It’s Ford’s time to shine as Elks’ main man

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This article was published 21/09/2024 (410 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — It’s been quite the ride for Tre Ford as a promising young quarterback in the CFL.

Ford is in the midst of his third season with the Edmonton Elks, who selected the now 26-year-old with the eighth overall pick in the 2022 CFL Draft.

He has dressed for 33 games in the nearly three seasons since and boasts an unimpressive 7-8 record as a starter — although he’s hardly to blame for the Elks living in the basement of the West Division standings during the last few years.

In fact, Ford has been one of the few bright spots of an organization that has just one post-season appearance since 2017. Now, he’s being asked to salvage the Elks 2024 season while doing something no other club in league history has ever done before: make the playoffs after starting the year 0-7.

With victories in five of their last six games, the 5-8 Elks find themselves in the thick of the West Division playoff race. And Ford is finally getting the chance to prove he belongs.

“It’s his time,” Elks interim head coach Jarious Jackson said following the Elks walk-through Friday, a day ahead of Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Commonwealth Stadium. “It’s his opportunity now.”

It’s the words Ford has been patiently waiting to hear, even if they’ve come later than he hoped.

That’s because Ford believed he would be the club’s starter at the beginning of the season after giving the Elks something to be excited about following another frustrating campaign.

Edmonton finished 4-14 in 2023, dead last in the West, but Ford accounted for all four victories while going 4-6 as a starter.

“Whenever I have gotten an opportunity, I’ve done pretty well. I’m not going to say I’ve been a stud and done everything right because I’ve made mistakes,” Ford told the Free Press in an exclusive interview.

“And even though I thought I was going to be the guy, nothing’s promised in this world. You just have to go with the flow and figure it out from there.”

Plans \changed the moment the Elks announced in January the signing of quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson to a one-year contract.

Bethel-Thompson had spent years with the Toronto Argonauts, leading them to a Grey Cup in 2022, but jetted last season to the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League to be closer to his young family.

Neither general manager/head coach Chris Jones, nor assistant GM Geroy Simon even bothered to reach out to Ford to inform him of their plan, highlighting the often harsh reality of professional sports.

Ford found out like everyone else, over social media, and the only call he would end up receiving in the immediate aftermath was from Bethel-Thompson, who wanted to let him know he was excited to work with him and that he had his back.

“I understood the situation,” Ford said. “You don’t bring somebody in and pay them $500,000 to not be the starting quarterback, so I knew I was going to be the backup.”

Frustrated, Ford took what felt like a serious demotion in stride. He also saw in Bethel-Thompson an experienced and accomplished player who he could learn a lot from.

The season couldn’t have started much worse, taking on an eerily similar feeling to the year before, when the Elks opened 0-9.

As the losses piled up, calls from fans demanding Ford replace McLeod Bethel-Thompson started to get louder.

Only adding to the drama were moments during those early parts of the season where it looked like Bethel-Thompson and Ford were both wearing the frustration of a seemingly lost season and might even be at odds with one another.

There were reports that Ford had refused to run the club’s short-yardage package, which made league pundits wonder about his maturity. When Bethel-Thompson was replaced by Ford for two series in the first quarter in a narrow loss to the Ottawa Redblacks in Week 6, he complained to the media that it threw off his rhythm, seemingly contradicting his warm approach to Ford.

But the two claim they have a good relationship and always do what they can support one another, regardless of who is behind centre. There hasn’t been any friction, either, they say, even though both have a strong desire to play.

“It’s good and it’s grown,” Bethel-Thompson said. “I feel like I’m earning his trust, that he knows that I’m genuinely rooting for him when he’s out there. He’s one of the people that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know.”

He added: “As a competitor, he wants to play, so I can feel him wanting to be on the field when I was out there. Now that it’s his turn to play, I step back vocally from the offensive room and let him speak because it’s got to be his voice. It’s very important the team comes first no matter what and I’m really proud we’ve been able to do that.”

It wasn’t until Jones was fired after the club went 0-5 — ending his run in Edmonton with a record of 8-33 — that Ford would truly get his shot to be the go-to guy. Jones would never say it, but it was clear he viewed Ford as more of an athlete than a quarterback, having him play on special teams as a rookie.

Asked if he felt Jones drafted him to be a QB, Ford said it was a great question but that he didn’t have an answer. He said he never got into an argument with Jones about playing time, understanding he wasn’t in a position to call the shots.

When Jackson was promoted to offensive co-ordinator after an 0-8 start last season, the first thing he did was make a change to Ford at quarterback. After he took over from Jones as head coach — with Simon promoted to GM — it would take him nearly two games before he turned to his young gunslinger again.

Ford rewarded the decision by throwing for three touchdowns in one quarter of work in a lopsided loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, only to rip off back-to-back victories over the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions before being sidelined with a rib injury.

Meanwhile, Bethel-Thompson took over and continued to play well, only this time he was getting the results. Earlier in the season, when the Elks were losing weekly, the quarterback play was the least of the team’s issues.

With Ford sidelined, Bethel-Thompson led the Elks to a narrow loss over the first-place Montreal Alouettes, but then swept the annual September home-and-home series against provincial rival Calgary Stampeders for the first time since 2004.

In those three games, Bethel-Thompson averaged more than 300 passing yards per game, throwing seven touchdowns compared to one interception.

But with his health back to full strength, Jackson is going back to Ford in a pivotal home-and-home series against the Bombers that could determine whether the Elks make the playoffs. When asked how he felt he’s handled his QB room, Jackson somewhat dodged the question, suggesting everything that’s happened in the past has led them to this point.

Perhaps Jackson’s commitment to Ford has a level of self-preservation attached to it. If Ford is the future, Jackson will want the club’s new owner to know the two are on the same page.

No one would blame Larry Thompson if he wanted to rid his club of the leadership group from what’s been arguably the worst stretch in franchise history. As for Ford, one has to wonder, given his treatment the last few years, if he has Edmonton in his long-term plans.

Ford’s rookie deal is up after this season and there will surely be interest from other teams. He said he loves Edmonton, and even bought a house in the city.

But as has been the case for much of his time there, Ford admits he has no idea how things will play out.

“I don’t know. That’s going to involve contract negotiations and everything,” Ford said. “Honestly, I don’t even want to think about all that. I’m just focused on the next five weeks trying to make a playoff run and bring a Grey Cup to Edmonton.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton