The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed former Edmonton Elks quarterback Kai Locksley, per sources.
Taylor Cornelius started Edmonton’s first three games at QB this season. He was pulled during the team’s Week 3 loss to the Toronto Argonauts. Locksley entered that game for one play but lost a fumble, which was recovered by Argos defensive back Robertson Daniel.
After the turnover, the Elks moved on to rookie Jarret Doege, who threw for 163 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in little over one-quarter of work while Locksley refused to go back onto the field to run Edmonton’s shot yardage package. He was released by the Elks the next day on Monday, June 26.
The six-foot-four, 210-pound athlete completed five-of-eight pass attempts for 50 yards and ran the ball 55 times for 122 yards and scored seven touchdowns over two seasons with Edmonton. He played mostly receiver as a rookie in 2022, starting 12 games while making 17 receptions for 247 yards.
The 26-year-old originally committed to the University of Texas where he was converted to receiver. He returned to the quarterback position following a transfer to the University of Texas at El Paso. At UTEP he completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 2,266 yards with nine touchdowns and 14 interceptions while rushing 237 times for 875 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Locksley’s lone NFL stint came with the Miami Dolphins in 2021, where he came close to making the final roster as a receiver.
The Tiger-Cats released quarterback N’Kosi Perry to make room for Locksley on the roster. Hamilton (0-3) hosts the Redblacks (1-2) in Week 5 on Saturday, July 8 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. Jeremiah Masoli starts his first game of the 2023 season while Bo Levi Mitchell remains in the six-game injured list.
