The Edmonton Elks had its fair share of ups and downs this year, culminating with the firing of prominent staff members. The team let its CEO, general manager, and head coach go on Monday.
It was a season of change for the Elks. The team rebranded, brought in a new quarterback and failed to make the playoffs.
Edmonton Sun’s sports writer, Gerry Moddejonge, believes that even though the team finished with a 3-11 record, they could still be in the running for a playoff spot next season.
“Anything can happen. They can turn it around real quick,” said Moddejonge.
“Look back to 2013 when they had a four-win season that year, and then all of a sudden, Chris Jones comes in as the head coach in 2014, and they turned things right around. They won 12 games that year and 14 the next one on their way to winning the 2015 Grey Cup. So it can be like that, or it can be a big long drawn out drought, like Winnipeg.”
One-year contracts play a major factor with teams in the CFL. Lots of players seek out these short-term contracts, which affects the teams’ future dynamics in the long run.
“[These contracts are also not good for fans] because they can’t really get attached to teams or more than a handful of players. Even people who are really into Canadian football probably have a tough time naming more than a handful of guys on each team.”
“These one-year contracts seem to roll rosters over a lot more since they’ve been allowed to happen over these past hand full of years.”
The Elks now have seven months to rehire staff and figure out their roster changes.
