The CFL has announced that Tiger-Cats American offensive lineman Colin Kelly received a 2-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances. Kelly tested positive for GHRP-2 and GHRP-21-3, both of which are forms of HGH (human growth hormone). This suspension marks Kelly’s first violation of the banned substances policy.

The 33-year-old lineman is a seven-year veteran of the CFL. Kelly was part of a trade between the Edmonton Elks and Hamilton Tiger-Cats during the 2022 season. After the exchange, Kelly started in 14 games on the Hamilton offensive line. He will be a free agent when the CFL free-agency period officially begins on February 14th.

During the two-game suspension, the CFL will not allow Kelly to play in regular season games. The Tiger-Cats can determine whether or not Kelly can participate in team activities, practices, training camp, meetings, and pre-season games. With Kelly entering free agency, it will be interesting to see if the banned substances violation and two-game suspension change how the Tiger-Cats will approach negotiations with him during free agency.

Kelly is an American offensive lineman that played collegiately at Oregon State. After college, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Kelly in 2013 as an undrafted free agent. He started his CFL career with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2014; he played with the Elks from 2017 until the Elks agreed to trade him to the Tiger-Cats. Hamilton traded a 7th-round 2023 CFL draft pick to the Elks on June 26th, 2022.

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