I wonder if we are going with three quarterbacks this season? The Elks released Doege on Friday and brought in McElvain, but will they need four quarterbacks? The dynamic will be Ford and Fajardo. McElvain is for development or is he expected to be the third option? Or both? Last year we had four quarterbacks with MBT, Ford, Prukop and Doege.
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Teams need 4 or more QB’s as they are required to dress 3 for every game. Trying to squeeze by with 3 on the roster has gotten a bunch of teams in trouble the last few years.
Riders a couple years ago? When Harris went down? Then the backup got hurt? Ottawa - about the same thing the same year?
I would be far happier to see 5 QB’s on the roster and practice squad. QB’s get hurt too and you can get by replacing guys with less talented guys almost everywhere on the field but you need a QB who knows the playbook when one gets hurt.
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Yes, they need to get 1 or 2 more for sure. Has anything been said yet about short yardage?
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Elks have released Jack-Kurdyla after giving him a $25,000 bonus in January. He’s had some injury problems but I have to say I’m surprised. If healthy, I expect he’ll be picked up by someone soon.
Rumours have been floating, & Hervey mentioned it this year, that the Elks may be looking at filling the vacant Guard spot with an import. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad idea - a by-product of all the National starters available this year in other areas.
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I see that the Bombers have let Shea Patterson go. I wonder if he ends up in Edmonton as our third stringer. I believe we are still at three quarterbacks. (Ford, Fajardo and McElvain). I think Patterson is somewhat a mobile quarterback so may fit in with what the EE are doing this year.
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Hmmm…hard to say. I would think they would want a guy who can run a third and one effectively.
But possibly on the practice roster. My truer feeling though is we saw his best in Regina and he still needs a lot of development to make a roster.
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It looks like the Elks have signed another quarterback. Cole Synder, from Buffalo. I don’t recall seeing him at the Fan Day so it may have been in the last day. So we now have our 4 QB’s.
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May not be in town yet. Big body.
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It seems the EE are still going with Fajardo. He has 1 win now, but I honestly thought he wasn’t as good in the game he won as he had been in the other 2 games. Other than the game winning drive I wasn’t so impressed. However, a win is a win and we were so fortunate to get that after such a comedy of errors.
I’m really disappointed for Tre Ford. If the goal was to truly give Tre Ford a fair shake, why did they ever bring in Jordan Maksymic as the OC? I feel like they will decide to extend Fajardo after the season ends. Especially since this OC obviously wants Fajardo. It’s disappointing what this guy has done to our run game as well. I don’t think Tre Ford is going to be staying here. I get the feeling the team and even some fans have already moved on from him. In hindsight, the EE should never have handed Tre Ford the starter. If their plan was to bring an OC like Maksymic here it would have been better for Tre Ford to sign elsewhere, even as a back up. I just don’t see that there was any way he was going to be successful with an OC as stubborn as Maksymic is to keep calling a game polar opposite to Tre Ford’s abilities. The team paid him starters money. I’m not sure what happens now and I’m not convinced he really did get a fair shake. After all, Ed Hervey is not known for being entirely honest. He said one thing about building a team around Tre Ford and has appeared to do the opposite.
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I used to spend time on Sundays when Oilers coach, mentor, and more Billy Moore’s came by where I worked. It was eye opening to say the least when he pointed to the real problem with the Oilers and not the result of that everyone else was looking at.
My take - our receivers have been terrible. Flat out awful at times. We have three guys, Anderson, Victor, and a RB Rankin who lead our receiving stats.
Dunbar is the only real receiver with more catches than our running back.
And for that we hang Ford out to dry.
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Are the receivers dropping catchable balls? Are the QBs putting the ball in the right spot?
(That’s an honest question. I’ve only had a chance to watch about 5 minutes of football so far this season.
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I agree. The receivers have been terrible. Really a lot of the early games especially the drops were huge momentum killers. I feel those receivers let Tre Ford down. When fans were questioning us having no real number one receiver, Hervey kept telling us that he really thought people were underestimating Kurleigh Gittens Jr and Kaion Julien Grant. A receiver like Geno Lewis or Kenny Lawler would have been a huge help to a rookie starter and we never would have had all these drops. I also liked Tevin Jones who was let go. As you say, people can be looking at every issue other than what the real issue could be.
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Did you see the possible game winning touchdown vs Hamilton at home?
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T Jones and Lewis were never replaced. Their production was huge last year . Their speed and yardage is missing from the offense this year.
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I wonder what is going on in regards to extending Cody Fajardo. I thought Ed Hervey said he was going to talk to Cody right away after the Grey Cup. There was a rumour with 3 Down Nation that Cody may not be as interested in coming back here as he initially said. If this is true then maybe he has decided to retire or he’s using this as leverage or not happy with the money the Elks are offering.
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Don’t think retirement in in his mind… A few teams are going to looking for a QB… HIS VALUE may be more than the Elk are willing to pay at the moment so why would he not test the market
Very true. He does seem to be an undervalued quarterback. I’m just going by what Fajardo himself said at season end, that if he plays again it will be with the Elks. Maybe he thinks the Elks will offer more later on considering the stability he brings. However, I’m not certain what team other than the Elks would be offering him a starting QB position.
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Who knows… Bo might hang up the cleats??? Manson Lamps quite possibly go totally off the deep end in the off season…
It might just be him publicly telling The Elk Brass he thinks he is worth more than they think he is. What is Ottawa going to do with the new coach and an obvious rebuild required. I don’t think Cowtown is looking but you never know. He would spit in Sask Face, and BC ain’t looking for sure. Nor are the Larks.
Most likely back in Edmonton but what does the $$$ look like. Could be heavily bonus incentives for performance markers achieved.
I think most QBs know long term contracts are apt to give the team a huge incentive to cut the player in the final year when the usual windfall $$$$ is due to be paid.
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Cody still has some miles left on him at 34 next year. You can count on one hand the # of passers in the CFL who are productive beyond 40. Calvillo retired @ 41 after a forgettable last season, Damon Allen @ 44 but offhand the only one I can remember who was productive until past 40. Ray was done @ 37.
IMO Harris, 40 next year will try to hang on as long as he can. He has said as much. I would give him one more year but have some backup plan in place.
Collaros is 38 this coming season & is pretty much done IMO. Multiple games of multiple INT’s last year. Take away the 6 TD, 0 INT game vs a bad Elk team in 2024 & he has 28 TD’s, 31 INT’s over the other 33 games he started to go with a bad QB efficiency rating. Bo IMO is on a team with a good OL, excellent passers, & will be 36. Good to go for a couple more seasons maybe if he decides to stay.
I expect Cody, Bo & Harris will all be back with their clubs in 2026. I would not be surprised to see the last of Zach & Trevor after 2026 if a couple of younger guys develop as happened with Alexander this past year.
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