Mike Reilly (quarterback)

Mike Reilly (born January 25, 1985) is an American professional gridiron football player who is a quarterback for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the starting quarterback for the Eskimos when they won the 103rd Grey Cup and was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player. He was originally signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Central Washington. He was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 2017. Reilly has also been a member of the Edmonton Eskimos, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks.

For other people named Mike Reilly, including other football players, see Mike Reilly (disambiguation).

Mike Reilly
No. 13     BC Lions
Mike Reilly before a Lions game in 2019.
Born: (1985-01-25) January 25, 1985
Kennewick, Washington
Career information
StatusActive
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)QB
Height6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight230 lb (100 kg)
CollegeCentral Washington
High schoolFlathead (MT)
HandRight
Career history
As player
2009Pittsburgh Steelers*
2009Green Bay Packers*
2009St. Louis Rams*
2010Seattle Seahawks*
2010–2012BC Lions
2013–2018Edmonton Eskimos
2019–presentBC Lions
*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star2017
CFL West All-Star2014, 2017
Career stats
Passing completions2,496
Passing attempts3,734
Percentage66.8
TD–INT168-99
Passing yards31,522

Early years

Reilly played three seasons for Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Washington, before relocating to Kalispell, Montana. As a senior, he set a Flathead High School 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.[1]

College career

Reilly was a co-runner-up for the Harlon Hill Trophy, 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 2014 by Marshall's Rakeem Cato.[2] 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
Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Wonderlic
6 ft 3 in
(1.91 m)		 214 lb
(97 kg)		 4.74 s 1.62 s 2.71 s 4.11 s 6.76 s 32 1⁄2 in
(0.83 m)		 9 ft 1 in
(2.77 m)		 38
40 (and splits) and vertical from Pro Day, all others from NFL Combine.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Reilly was eligible to be selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, but went undrafted. He signed a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. 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 St. Louis Rams. He was waived on May 4, 2010.[3]

Seattle Seahawks

Reilly was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Seahawks on May 4, 2010. He was waived on May 18, 2010.[4]

Reilly before a Lions game in 2011.

BC Lions

On July 26, 2010, it was announced that Reilly had signed a practice roster agreement with the BC Lions. On August 26, 2010, Reilly was activated by the Lions and spent the remainder of the year as the third-string quarterback.[5] He dressed for all 18 games in 2011 as the third-string quarterback and shared in the Lions' 99th Grey Cup victory. He got his first pro start on October 19, 2012, against the Edmonton Eskimos due to an injury to Travis Lulay. 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 BC Lions in the 100th Grey Cup Playoffs.

Reilly with the Eskimos in 2013.

Edmonton Eskimos

On January 31, 2013, Reilly was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos by the BC Lions; the trade included the exchange of the clubs' second round picks in the 2013 CFL Draft and the Lions receiving the Eskimos' second round pick in the 2014 CFL Draft.[6] Entering the 2013 CFL season, Reilly was in open competition with Matt Nichols for the starting quarterback job.[7] 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 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After the game, he received the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player award after completing 21-of-35 pass attempts for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.[8] On April 14, 2016, the Eskimos announced they had signed Reilly to a contract extension through the 2018 CFL season.[9] The three-year deal is reportedly worth over $400,000 in 2016 and then bumps up to over $500,000 in following seasons.[10] 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 in mid-December 2018.[11]

BC Lions (II)

On February 12, 2019, Reilly became a free agent and subsequently signed a four-year contract with the BC Lions later that day.[12] 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.[13] Reilly underwent surgery in the days following and was declared out for the remainder of the season.[14]

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.[15] He reached a settlement with the team and subsequently re-signed to a new contract through the 2022 season on December 17, 2020.[16]

Career statistics
  Passing   Rushing
Year Team GD GS Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int QBR Att Yards Avg Long TD Fumb
2010 BC 4 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2011 BC 18 0 2 1 50.0 12 0 0 68.8 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2012 BC 18 2 75 52 69.3 682 4 2 104.4 34 122 3.6 18 2 4
2013 EDM 18 18 512 305 59.6 4,207 24 18 86.9 84 709 8.4 45 1 5
2014 EDM 17 15 446 288 62.4 3,327 16 11 88.7 79 616 7.8 30 8 4
2015 EDM 10 9 329 214 65.0 2,449 15 10 89.8 66 324 4.9 22 2 2
2016 EDM 18 17 633 448 70.8 5,554 28 12 104.5 102 406 4.0 19 9 6
2017 EDM 18 18 654 447 68.3 5,830 30 13 103.2 97 390 4.0 28 12 7
2018 EDM 18 18 621 418 67.3 5,562 30 18 99.5 120 595 5.0 19 13 8
2019 BC 16 16 463 322 69.5 3,897 20 15 96.0 55 204 3.7 27 5 8
CFL totals 155 113 3,734 2,496 66.8 31,522 168 99 96.7 637 3,366 5.3 45 52 50

References
  1. Booth, Tim (24 August 2008). "Central gave Reilly opportunity to blossom". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  2. "Rakeem Cato ties TD mark as Marshall wins Boca Raton Bowl". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  3. "Seahawks claim former Central Washington quarterback Mike Reilly". The Seattle Times. May 4, 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  4. Williams, Eric (May 18, 2010). "Hawks release ex-CWU QB Reilly". The News Tribune.
  5. "Lions add quarterback Mike Reilly, release Robert Jordan". Archived from the original on 2010-07-29. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  6. Reilly traded to the Eskimos
  7. Open QB competition
  8. "Eskimos QB Mike Reilly named Grey Cup MVP". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  9. "Esks lock up franchise QB Reilly through 2018". CFL.ca. 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  10. "Eskimos sign QB Reilly to contract extension". TSN. 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  11. TSN ca Staff (2018-12-14). "QB Reilly works out with Jaguars - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  12. "Reilly addition represents Lions' biggest coup in decades". February 12, 2019.
  13. "Reilly leaves game against Esks with suspected broken wrist". CFL.ca. 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  14. "Mike Reilly undergoes season-ending wrist surgery". CFL.ca. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  15. "Mike Reilly files grievance against B.C. Lions for guaranteed money". cbc.ca. 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  16. Karstens-Smith, Gemma (December 17, 2020). "Star quarterback Mike Reilly reaches settlement, new contract with B.C. Lions". TheStar.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
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