Fajardo looks ahead to 2021 season, possible contract talks

As CFL fans wait for a 2021 season, Cody Fajardo is waiting to find out what his future holds beyond that campaign.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback’s contract is set to expire after the 2021 season and Fajardo says that, as of now, it’s tough to start negotiating an extension.

“The one scary thing about any player playing on a one-year deal is that if you happen to get injured, you might be out of the league,” Fajardo said Thursday.

“There’s going to be a lot of things, I think, that will change from now until we get going in May, especially maybe salary cap-wise so it’s hard for management to commit to a number … I don’t think it would be a great time to negotiate currently not knowing what’s going to happen with the cap.

“But I’m all for it. I’d love to spend my entire career playing for the Riders.”

Head coach Craig Dickenson has the same hope.

“(Fajardo’s) certainly a guy that’s our franchise quarterback and really the leader on our offence so we’re going to try and make sure we have him signed up for the long term,” Dickenson said on Wednesday.

Fajardo signed a two-year extension in 2019 but revealed in a Zoom call with media that he was offered a four-year extension by the team.

“There was interest in me getting back to the NFL and I felt if I locked myself into a four-year deal, I might miss an opportunity,” the 28-year-old quarterback said. “But as life goes on, I personally realized how much in debt I am into the CFL and without the CFL, I wouldn’t be playing football currently.”

In Fajardo’s first season as a CFL starter, the 2019 Roughriders went 13-5-0 and finished in first place in the West Division. The Roughriders lost to the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the division final.

He was the West Division’s nominee for the league award as most outstanding player, but lost out in voting to Brandon Banks of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Fajardo said Thursday he wanted to prove he was a legitimate starter and not a flash in the pan.

“The last thing you want to do is commit to a four-year deal, you go out and you have a bad year and they release you. Then those other three years don’t mean anything,” Fajardo said.

With the salary cap possible decreasing, Fajardo said he’s willing to take less money so that the Roughriders can afford talent around him.

“Winning is what I’m in it for. Money’s going to be there the rest of my life, whether it’s football or another job, but you only have so many years to be competitive and win championships and football games with your brothers,” Fajardo said.

And he wants to stay in green and white for the rest of his career.

“I would love to play my entire career with the Roughriders because I’ve had so much fun and you have a little bit of a soft spot in your heart for the first team to give you an opportunity to get out there and start a football game,” Fajardo said.

Fajardo said it has been frustrating not playing football in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic was something no one could have predicted.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation type of issue that we have,” Fajardo said. “As players, we want to hear that commitment of, ‘Hey, we’re playing football,’ but if you’re the commissioner of the league, obviously you’ve got a lot more bigger decisions to make.

“You just can’t commit to something and not know what the future holds. I’m just kind of waiting for that call on my phone.”