Edmonton Elks bring back familiar faces in free agency

Call it going back to the future.

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Or what’s old is new again.

Whatever the terminology, the same Edmonton Elks who in their ongoing efforts under new ownership to put a fresh facelift on the franchise by delving back into the past on the management side, is now taking that approach with its roster.

It’s a re-rebranding, if you will, for a club that had so much media spotlight surrounding its name change five years ago, but followed up with so little in the way of success on the field that the dark patch in franchise history would be easily forgettable — if it weren’t for the unfortunate fact it’s been so regrettably memorable. And for so long.

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Imagine heading into the opening of free agency this week as a club that’s become better known for setting the North American record in futility with 22 consecutive home losses, rather than a team that’s won 13 Grey Cups since forming under the Edmonton Eskimos flag in 1949.

Or that hasn’t played a playoff game since Nov. 17, 2019, rather than the team that strung together a North American professional sports record 34 straight post-season appearances.

A team that has combined to go 18-50 over the past four years.

Talk about a horrendous track record.

What free agents in their right mind would want to jump track and land on a double-E Express that had been fully engulfed in flames and heading toward a cliff?

You’d have to forgive them if the pitch felt a bit like squinting past a lighter down a dark air duct in the original Die Hard: “Come out to Edmonton, we’ll get together, have a few laughs …”

Only it hasn’t been the Elks laughing, but everyone else across the league as the once proud franchise is now having to pour every resource at its disposal into no longer being the butt of the joke in the CFL.

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And make no mistake, new owners Larry and Deb Thompson are ready, willing and able to back a new era in Edmonton with some significant resources. Make that an Old-is-New-Again Era, one that long-time football fans in the city are much more accustomed to.

It began early in the off-season with bringing back former Grey Cup champion offensive lineman Chris Morris in to run the business side as president and CEO — a role no longer beholden to the outdated nine-member board format, which proved with each million more lost it was no longer capable of making decisions, football or otherwise.

He, in turn, brought back former teammate Ed Hervey, who has won Grey Cups as both a player and executive with the club, as general manager — a title he held on the way to Edmonton’s last championship in 2015.

And this week, it was Hervey’s turn to do a little retrofitting of the roster, as the Elks look to recapture a couple of important pieces that were let slip away.

Jake Ceresna was not only an anchor on the double-E’s D-line after being traded for fan favourite Odell Willis in 2018, but in the locker-room, as well. One of the glue guys who helped hold things together during trying times that you don’t get rid of. Only the Elks decided to get rid of him last year.

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He returns after putting together an all-star season with the Toronto Argonauts on the way to his first Grey Cup championship.

Across the line of scrimmage, Hervey also signed Hamilton Tiger-Cats offensive lineman David Beard — and not for the first time. Hervey drafted the six-foot-five, 320-pound Edmonton product to his hometown team in the second round (16th overall) in 2015.

These guys are the unicorns of the CFL. Hometown guys who are only too happy to continue making a life here, instead of treating free agency as an opportunity to cash in on a quick stop somewhere, always looking ahead to the next offer.

But like Ceresna, Beard was sent packing partway through the 2022 season for another O-liner, of all things. Someone named Jesse Gibbon who might have been around long enough for a cup of coffee, along with a couple of swapped draft picks.

This wasn’t just a repatriation effort by Morris to bring home a University of Alberta Golden Bears product he once coached, either. Beard showed he is right at the top of his game, coming off his first CFL all-star award.

Add in a couple of two-time Grey Cup champion Argos D-linemen in Robbie Smith — of championship-clinching blocked field-goal fame, circa 2022 — and Jared Brinkman, and the Elks overhaul on that side of the trenches may very well be complete.

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Not quite a familiar face in Edmonton, but a name that sounds the same belongs to quarterback Tre Ford’s twin brother, Tyrell, who is the biggest free-agent fish this year as he bolsters the Elks secondary. That makes for three free-agent acquisitions coming off of CFL all-star seasons.

Add in a half-dozen more free-agent pieces from Tuesday, along with last week’s contract extension to middle linebacker Nyles Morgan, and trading for quarterback Cody Fajardo — two seasons removed from being named Grey Cup MVP — and suddenly no one’s laughing.

Edmonton is serious once more. Like before.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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