The Edmonton Elks know who they want as their starting quarterback next season, but the final decision is not in their hands.
Speaking to the media during Saturday's locker room clean-out day, head coach Mark Kilam made no attempt to hide his desire to see Cody Fajardo return as the face of the franchise.
“I’d like to have Cody Fajardo at center,” he said emphatically. “I think I really resonate with him as a person. I think the team feeds off the fact that he has a chip on his shoulder when he goes out on the field.”
The feeling appears to be mutual, but there are other factors at play when it comes to signing Fajardo to a new contract before his contract expires in February. The 33-year-old caller told the media after the regular season finale that it would be a “disservice” for his wife to make any decision before carefully weighing the consequences for her and his two children.
Like many CFL players, the quarterback is spending the season away from his family and appears to be making serious preparations for retirement. However, if he gets the green light to continue wearing the suit, he would prefer to be in Edmonton.
“If I play football next year, it will be here,” Fajardo said. “I will say that unless something crazy happens and there is a lot of movement, but if everything goes the way I would like and everything goes as expected, I would love nothing more than to put on the green and gold again and be the starting quarterback for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2019.” To be the quarterback that can take this team to the playoffs, I would love nothing more than that.”
“I just don't know at this point. I'll have some good conversations. I'll have a good list of pros and cons, but I think it's going to be an emotional and difficult offseason for me and my family.”
Even if he has to wait with bated breath for that decision, the man in charge of negotiating Fajardo's next deal, general manager Ed Hervey, views the QB's support of his franchise's young core and future prospects as a feather in their cap.
“I think it’s a big plus for us because a lot of players in the past have said, ‘Don’t come here,’” he said. “I think that's a big bonus for us. I think once Cody and I have a chance to talk and really start thinking about his future, I don't see any reason why we can't do that.”
“We would like him to play here. I want to make something clear. Cody is exactly who we talked about when we made the trade for him. He's a player that we said could provide stability and all that. Did we know where this was going? No, we didn't.”
Fajardo was acquired by the Elks last offseason as a backup to young Canadian Tre Ford. However, the former Gray Cup MVP was brought into action after a disappointing 1–4 start to the season, starting every game for the rest of the year. Although the Elks still missed the playoffs for the fifth time in a row, his addition to the lineup seemed to fundamentally change their fortunes.
The Nevada product completed 282 of 385 passes for 3,408 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing for 319 yards and seven scores. Most importantly, he recorded six wins and kept the team in the postseason hunt until the penultimate week of the season.
“It's no secret that it changed the trajectory of the football team and the course of the season. It's not a knock on anyone else,” Kilam said of Fajardo taking over as QB1. “He elevated the level of play of everyone around him. He elevated the execution of the offense and instilled confidence in our football team at a critical time in the year when we needed it.”
Hervey said he has yet to speak with Fajardo about a new contract, but suggested a deal could be done “on short notice” once those talks begin. Despite his obvious desire to see the U-turn return, the typically surly negotiator made it clear that this would not be a blank check.
“Of course, we would really like to have Cody back, but I also want to say that the roster still has some work to do,” he emphasized. “We still have areas that we need to address, so we will continue to address them, and we would like Cody to be a part of that, but not at the expense of continuing to build.”
Fajardo has played financial ball with the Elks before, agreeing to a restructured contract after a trade and accepting the alternate title handed to him. He understands the volatility of the quarterback market better than anyone after his unceremonious exits from Saskatchewan and Montreal, and knows the importance of a good fit.
He found it in Edmonton, but it had to fit with the rest of his life. He insists that any consideration of retirement has nothing to do with physical ability, but he does not take the privilege of determining his future lightly.
“I feel like I'm 33 years old, which means I'm at a mature age for a defender. I feel like I still have a lot of good football in me. There's still a lot left in the tank,” Fajardo said.
“A lot of guys are forced to retire because of injury or because the club doesn't want you. To be able to know that whatever decision I make is in the best interests of me, my family and our future, just speaks to the caliber of the piece of art in my career and how I've set myself up for this opportunity, and that's pretty cool.”
The Elks are hoping Fajardo will sign the piece of art like an artist — as long as he does it on the dotted line.
