Michael Reilly (born January 25, 1985) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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player who played in the

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(CFL) for 11 seasons. He was the starting quarterback for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

when they won the 103rd Grey Cup and was named the

Grey Cup Most Valuable Player The Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is awarded annually since 1959 to the player of the winning team who deemed to have had the best performance in the Grey Cup Game, the Canadian Football League's championship game. This award is prese ...

. He was originally signed by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

as an

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in 2009. He played

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Central Washington Central Washington is a region of the U.S. state of Washington between the western and eastern parts of the state extending from the border with the Canadian province of British Columbia in the north to the border with the U.S. state of Oregon i ...

. He was named the

CFL's Most Outstanding Player The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

in 2017. Reilly has also been a member of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

of the CFL,

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and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Early years

Reilly played three seasons for

Kamiakin High School Kamiakin High School is a public high school in Kennewick, Washington, the second of three comprehensive high schools in the Kennewick School District. Kamiakin opened in the fall of 1970 and serves the district's northwest portion. The school ...

Kennewick, Washington Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima R ...

, before relocating to

Kalispell, Montana Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, ...

. As a senior, he set a

Flathead High School Flathead High School is an American public secondary school located in Kalispell, Montana. It is one of two high schools in District #5 of the Kalispell Public Schools. History Flathead High school was founded in the late 1890s. Its original ...

record with 2,280 yards. He originally signed with NAIA Montana Tech, but chose to walk on at Washington State University before transferring to Central Washington.

College career

Reilly was a co-runner-up for the

Harlon Hill Trophy The Harlon Hill Trophy is an award in American college football given to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II. The award is named for former University of North Alabama and National Football League player Harlo ...

, which is presented to the nation's top Division II football player, as a senior. He threw a touchdown pass in all 46 games of his college career, giving him the NCAA all-divisions record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass. This record would be tied in

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Rakeem Cato Rakeem Cato (born March 28, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the Fayetteville Mustangs of the National Arena League (NAL). He played college football at Marshall and was the Thundering Herd's starting quarterback from 2011 to 2014. ...

. Reilly completed 64 percent of his passes over his four years as a starter for 12,448 yards, 118 touchdowns and only 40 interceptions. After redshirting at Washington State as a 5th-string quarterback, Reilly decided he didn't want to bide his time waiting for playing time. Central Washington offered him a chance to start right away so he transferred. He was the 2008 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year after completing 65.2% of his passes (207 of 414) in 2008 for 3,706 passing with 37 TDs, six INTs and he rushed 103 times for 415 yards (4.0 avg.) with four touchdowns. He was also named First-team All Great NW for his efforts. He was also Third-team Little All-America. In 2007, he started all 13 games and completed 271 of 435 passes (62.3%) for 3,386 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while be named Second-team All-North Central. He also rushed 129 times for 266 yards (2.1 avg.) with three touchdowns. In 2006, he started all 11 games and was 231/351 (65.8%) for 2,660 yards 21 TDs and 12 Ints., rushed 137 times for 272 yards (2.0 avg.) with four touchdowns and was named Second-team All-North Central. The year prior, 2005, he started all 10 games and was 223/353 (63.2%) for 2,686 yards 30 TDs and 11 interceptions and rushed 86 times for 310 yards (3.6 avg.) with three touchdowns, while being named First-team All-Great NW.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

Reilly was eligible to be selected in the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, but went undrafted. He signed a free agent contract with the

. Reilly completed 10-of-15 for 117 yards during the 2009 preseason, but was waived on September 5, 2009.

Green Bay Packers

On November 19, 2009, Reilly was signed to the Green Bay Packers practice squad.

St. Louis Rams

On December 9, 2009, he was signed off the Packers' practice squad by the

. He was waived on May 4, 2010.

Seattle Seahawks

Reilly was claimed off waivers by the

on May 4, 2010. He was waived on May 18, 2010. Mike_Reilly_2011

BC Lions

On July 26, 2010, it was announced that Reilly had signed a practice roster agreement with the

. On August 26, 2010, Reilly was activated by the Lions and spent the remainder of the year as the third-string quarterback. He dressed for all 18 games in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

as the third-string quarterback and shared in the Lions'

99th Grey Cup The 99th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the West Division champion BC Lions to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League in the 2011 season. The Lions defeated the Bl ...

victory. He got his first pro start on October 19, 2012, against the

due to an injury to

Travis Lulay Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

. Reilly completed 19 of 28 throwing attempts for 276 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, leading the Lions to victory of over the Edmonton Eskimos 39–19. The win clinched a first round bye for the

in the 100th Grey Cup Playoffs. Mike Reilly (quarterback)

Edmonton Eskimos

On January 31, 2013, Reilly was traded to the

by the

; the trade included the exchange of the clubs' second round picks in the

2013 CFL Draft The 2013 CFL season, 2013 CFL Draft took place on Monday, May 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET on The Sports Network, TSN. 60 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Canadian Universities across the country, as w ...

and the Lions receiving the Eskimos' second round pick in the

2014 CFL Draft The 2014 CFL Draft took place on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 PM ET on TSN. 65 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. A total of 19 trades ...

. Entering the

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, Reilly was in open competition with

Matt Nichols Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

for the starting quarterback job. Nichols tore his ACL in preseason which made Reilly the starting QB for the season. On August 18, 2013, Reilly threw for over 500 yards in a losing cause, the fourth highest performance for yards passing in a single game in the history of the Eskimos football club. In his first season as a full-time starter in the CFL, Reilly threw for 4,207 yards, with 24 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He also finished 5th in the league in rushing yards with 709. Despite his efforts, the Eskimos struggled all season finishing with a record of 4–14 and missing the playoffs. In the 2014 season, Reilly played in 15 regular season games, leading the Eskimos to the number two seed in the Western Division with a record of 12–6. After defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Western semi-finals, Reilly and the Eskimos were defeated by the Stampeders 43–18, ending their season. It was revealed after the game that Reilly had been playing with a broken bone in his foot and had been in great pain. The injury had been caused in a previous game during the regular season. Reilly's third season with Eskimos was once again hampered by injuries, missing 8 games. He played in the first game of the season, and the last 9; winning 8 in a row to finish the season as the first seed in the West Division. Reilly completed 214 of 329 pass attempts for 2,449 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions (passer rating of 89.8). On November 29, 2015, the Eskimos won the 103rd Grey Cup with a score of 26–20 over the

Ottawa RedBlacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

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. After the game, he received the Grey Cup

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

award after completing 21-of-35 pass attempts for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. On April 14, 2016, the Eskimos announced they had signed Reilly to a contract extension through the 2018 CFL season. The three-year deal is reportedly worth over $400,000 in 2016 and then bumps up to over $500,000 in following seasons. Reilly continued his stellar play in the following three seasons, throwing for over 5,500 yards each season while tossing 88 touchdowns and 43 interceptions. Set to become a free agent in February 2019, Reilly had a workout with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in mid-December 2018.

Return to BC Lions

On February 12, 2019, Reilly became a free agent and subsequently signed a four-year contract with the

later that day. Despite lofty expectations to start the season the Lions only won one of their first 11 games. Reilly was able to lead the Lions to four consecutive victories pulling the Lions into a playoff race with his former team. However, Reilly suffered a wrist injury early in Week 18 against the Eskimos who would win the match and eliminate the Lions from playoff contention. Reilly underwent surgery in the days following and was declared out for the remainder of the season. In November 2020, Reilly filed a grievance against the BC Lions claiming a portion of his salary was guaranteed, even though the 2020 season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He reached a settlement with the team and subsequently re-signed to a new contract through the 2022 season on December 17, 2020. After beginning the 2021 season with lingering injury issues, Reilly finished the year with 12 starts in 13 games played and passed for a league-leading 3,283 yards. On January 24, 2022, the BC Lions announced that Reilly had retired.

Career statistics

References

External links

BC Lions bioEdmonton Eskimos bio

Green Bay Packers bio

St. Louis Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, Mike 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks BC Lions players Central Washington Wildcats football players Edmonton Elks players Green Bay Packers players People from Kennewick, Washington Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Washington (state) St. Louis Rams players Seattle Seahawks players Washington State Cougars football players Canadian football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners