Time with Roughriders helped Cody Fajardo ‘grow up,’ figure out how to be starting CFL quarterback

Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks/Mark Faure.

Now 34, Cody Fajardo has reflected and learned from his younger self.

Seven years ago, he was unexpectedly thrust into action with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Then-starting quarterback Zach Collaros went down three snaps into the 2019 regular season, thanks to a helmet-to-helmet hit from Hamilton Tiger-Cats linebacker linebacker Simoni Lawrence.

“What I’ll say about my time with the Riders, it helped me grow up. There’s a lot of things I did immaturely. I didn’t know how to handle myself under certain situations, and there’s some things I said in the media and portrayed myself a way that I didn’t like. I took a 180 flip after that,” Fajardo told the media on Wednesday.

“To the Riders fans who were really hard on me, I was trying to figure out how to be a starting quarterback in this league. Yes, I was in the league for four years, that was my fifth year going in, but I had never been a starter. We have a great year in 2019, I feel like I’m in rhythm, then COVID happens, and we miss a whole year. All these other quarterbacks in the league had five, six, seven years of starting experience, and I was trying to figure it out as a starter.”

Fajardo was named the West Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Player after he replaced Collaros. He completed 71.4 percent of his passes for 4,302 yards with 18 touchdowns against eight interceptions, while rushing 107 times for 611 yards plus 10 majors. The six-foot-one, 215-pound passer went 12-4 as a starter and led the Roughriders to an appearance in the West Final, though the team lost to the eventual Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

No. 7 led the Riders back to the West Final in 2021 after going 9-4 as a starter, but the team fell to Winnipeg again. The team suffered a downturn in 2022, as he went 6-9 before losing the starting role to Mason Fine. Saskatchewan missed the playoffs with a 6-12 record, which led to Fajardo’s contract not being renewed and him signing in La Belle Province.

“I’m so thankful for the Montreal Alouette organization. The reason why: I can call myself a champion because of them and what we did over there — nobody can take that away from me. I feel like that was the flak on me when I was in Sask: he couldn’t win the big game. We went to two Western Finals and lost. Being able to get that monkey off your back, it’s a real thing. You almost make it bigger than what it is because people are saying that and you’re trying so hard,” Fajardo said.

“When I got to the Alouettes, I figured out how to be a starter from those tough times in Saskatchewan. Then the two years of success in Montreal, I took that to Edmonton and tried to use that recipe. Sure enough, we won a lot of games in the back half of last year. The momentum was there, and then started fast this year, stayed steady in the middle of the year, and finished strong to be here in this Grey Cup.”

Fajardo set single-season career-highs by attempting 551 passes, completing 382 for 4,788 yards, and throwing for 25 touchdowns. Those numbers topped his previous personal bests from his first campaign in Saskatchewan. He led Edmonton to a 13-4 record as a starter and helped the team earn first place in the West Division.

His decision to return to the Green and Gold was finalized by his wife, Laura, while the couple watched the 112th Grey Cup together.

“It was a big role in my wife giving me the green light. We watched that game together. It was just me and her, very intimate, watching that game, and it was hard. It was almost like you wanted both teams to lose. You knew that wasn’t going to be possible, but that’s what you wanted. Seeing that, I remember my wife looking at me after the game and she said, ‘You can get back there,'” Fajardo shared.

“That’s all I needed here. That was the confidence I needed from her because this decision to come back wasn’t my decision, it was my wife’s decision. The sacrifice that she made. Things were really hard. I had to take a huge salary cut. We had to get rid of some things at home that made it really tough on my wife. She’s a true football wife, football mom, and she understands it. When she gave me the green light, I was ready to go.”

Following the couple’s date night in mid-November last year, Fajardo called Edmonton general manager Ed Hervey and told him he was all-in for the 2026 season. Watching a CFL championship game between his two most recent former teams provided key motivation for him to lead the Elks back to the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015.