Las Vegas Posse After not being drafted by an NFL team, Calvillo started his
Canadian Football League career in
1994 with the US expansion
Las Vegas Posse.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats After the Posse folded a year later in the
CFL U.S. expansion experiment, Calvillo was selected first overall by the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the
dispersal draft. While in Hamilton, Calvillo served as a backup quarterback to players such as
Steve Taylor and
Matt Dunigan. In
1996, Calvillo threw for 518 yards against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on October 6. This was a Hamilton single-game record. On October 25 against the Montreal Alouettes, he threw for 542 yards, which was the highest passing yardage total in the CFL that year, and rewrote the Hamilton single-game record.
Montreal Alouettes In
1998, Calvillo signed as a free agent with the
Montreal Alouettes, where he became one of the most outstanding quarterbacks in history. He led the Alouettes to the
2002 Grey Cup, their first in 25 years, where he was named the
most valuable player in the game. During the
2003 CFL season, Calvillo broke numerous Montreal Alouette passing records, completing 408 of 675 passing attempts for 5,891 yards and 37 touchdowns. In
2004, with 6,041 passing yards, Calvillo became the fourth quarterback in CFL history to pass for more than 6,000 yards in a single season (
Doug Flutie,
David Archer, and
Kent Austin being the other three), earning him the
East Division nomination for
Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year. With Calvillo quarterbacking the Alouettes' offence, the 2004 Alouettes became the first team in CFL history to have four players with over 1,000 yards receiving in the same season: Ben Cahoon (1183 yards), Jeremaine Copeland (1154 yards), Thyron Anderson (1147 yards), and Kwame Cavil (1090 yards). In 2005, Calvillo and the Alouettes repeated the feat of four receivers over 1,000 yards: Kerry Watkins (1364 yards), Terry Vaughn (1113 yards), Ben Cahoon (1067 yards), and Dave Stala (1037 yards). The
2008 CFL season saw Calvillo hit a number of career milestones. On June 26, in a game against the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calvillo surpassed
Danny McManus to become the second-all-time leading passer in the
CFL. On July 31, in another game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calvillo became the fourth quarterback in league history to reach 300 career touchdown passes. On August 15, 2008, in a game against the
Toronto Argonauts, Calvillo became the second quarterback in CFL history after Damon Allen to reach 4,000 career pass completions. With 5,633 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes, Calvillo won the 2008 Most Outstanding Player award. Calvillo led the Montreal Alouettes to the
2008 Grey Cup final, which the Alouettes lost 22–14 to the
Calgary Stampeders. In
2009, Calvillo added to his club records while reaching more CFL milestones. On July 23, 2009, he surpassed Canadian Football Hall of Famer
Ron Lancaster's 334 career touchdown passes to move into second place all time. He sat out two games during the regular season, but still accumulated 4639 yards while posting a remarkable 72.0% completion rate, the second best single-season completion rate in CFL history behind
Dave Dickenson's 73.98% mark set in
2005. Calvillo led Montreal to a 16-point fourth quarter comeback victory in the
97th Grey Cup on Nov. 29, when the Alouettes defeated the
Saskatchewan Roughriders 28–27 on a last-second field goal known as the "13th Man" finish. . Calvillo won his third Grey Cup on November 28, 2010, at
98th Grey Cup in
Edmonton, Alberta where he defeated the
Saskatchewan Roughriders 21-18 for the second year in a row. He added to his record total of passing yards in Grey Cup games with 2470 yards, as well as setting the record for Grey Cup starts with eight. As of the
2010 CFL season, Calvillo is 3–5 in Grey Cup Championship Games. In a post-game interview, he revealed that he would be undergoing off-season surgery to remove a lesion on his
thyroid that was discovered after he injured his sternum during the season. On December 21, 2010, it was reported that Calvillo had successful thyroidectomy surgery to remove a cancerous lesion. On July 15, 2011, in a game against the Toronto Argonauts, Calvillo completed his CFL record 395th career touchdown pass to
Éric Deslauriers. On August 4 of that same season, and again against the Argonauts, Calvillo completed his 5159th pass completion to
Brandon London to move past
Damon Allen to become the leader in that category as well. Then, on October 10, 2011, Calvillo completed a touchdown pass to
Jamel Richardson to become professional football's all-time leading passer, in the Alouettes' third and final game against the Toronto Argonauts that year. In 2012, Calvillo became the only player in football history to pass 5,000 yards seven times in his career. He reached 4,000 yards passing eleven times in his career (a CFL record); only
Peyton Manning of the
NFL has reached the 4,000 mark more times in his career with fourteen 4,000 yard seasons. He also set another CFL record having 8 consecutive 300+ passing yards games in a single season, breaking the record he shared with Doug Flutie. In honour of the
100th Grey Cup,
Canada Post used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps. The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial. Calvillo signed a two-year contract on December 13, 2012, with the deal keeping him with the Als through the 2014 season. In Week 8 of the
2013 CFL season, Calvillo left the game after taking a hit from Saskatchewan's
Ricky Foley. Three days after the game, it was announced that he had suffered a concussion, and missed the Week 9 game against the
BC Lions and the Week 10 game against the
Toronto Argonauts. On September 4, 2013, the Als placed Calvillo on the 9-game injury list. On October 18, 2013, the Montreal Alouettes general manager and head coach
Jim Popp announced that Calvillo would not be returning to play for the remainder of the 2013 season. On January 21, 2014, Calvillo announced his retirement from professional football. Before his retirement, he was offered the offensive coordinator position with the Alouettes but declined. On October 13, 2014, Calvillo's jersey number, #13, was retired in a halftime ceremony at McGill Stadium. Upon his retirement, he was the last active player that played for an American-based CFL team during its expansion to the US in the mid-1990s. Calvillo was inducted into the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017. ==Coaching career==