NAYLOR: FAJARDO CONTRACT UPDATE
TSN CFL Insider Dave Naylor appeared on The Rod Pedersen Show on Monday to discuss a variety of topics, including the Roughriders’ contract talks with QB Cody Fajardo. The 27-year old California product has taken the Rider Nation by storm, but is due to become a free agent after this season.
“They’re early,” Naylor said of the contract talks. “The biggest thing – and this shouldn’t surprise anybody – is there’s a mutual desire on both sides to get this done.
“You know how you watch, whatever sport, sometimes a player just seems like a fit in a place. Doesn’t Cody Fajardo feel like a fit in Saskatchewan? And this is a guy who was frustrated being the #3 QB in Toronto. He went from the #2 to the #3 over the course of the 2017 season. He dropped on the depth chart, not climbed. Then he goes to BC and he’s the #3. He was frustrated and wanted an opportunity but you talk to him now and he looks back and says he played behind Ricky Ray and Travis Lulay, and that’s probably where he should’ve been.
“He goes to Saskatchewan, gets his opportunity, and there’s no question he loves it there. He loves the fit, loves the team, loves the province, and loves that he got the opportunity. And I think the Roughriders feel the same way about him. I asked him if he thinks he can become a Tier 1 passer, and he absolutely thinks he can. As he gets older, he’ll run less and it gets easier as you learn the schemes and get more comfortable.
“The one thing we can say about this is there is a mutual desire to get something done. It’s been a great fit for him and the Roughriders and we just have to find out what the number is. But one thing he made clear to me is that I don’t think he’s looking to sign a 1-year deal. He wants to be that guy, and I think he’s earned it. He wants to sign a 2, 3 year deal and be that guy in Saskatchewan for awhile and the Riders can shelve their search for a QB for the next few years. There were no numbers talked about, it was just back and forth in an early stage. After the conversation I had with him last week, I’ll be stunned if he’s not back there.”
Other teams behind the scenes chomping at the bit to sign Cody Fajardo If he’ll just hold his horses. A very lucrative starting qb money contract out there for the taking with the XFL, NFL possibly another CFL team. No need for Cody to jump the gun signing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders until he hears all the offers on the table upon free agency. Cody Fajardo a very good qb who has proven he can play and win.
Cody will get paid & it would be dumb to leave Regina where he’s a perfect fit. Get him signed for 3 years. If he waits till year end & gets the MOP, which is a very good chance IMO, that ups his value. So Cody can wait. Two more things. 1. Though I don’t see it happening with Cody, the league annals are littered with players who have one outstanding season & never repeat it again. You don’t have to go far back to see this. Since the turn of the century think Casey Printers or, more recently, Jonathon… Read more »
Fajardo will sign with the Riders in January after the 2020 salary cap opens up. Done. No more need to speculate.
Absolutely give him a 2-3 year contract. Loved by Rider Nation, getting it done on the field, and in the locker room, great leader,
and all that from someone who is only 27 and in his first year as starter. Getter done.