{"id":932990,"date":"2026-10-14T17:58:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932990\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T17:58:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:58:21","slug":"austin-mack-enjoying-a-career-season-with-edmonton-elks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932990\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Mack enjoying a career season with Edmonton Elks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks’ receiver Austin Mack (3) celebrates a first down against the B.C. Lions during their game in Edmonton earlier this season.Timothy Matwey\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Reuniting with Cody Fajardo is paying huge dividends for Austin Mack.<\/p>\n

Through 16 games in his first season with the Edmonton Elks, Mack has established career highs in catches (79), yards (1,229) and touchdowns (eight). Mack last had numbers like these in his first CFL campaign with the Montreal Alouettes in 2023 (78 receptions, 1,154 yards, four TDs).<\/p>\n

The constant in both equations, though, is Fajardo. The veteran quarterback was with Montreal in 2023, leading the team to a Grey Cup championship that season.<\/p>\n

This year, Edmonton (12-4) will return to the CFL playoffs for the first time since 2019. It will also host its first postseason contest since 2015.<\/p>\n

If Edmonton can split its remaining two regular-season games (Friday against Winnipeg, at Saskatchewan on Oct. 24), it will cement first in the West and host the division final Nov. 7. The Elks downed Calgary 45-31 in the 2015 West final before beating Ottawa 26-20 in the Grey Cup, for their last CFL title.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1, 208-pound Mack spent his first three CFL seasons with Montreal and finished his \u201925 campaign playing in the club\u2019s 25-17 Grey Cup loss to Saskatchewan. He was released by the Alouettes on Jan. 26 ahead of being due a reported $45,000 roster bonus.<\/p>\n

But, with Fajardo\u2019s persistence, the 29-year-old Mack signed a two-year deal with Edmonton three days later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny because Cody never calls anybody in the off-season because he\u2019s with his family,\u201d Mack said. \u201cBut he called me every single day until I signed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot that went into it \u2026 I wanted to make sure it was the right fit and was a decision me and my family made together even though I had my guy shooting me texts. I think had I gone anywhere else our friendship would\u2019ve probably ended and it\u2019s a good thing we didn\u2019t have to go down that road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks’ receiver Austin Mack, centre, brings down a pass as Calgary Stampeders Kyle Wilson, left, Ben Labrosse, centre left, and Jaydon Grant look on during their Labour Day Classic game in Calgary.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a reason why I called him 360 times to try and get him here,\u201d Fajardo said. \u201cI just know how good he is and how good he was for me in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I thought he\u2019d do here he has done and exceeded. I\u2019m just really happy he\u2019s on the green and gold with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Fajardo isn\u2019t the only reason for Mack\u2019s success in Edmonton. First and foremost, Mack has remained healthy and been a nice fit in offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic\u2019s scheme.<\/p>\n

Edmonton earned a 27-12 road win in Hamilton on Friday to clinch a home playoff contest. It was the Elks\u2019 second straight victory over the Ticats (following a 37-35 double overtime decision Sept. 26) and sixth in their last seven games overall.<\/p>\n

Finishing the regular season against West rivals shouldn\u2019t faze Edmonton, which is 6-2 within its division. The Elks are 1-1 against Saskatchewan and have already won the season series with Winnipeg (2-0).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not bad for a team that posted a 7-11 record last season to finish fifth in the West Division. But general manager Ed Hervey signed such veterans as defensive lineman Robbie Smith, defensive back Tyrell Ford and running back Justin Rankin to extensions before getting Fajardo, 34, to put off retirement in December.<\/p>\n

Then in free agency, Hervey added such veterans as offensive linemen Coulter Woodmansey, Brendan Bordner and Jordan Murray, receivers Mack, Brendan O\u2019Leary-Orange and Joe Robustelli and defensive lineman Malik Carney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis locker room has a lot of great guys who want to win, who want to sacrifice,\u201d Mack said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of team guys and you need that in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to downplay the impact of the Mack-Fajardo chemistry. But the biggest returns on familiarity and time together usually come in big games, especially those in Canada in late October and November.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone says Canada is cold, and it can be, but the best part about playing football in the cold is you\u2019re playing in meaningful games,\u201d Mack said. \u201cOne of the reasons why I wanted to come to this team was to contribute to helping this offence be more explosive and be in games and I believe that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got to make sure we secure [a West final home berth] and that\u2019s our biggest focus. If we could, that would be amazing and I\u2019d hope we\u2019d see 60,000 people in Commonwealth [for a division championship game].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Edmonton Elks’ receiver Austin Mack (3) celebrates a first down against the B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-932990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932990","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=932990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}