2023 XFL Seattle Sea Dragons offensive lineman Colin Kelly. (XFL)
Playing for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats in the 2022 season, Seattle Sea Dragons offensive lineman Colin Kelly has returned to the Canadian Football League to play with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Kelly signed with the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons in February 2023 and helped them go to a 7-3 season that took them as far as the XFL North Division championship game. Kelly was named to the All-XFL squad at the end of the XFL season.
Kelly played for the Oregon State Beavers football program beginning in 2008, starting out on special teams and moving to right tackle by his senior year. Kelly signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent following the 2013 NFL Draft and spent the 2013 NFL season on the Chiefs injured reserve list.
In 2014, Kelly signed with the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks where he spent two seasons before being signed by the San Francisco 49ers in January 2016. Kelly would later be picked up by the Chicago Bears and then was dealt back to the 49ers later in 2016. On January 11, 2017, Kelly signed a reserve/future contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, only to be released later in 2017.
With his time in the NFL not amounting to significant playing time, Kelly went back to the CFL, signing with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2021, where he remained before being traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In February 2023, the CFL handed Kelly a two-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Since he was not re-signed by Hamilton, or any other CFL club, he signed with the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL on February 14, 2023.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders start their 2023 season on June 11, 2023 on the road against the Edmonton Elks.
