EXTENDING FAJARDO'S DEAL NOW THE NO. 1 JOB FOR O'DAY
Riders' general manager has his own new contract in place; can he nail down the QB?
Now that the contract extension is out of the way, Jeremy O'day can turn his attention to the contract extension.
Re-sign Cody Fajardo!
Easier said than done, of course, but that is one of the myriad challenges O'day has chosen to embrace as the Saskatchewan Roughriders' general manager and vice-president of football operations.
O'day is now on-board through the 2023 CFL season after the team announced Monday morning that he had signed a two-year contract extension.
One of O'day's first moves after deservedly receiving a new mandate was to extend by a corresponding two years the pact of head coach Craig Dickenson, who in 2019 guided Saskatchewan to only its second first-place finish in a span of 43 seasons.
Those new deals are as applaudable as they were inevitable. With O'day and Dickenson under contract through 2021, the Roughriders were not going to head into next year with their football-operations figureheads on expiring deals.
Both endorsements were warranted after what they accomplished in 2019.
Thrust into new responsibilities, O'day and Dickenson proceeded to make the most of the opportunities while delivering the team's highest victory total (13) since the 14-2 campaign of 1970.
It was O'day, more than anyone, who saw the potential in a previously unheralded CFLER named Cody Fajardo, signing the free-agent quarterback to a one-year contract on Valentine's Day, 2019.
What a sweetheart deal that turned out to be.
Given an initial opportunity to be a starting quarterback in professional football, Fajardo — who took over after opening-day starter Zach Collaros was concussed — became a phenomenon, lacerating defences and dazzling fans.
O'day took note.
Fajardo agreed to an extension, carrying through 2021, in October of 2019. Before year's end, he was named a CFL all-star and the West Division's most outstanding player.
A franchise player in every conceivable fashion, Fajardo is someone whose services must be retained for, ohhhh, how about another decade?
“You always want to try to retain your starting quarterback, so obviously it is a priority for us to try to extend Cody,” O'day said Monday afternoon during a Zoom call with reporters.
“This off-season is probably like no other year, where we didn't have a season to evaluate players on and, let's face it, there are some unknowns moving forward. We've had discussions. We'll continue to have discussions with Cody moving forward and hopefully we can continue to have good conversations.”
COVID-19, which resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season, has created a new way of doing business. The Roughriders do not plan to spend to the salary-cap ceiling in 2021. There is talk that a peak wage may be applied to quarterbacks' wages.
So much is speculative, but one thing is beyond question: Fajardo is a perfect fit for this team, as both parties appear to recognize.
“I think the nice part is we have a good starting point of we'd like him to be here and he would like to be here,” O'day. “That's always a good thing.”
The Roughriders had hoped in the fall of 2019 to sign Fajardo to an extension calling for as many as four years. He opted to re-sign for two, citing NFL interest that resulted from his breakout year.
“I think we're probably in a different environment now than what we were at that point,” O'day noted. “Not having last year to play and to evaluate, I think he may be a little bit more open to extending for longer than he currently is.
“I don't want to speak for Cody or put words in his mouth, but we've certainly exchanged messages that we would like to have him here longer-term and he has reciprocated. Now the question is whether we can come to a common ground.”
Fajardo's off-field attributes make it possible to establish the groundwork for a new deal while the league still sorts out its contractual logistics and parameters.
His winning personality could be parlayed into a veritable mint, thanks to cap-exempt sponsorships, endorsements, public appearances and the like.
Here, more than anywhere, he can be Cody Fajardo.
That is the Roughriders' niche in their latest negotiations with the personable pivot.
Over to you, Jeremy O'day.
And congratulations, by the way.