Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks.
The Edmonton Elks have not produced a winning record since 2017 when the Michael Reilly-led recorded a 12-6 mark.
One major reason for the Green and Gold’s struggle to climb back over .500 and reach the playoffs: terrible starts over and over again in the regular season. Last year for example, Edmonton began the campaign 1-4 and were fighting an uphill battle from there.
Mark Kilam addressed the issue in his first training camp meeting with the 2026 Elks, according to franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo.
“These early games are really four-point games because they set you up later on and you don’t want to be in that chase pack mentality when everybody’s jockeying for position at the end of the year,” he told the media.
Fajardo did not start until Week 8 last season when Edmonton was already in a hole. However, he able to muster a 6-7 win-loss record and at least put the Elks in the playoff conversation for the stretch run. Having No. 7 as the starter from day one at training camp could help the Green and Gold out the gate.
“You want to put yourself in the driver’s seat of the bus and the only way you can do that is by winning early,” Fajardo said.
“We don’t have to overhaul this whole system. We don’t have a bunch of new guys coming in. We don’t have new systems that we have to learn. We’re able to have that continuity and gel a little bit quicker.”
The 34-year-old led the Montreal Alouettes to a CFL championship in 2023, earning 110th Grey Cup MVP honours. He knows what it takes to become a legitimate contender and compete for a title. Entering his 10th season in the three-down league, the six-foot-one, 215-pound QB sees encouraging traits in Edmonton.
“You talk about Grey Cup day one and then you stop talking about it because then you want your focus to be right in front of you, but you have to let the guys know what the end goal is and the end goal is a Grey Cup. You talk about it day one and then after that you focus on how do we get better to get to that end goal,” Fajardo said.
“This isn’t a team that we just want to make the playoffs, we just want to make a run. We want to win a Grey Cup and this roster is good enough to win a Grey Cup. For me, you only have so many years left, so I’m in the business of winning games and I’m in the business of winning Grey Cups.”
Kilam called the Elks Fajardo’s team and their messaging to the team has been in lockstep with his starting quarterback. That includes the message to double E supporters. Kilam an Fajardo believe the team has to put a winning and exciting product on the field to give fans a reason to come to the Alberta capital and attend games at Commonwealth Stadium.
“I thought we pieced that together last year a couple games here and there, but the only way we can get fans back in the stadium is if we are energetic and we are winning football games. We know that as players, so that’s our goal,” Fajardo said.
“We want this city to be excited about the Edmonton Elks. We have a Grey Cup-winning roster, come out and see it for yourself. This is going to be a great year for the Elks and we’re excited to see all of our fans pushing us forward when it starts in the home opener.”
The Elks have taken aim at making the CFL playoffs for the first time since 2019 and re-energize a fanbase that’s seen a notable downturn since the pandemic.
