West Division in their first season under Chris Jones.

Defending Grey Cup Champion Mike Reilly has only reached 4,000 passing yards once in his career, mostly due to injury, but ranks third on Nye’s list with a projected career-high of 4,350 yards.

Fans in Winnipeg meanwhile hope Drew Willy will make his 15 starts as Nye predicts, as the Bombers’ high hopes rest on keeping their quarterback under centre for the duration of the season. 4,200 passing yards and 25 touchdowns would easily mark career highs for the Buffalo graduate.

While Ricky Ray is expected to make a resurgence (31 touchdowns, second in the league), another veteran and last year’s MOP in Henry Burris could take a back seat as the league-wide youth movement continues. Nye has Trevor Harris stepping in to start 11 games, throwing for 3,000-plus yards and 20 touchdown passes.

More of the same could be expected in Montreal, where he projects three quarterbacks to get playing time this season (Brandon Bridge not among them) including young gun Rakeem Cato. Four starts for Kevin Glenn this season would likely mean things aren’t going the way the Alouettes’ brass might hope.

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The battle between Jennings and Lulay could continue through pre-season and into the regular season according to Nye, while finally, in Hamilton, there will be no questions over the health of Zach Collaros, who will return to form after a torn ACL last season with over 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns in 12 starts.

Remember, Collaros was a leading MOP candidate last season before suffering that season-ending injury in September.

At the end of the day, the field has never been more wide open when it comes to CFL quarterbacks. Any of the players on this list have proven they can play the position at a high level, and with the right support and a bit of good fortune could easily challenge for Most Outstanding Player let alone fantasy supremacy.

Still, it’s hard not to bring the conversation back to Mitchell, one of the biggest and brightest young stars to hit the league in recent memory. It’s early, but so far no. 19 should have a big no. 1 over his head.