David Chidley/CFL.ca
Congratulations Drew Brees on passing Peyton Manning for career passing yards in the NFL. What made the night even more impressive was the fact that at the age of 39 you had one of your greatest statistical nights, and on top of that the record was broken on a 62-yard touchdown as opposed to a cheapie five-yard screen pass. So again, bravo!
Now if you really want to impress me, go break Anthony Calvillo’s CFL record of 79,816 yards. In the last decade we’ve seen Brett Favre pass Dan Marino for all-time passing leader only to be bested by Peyton Manning, who saw his record fall on Monday night. Calvillo retired in 2013 and there is nobody, active or inactive, within 7,000 yards of AC. The closest active player is Ricky Ray and thankfully Ray is doing well and, according to Marc Trestman, is working out, but he has been ruled out for the remainder of the season and will be 39 before the end of the month. As it stands, Ray has 60,736 yards and his remarkable 2017 season (5,546 yards in 17 games) is starting to feel like a wondrous but distant memory.
It’s not just that Ray would have to find a way to keep his body healthy for half a decade, but he would have to be able to put up three to four more highly productive, elite-level seasons. That is just far too much to ask. Also, at some point, most athletes leave the game when they realize their body just can’t take not only the pounding on the field but the physical sacrifices required in the off-season and training camp, where he would find himself constantly battling against younger quarterbacks all looking to make a name for themselves in this league. I mean, at some point, if you’re Ray, don’t you want to relax a little, eat a couple more carbs, pop a couple beers and revel in your own individual glory and the amazing accomplishments you were a part of in Edmonton and Toronto?
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So if not Ricky Ray, who are the candidates who could challenge Calvillo? The two most obvious contenders are Mike Reilly and Bo Levi Mitchell. Both are highly decorated and productive quarterbacks with MOP and Grey Cup Championships under their belts. Both men are the types of quarterbacks you can build franchises around. There is just one tiny hurdle for both these gentleman: they’re both more than 50,000 yards away from passing Calvillo. Read that last sentence again! Hey, Bo and Mike, now you know how Damon Allen must have felt in his last couple years. Damon’s first start came in 1985 (top songs that year included ‘Take On Me’ by A Ha, ‘Like A Virgin’ by Madonna and ‘Part-Time Lover’ by Stevie Wonder’) and his last came in 2007 (The musical charts were dominated by Beyoncé, Rihanna and Akon). Allen played until he was 44 and he still fell over 7,000 passing yards short of Calvillo’s record. Have I mentioned that I don’t think any quarterback will break this record?
Back to Reilly and Mitchell. The problem for both these passers isn’t just health or the prospect of being replaced by younger versions of themselves. Their biggest enemy is time. Mike Reilly is a machine who is a guaranteed 5,000-plus yards passing every season, however he is also 33 years old and didn’t become a full-time starter in the CFL until he was 28. At 28 years old, Calvillo had over 19,000 passing yards, and by the time Calvillo was Reilly’s age, he was close to 45,000 yards with the Montreal Alouettes. I love ya Reilly. There’s a reason you’re so damn expensive in Fantasy football but you’re not breaking this record.
On to Bo Levi Mitchell. Mitchell doesn’t put up the same Fantasy numbers but at 28 he is five years younger than Reilly as he became the Calgary Stampeders’ full-time starter at 24. At present, Mitchell is 56,331 yards away from becoming the all-time passing champ. So all he needs to do between now and the age of 40 is average 4,860 yards a season. Easy! As long as he stays relatively healthy for the next dozen seasons or so, and Calgary can continue this run of organizational excellence, consistently turning over all-pro rosters with other star laden rosters, then this record shouldn’t be that big of a deal for Mitchell. Of course, great teams also usually find ways of replacing 35-plus year old quarterbacks, no matter what they did in the past, so good luck Mitchell playing for that quarterback needy team that has no skill players in 2025!
The point of this entire column wasn’t to throw a kabillion numbers at you (apologies for the kabillion stats) but to highlight that what Brees did on Monday is a reminder of just how near impossible it will be for any CFL quarterback to climb over Anthony Calvillo’s records. Did you know that during his 30s, Calvillo averaged more than 5,100 yards a season or that in his last fully healthy season, at the age of 40, he put up 5,082 yards and 31 touchdowns? Of course it is never just about the individual. Calvillo was coached by legends like Don Matthews and Marc Trestman and was surrounded by Hall of Fame linemen and receivers. You need the perfect confluence of skill, hard work, youth, health and be fortunate enough to be in an incredibly smart organization that can surround you with elite talent to allow you to be the best quarterback you can be to even enter the stratosphere of a player like Anthony Calvillo. Certainly the career arch of Bo Levi Mitchell checks a lot of those boxes. Now let’s check back in 2027 and see where we are.
