Ottawa

Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris retiring

Henry Burris is retiring from football as a Grey Cup champion and MVP.

41-year-old Burris led Calgary, Ottawa to Grey Cups during 17-year CFL career

Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris celebrates his team's Grey Cup victory over the Calgary Stampeders in November 2016. Burris is retiring after 17 seasons in the CFL, with a brief stop in the NFL as well. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Henry Burris is going out on top.

The 41-year-old quarterback is retiring from the CFL after 17 seasons, according to the Canadian Press.

His last game was the 2016 Grey Cup, when he led the Ottawa Redblacks to a 39-33 overtime win over the favoured Calgary Stampeders, throwing for 461 yards on a bad knee.

He's been with the Redblacks for each of their three seasons in the league.

Before that, he was on two championship Calgary Stampeder teams, one as its starting quarterback, and also played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Saskatchewan Roughriders and NFL's Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.

He retires with the third-most passing yards (63,227) and touchdowns (374) in CFL history.

The Redblacks have scheduled a news conference for noon ET on Tuesday.

No Canadian citizenship — yet

Burris is "still in the process" of getting his Canadian citizenship, a spokesperson with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, the Redblacks' ownership consortium, confirmed Monday. 

In April 2015, Burris went public with his struggles trying to secure his Canadian citizenship because his job as a quarterback in the CFL is classified as part-time work.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada later said it would work with Burris "to ensure he can remain in Canada."

With files from the Canadian Press