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With rookies already reported in and training camp kicking off Sunday already, it's now or never to get up to speed on all things Elks
Published May 07, 2026 • Last updated 11 minutes ago • 8 minute read
Edmonton Elks running back Justin Rankin
Edmonton Elks running back Justin Rankin is tackled as Calgary Stampeders linebacker Clarence Hicks watches during CFL action on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /10109555A
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“Hey, Oilers fans, a first-round playoff exit. How embarrassing?” said no Edmonton Elks fan. Ever.
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That’s what happens when your team has failed to reach the post-season for five years in a row now, despite playing in a league comprised of just nine teams.
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Well, we are here to tell you 2026 is the season Edmonton’s skid stops. It had better be, at least, if they want to actually achieve reaching playoffs before they become all but a gimme with next year’s new playoff format that will see only one of those nine teams fail to earn a post-season berth.
And you thought the Oilers figured their regular season didn’t matter this year? Talk about reducing any and all significance of an 18-game regular season football schedule.
Canadian Football League coaches might actually be able to get to sleep at night instead of thinking about that one walk-off field goal that got away.
There will be less motivation to win the division when finishing second means exactly the same thing as first place in football’s new page-playoff system (think curling, but with a sport that’s actually watchable — winking emoji).
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But that’s then and this is the here and now. And besides, we’re not talking about the top of the standings here, we’re talking about the double-E. And that’s the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
They haven’t finished higher than the West Division’s basement more than once in the past five seasons, and that was with an interim head coach and general manager in charge following the mid-season dismissal of Chris Jones.
Whatever happened to Jarious Jackson and Geroy Simon, anyway? That stretch where the Elks won five of six under their watch sure sticks out like a sore thumb amid a field full of middle fingers from former fans who have turned their back on this underperforming club over the years — and not just because of the poor product on the field, either.
But that’s a story for another time, and all part of a past that the once-illustrious double-E would rather put behind them as soon as possible. And nothing would give them more distance than winning a Grey Cup, of course.
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But if you’re picturing them hoisting Canadian Football’s Holy Grail in their pyjamas right now, it’s because you’re dreaming. (It’s not your fault. That vision is so much better than the waking nightmare it’s been having to watch these guys fumble their way through real life).
Let’s be real. Even just making playoffs this season would be a monstrous step in the right direction on their long path back to respectability — one that began with the miraculous intervention of private ownership by Deb Thompson and family, which mercifully put the entire organization back on its feet in the summer of 2024.
But you’re not here for a history lesson. You want to know what to expect this season. And with rookies already reported in and training camp (checks watch), holy smokes, kicking off Sunday already, it’s now or never to get up to speed on all things Elks.
THE SHORT HISTORY
Here is a list of Edmonton’s records by season since they last played in the playoffs in 2019:
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2020: Season cancelled due to COVID-19
2021: 3-11, fifth place in the West Division, tied for last in the league with Ottawa, missed playoffs
2022: 4-14, fifth place in the West Division, tied for last in the league with Ottawa, missed playoffs
2023: 4-14, fifth place in the West Division, tied for last in the league with Ottawa, missed playoffs
2024: 7-11, fourth place in the West Division, tied for second last in the league with Hamilton, missed playoffs but finished ahead of the hated Calgary Stampeders, so it wasn’t a total loss
2025: 7-11, back to fifth place in the West Division, but finished seventh out of nine for their highest overall finish since ending up fourth in the West and sixth overall at 8-10
Their last winning season: 2017, the Eskimos finished third in the West Division at 12-6
Their last playoff appearance: 2019, the Eskimos lost the East Division final 37-29 to the Montreal Alouettes
Their last playoff in their own division: 2017, the Eskimos fell 32-28 to the Stampeders in the West Division final. (Honestly, who kicks a field goal from the red zone on third-and-four trailing by seven points with under three minutes left? You just went for it on third-and-10 on the previous set of downs, for cryin’ out loud.)
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Their last Grey Cup: 2015, the Eskimos defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 26-20 with head coach Chris Jones, general manager Ed Hervey and quarterback Michael Reilly
THE WHO’S WHO
Mark Kilam, head coach
It’s all entirely on this guy’s shoulders. Remember when I joked about head coaches losing sleep? Yeah, that would assume this coach, in particular, actually manages to get any sleep in the first place.
Last year marked his jump from the assistant-coaching ranks to become head man after 20 years with the Calgary Stampeders. Don’t hold those former ties against him, however, as the former University of Alberta Golden Bears linebacker returned to his ol’ stomping grounds finally to land back on the right side of the Battle of Alberta.
His inaugural campaign in Edmonton didn’t go according to plan, to say the least. The big question heading into Year 2 is how long of a rope does he have before being cut loose, especially with Rick Campbell being hired over the off-season to the dubious new ‘coaching-analyst’ role.
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Following starts of 1-4, 0-9, 0-7 in the previous three seasons, Kilam’s crew started out 1-7 on the way to a 7-11 record to finish fifth in the West Division, taking a step backward from a fourth-place finish one year prior.
It’s safe to say he won’t have eight weeks to get things rolling this time around, with one last chance to break the playoff curse before it no longer stands as an achievement
Wouldn’t it be a shame if Kilam didn’t get to see it through to the end?
What you might not know is there have long been quiet rumblings in the halls of Commonwealth that Campbell was the one the Thompsons wanted from the beginning anyway, back when he was still head coach and co-GM of the B.C. Lions.
Ed Hervey, general manager
Speaking of GM, Hervey has a little more leeway, and not just because the former double-E receiver was teammates with current team president Chris Morris, either.
There was only so much a GM can do in one full off-season since coming back aboard the team he previously built to win it all back in 2015.
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Well, he’s had two now, and the buck will begin to start with him with this year’s results.
No matter which way you slice it, the biggest question for Hervey remains the same one that has faced this team since Trevor Harris last led them down the playoff path in 2019: What is happening at quarterback?
The answer wasn’t Taylor Cornelius, Dakota Prukop, Nick Arbuckle, Tre Ford, Jarret Doege or McLeod Bethel-Thompson. And chances are it’s not going to be Cody Fajardo, either. Not for the long-term future, that’s for sure.
Cody Fajardo, quarterback
The 34-year-old has his work cut out for him if he hopes to prove his best days aren’t already three years behind him, having been brought in last year as an insurance policy for what would become yet another failed Ford experiment.
He is the hands-down starter coming into this season. Because good luck naming one of his backups: Taylor Powell (an Eastern Michigan product with past Hervey connections who was brought over this off-season from Hamilton); Cole Snyder (another Eastern Michigan product, who ran the Elks short-yardage last year); or Zach Zebrowski (a Div. 2 cannon out of Central Missouri and Harlon Hill award winner — think junior Heisman — who sat on the Elks practice roster last season).
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What are the chances one of them are Edmonton’s QB of the future?
Still, you can’t take anything away from Fajardo. He finished fifth, right in the middle of the pack, among the league’s starters with a 104.6 efficiency rating last season.
Best of the rest: The Elks brought back pending free agents Kaion Julien-Grant, who led the club in receiving yards last year, and former all-CFL defensive back Tyrell Ford … Key free-agent acquisitions saw Malik Carney added to the defensive line after leading the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders with eight sacks last season, and WR Austin Mack, who went all-CFL in 2023 alongside Fajardo in Montreal en route to the Grey Cup … The Elks also brought aboard CFLPA all-star national offensive lineman Coulter Woodmansey, making him the highest-paid Canadian non-quarterback at $300,000 a year — a record for O-linemen in the salary-cap era of the CFL.
Other Signings: The Elks also signed LT Brendan Bordner, six-foot-eight RT Jordan Murray, WR Brendan O’Leary-Orange and QB Taylor Powell.
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Key Departures: DL Jake Ceresna (free agent), LB Nyles Morgan (retired), LB Josiah Schakel (retired), QB Tre Ford (free agent).
KEY DATES
Week 1: Regular season kickoff, Saturday, June 6 at Ottawa Redblacks
Week 3: Home Opener, Saturday, June 20 vs. Montreal Alouettes
Week 5: Touchdown Kelowna: Saturday, July 4 at B.C. Lions
Week 14: Labour Day Classic: Monday, Sept. 7 at Calgary Stampeders
Week 15: Labour Day Rematch: Saturday, Sept. 12 vs. Calgary Stampeders
Week 21: Regular-season finale, Friday, Oct. 24 at Saskatchewan Roughriders
Bye weeks: Week 2, Week 13, Week 18
G-Man’s Take: Forget everything I’ve just said. As someone who’s had a front-row seat covering this team since the off-season following the 2008 Grey Cup, I can tell you the devil is in the details.
Take some friends, family or that special someone down to Commonwealth Stadium one of these times and enjoy the show. The entertainment value for a double-E ticket far out-punches its weight class in this hockey-mad sports market. For all the flak the football side of things has taken lately, the business puts on a top-shelf show.
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And if you knew how few staffers and volunteers are running ragged behind the scenes to bring it to us on game day, you would have a new appreciation for this lovely little league we far too often take for granted.
Like they say, this isn’t your dad’s double-E team anymore … as much as you and the rest of this city might want it to be. But give it a chance.
They’re not going to be stuck on the downside of the CFL roller-coaster ride forever. It’s going to get fun again. And maybe even sooner than you think.
Besides, unless you want to stay glued to your big screen, it’s all we’ve got in the way of full-on pro sports around here for the next five months.
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On X: @StarkRavinMod
Read More
[The Edmonton Elks' quarterback Tre Ford (2) is forced to run the ball against the B.C. Lions during CFL action at Commonwealth Stadium, in Edmonton Sunday Aug. 11, 2024.
The untold story of quarterback Tre Ford and the Edmonton Elks](https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-elks/the-untold-story-of-quarterback-tre-ford-and-the-edmonton-elks)
2. [Edmonton Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo (7) runs from Calgary Stampeders Miles Brown (90) during CFL action on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
Moddejonge: Fajardo back with EE but the big QB question still remains](https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/edmonton-elks-cody-fajardo-returns)
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