EDMONTON \u2014 When quarterback Cody Fajardo looks at the wide receivers on the Edmonton Elks roster this season, he has to smile at least a little at the upgrade made in the off-season.<\/p>\n
The Elks lost one of its key wide receivers, Kurleigh Gittens Jr., to Hamilton, but offset that loss with the addition of free agents Austin Mack and Brendan O\u2019Leary-Orange. <\/p>\n
Plus, whoever makes the team from an impressive list of hopefuls that includes University of Alberta graduate Carter Kettyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a position we targeted in the off-season that we were trying to improve, trying to get more size,\u201d said head coach Mark Kilam. \u201cWe were trying to get some more vertical pieces, some versatility in guys who can do different things, like blocking around the box. That position all through camp has been very competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elks retained two key receivers from last season\u2019s team: Kaion Julien-Grant and Binjimen Victor. The six-foot-two, 210-pound Julien-Grant, a Toronto native, led the team last season with 57 receptions for 820 yards and seven touchdowns.<\/p>\n
In his first CFL season, the 6-4, 200-pound Victor caught 33 passes for 331 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a real competitive camp,\u201d said Fajardo, the most accurate passer in the CFL who earned the starting job with his strong second-half performance in 2025. \u201cThere\u2019re some young guys who have \u2026 certainly caught my eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about this receiver group. We have a lot of guys who can make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes the 6-1, 200-pound Mack, who was signed as a free agent. He had 48 catches for 674 yards and two TDs with the Montreal Alouettes last season, but in 2023, with Fajardo as his quarterback, he hauled in 78 passes for 1,154 yards and four TDs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was recruiting him hard in the off-season,\u201d said Fajardo. \u201cI know what a difference maker he can be and our relationship\u2019s really good. We won a cup together his first year in the league and we\u2019re trying to get back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor said the addition of veterans Mack and O\u2019Leary-Orange could be huge in helping young receivers like himself and others who make the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a bunch of guys who can play the game,\u201d Victor said. \u201cMack and Kaion and O\u2019Leary-Orange, with those guys being in our room helps us understand CFL football. It\u2019s a big deal to have veterans show you the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elks play their second and final preseason game at home Friday against the Calgary Stampeders. They open the regular season in Ottawa.\u2028<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Korobanik, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 When quarterback Cody Fajardo looks at the wide receivers on the Edmonton Elks roster this season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-699458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}