On December 6th, 2024 the Edmonton Elks gave their fans what they wanted, they announced a contract extension for young quarterback Tre Ford. The "gave their fans what they wanted" statement is fair to put in print as Commonwealth Stadium faithful routinely hijacked McLeod Bethel-Thompson's playing time with "We Want Tre" chants. Tonight might be the last night for that chant.
Dave Campbell, 880 Ched's colour commentator for the Elks, has never been one to use social media for clicks. Much like his calls on the radio/internet stream, he tells you what he sees. In the comment section of his tweet stating "Cody Fajardo starts at QB and will get the bulk if not all the snaps tomorrow. I would expect Cole Snyder to get snaps over Tre Ford if Fajardo doesn't play the whole game", Campbell responds to a fan calling for Ford to see the field with "Team wants Cody to play, Cody wants to play, and he should play. He’s playing for a contract like others....Synder has time to develop. You should read between the lines re: Ford.".
Tre Ford only collected one win in his five starts for the Elks to begin the 2025 season. To be fair, the first two games of the season very much looked like every new coach the Elks brought in did not have their respective squads game ready yet. To add a touch of opinion, the Elks did not plan their offence around a move-the-pocket QB, which seems somewhat odd since that is who they signed to a contract extension.
Week eight, also known as game six, the team make the switch to Cody Fajardo. Many figured worst case scenario, the team would keep Ford off the field until the team was eliminated from the playoff then re-insert him into the lineup. Indications are the answer is no. Jumping to conclusions, a young man that has played for three coaching staffs in his four year career could be playing for his fourth different coaching staff next season.
19 rush attempts in his rookie season. 622 rushing yards in his sophomore. Those were yards that counted anyway. "Tre Ford Magic" plays almost always included 20-40 of scrambling behind the line scrimmage. Sometimes it ended up with him finding an open receiver, other times he would gain positive yards. There is a CFL QB in that young man! While there are logistics and arguments about how he moves forward with Edmonton or without Edmonton, I (we) just want to see him move forward.
Just in case this is the last time I get to type this, it's being typed in bold:
Mark Killam is not the coach to take the elks forward to a CFL Greycup . The coach you should have is Jason Moss, played for the EE, coached and won a grey cup while there. He has won another grey cup with Montreal and could possibly repeat that this year. He is an Alberta boy and has the skills we need going into the future. By the way I have been an EE fan since 1955.
GO ESKIMOS GO