Riders sign Fajardo to two-year contract extension

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signed quarterback Cody Fajardo to a two-year contract extension Monday.

“I’m fortunate enough that the Riders took a chance on me and I knew if I got an opportunity, I didn’t want to regret it going into it,” Fajardo said during a media conference at Mosaic Stadium. “Now being locked in for two years, it feels good to know that there’s still more football in my life.

“A lot of things can change and happen from here to the next two years but just knowing they have trust in me and who I am as a player just means a lot for me and my family.”

The 27-year-old product of Brea, Calif., joined the Roughriders as a free agent in the off-season and was expected to be the backup to Zach Collaros during the 2019 CFL season.

But Collaros suffered a concussion on the third offensive play of the Roughriders’ season, giving Fajardo the opportunity to become a full-time starter for the first time in his four-year CFL career.

“I signed here as a backup (and) all I wanted was an opportunity to be a backup,” Fajardo said. “I just said I wanted to be listed as a No. 2 where I am one play away (from starting). My whole career I’ve been a 3, where it has been tough to get on the field as a quarterback.

“If you would’ve told me, ‘By Week 20 you’d be signing an extension with the Roughriders,’ I would’ve said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty incredible but what kind of dream are you drawing up?’ ”

Fajardo said the scariest thing for him this year was seeing all the quarterbacks around the league suffer injuries and knowing he didn’t have any sort of guarantee for the future.

“You want to be able to have something that at least you’re committed to where an injury doesn’t end your football career, especially when you’re playing good football like our team is,” Fajardo said.

Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day said work on a contract extension between the team and the quarterback began a few months ago.

“Those conversations heated up over the past couple of weeks,” O’Day said. “Late (Sunday) night we came to an agreement and Cody came in to sign his contract and here we are.”

O’Day said there’s something to be said about a player who goes out and earns his contract.

“I shared with him when we met that I thought he has earned this (extension) and we’re really excited about him, we feel good about him and more importantly we feel good about our team,” O’Day said.

Fajardo has stepped up this season, completing 313 of 438 pass attempts for 3,873 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also has rushed 106 times for 610 yards and 10 touchdowns.

More importantly for the Roughriders, he has guided them to an 11-5-0 record. They’re tied with the Calgary Stampeders for first place in the West Division.

Fajardo said the fact he’s committed to Regina and Saskatchewan for the next few years allows him to have some stability in his life. It also gives him an opportunity to bring his family up and begin to get settled in the area.

“I want to be able to come up here in the off-season and connect with the community and not just go down south for six months and then show up for training camp,” Fajardo said.

“My wife’s favourite story is we went to dinner and this little boy said, ‘Hey, I was out in front in my front yard saying I was Cody Fajardo throwing the ball,’ and my wife started crying.”

It reminded Fajardo of when he was growing up emulating NFL legend Brett Favre.

“Now to have little kids doing that about me, it was pretty special,” Fajardo said.

Fajardo admitted he never thought he’d get a chance to sign a franchise-type contract with a team.

“I’ve always thought I’d just be signing these one-year deals hopping around and waiting for an opportunity,” he said.

But Fajardo said he has one goal now that he’s the Roughriders’ franchise guy.

“The No. 1 goal is to win a Grey Cup,” Fajardo said. “We’re not worried about 2020 or 2021. We’re worried about 2019.”