EDMONTON – With the CFL Free Agent frenzy in the rear view, its possible to get a real look at the incredible overhaul the Double E have undergone in just a few months.
The club wrapped up Wednesday evening with what could be seen as a franchise altering haul, with bona fide difference makers in Jake Ceresna, Tyrell Ford, David Beard, Robbie Smith, and Jared Brinkman being brought into the organization. To see an Elks team, which has not played in a Canadian Football League playoff game since 2019, attract some of the league’s most desired players speaks volumes to the change in personnel and culture going on inside Commonwealth Stadium.
Take Ceresna for example, who entered free agency as cfl.ca’s #14 ranked free agent, and is probably valued higher than that by league talent evaluators. The 2024 sack leader was an important cog on the Toronto Argonauts Grey Cup championship side and had near league-wide interest once the negotiation window opened. Yet, Ceresna chose Edmonton. He says the decision to join was made easier in large part to the new leaders in charge.
“I don’t know about every team (reaching out), but I did have a lot of interest in free agency,” Ceresna said. “I came back here. Chris Morris and Ed Hervey, they shared their vision on the place and the future here.”
Jake Ceresna in his first stint with the Green and Gold
As for what changed for the All-CFL lineman to consider a reunion, it was the people with tight ties to Edmonton that helped steer Ceresna back to the City of Champions.
“The energy,” Ceresna said. “There’s just the right people in the building. Everyone here has some type of tie to Edmonton. I played with J.C. Sherritt as who’s the DC. I played with Aaron Grymes, who’s the defensive backs coach. Ed played here. Chris played here. Jason Tucker, the wide receivers coach played here. It’s just a lot of good people. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Mark Kilam from his time in Calgary, and they beat us up a bunch of times with his special teams group.”
“To get all these people in the building, you could just feel that it’s different,” he added. “But, I’m not really a guy that likes to talk about it. I just want to go out there and prove it.”
Ceresna fits the bill for what Hervey is looking for in members of the Double E. The Elks General Manager has said he wants guys who will commit to Edmonton, both on the field and in the community, and Ceresna has already done just that. The hulking defensive lineman used to make Edmonton his home year around prior to the trade that sent him to Toronto, something that had been common place for former stars of the team.
Edmonton is the place where ‘played and stayed’ is synonymous with the organization. It has also been a city where the people who come here become valued members of their community in their post-football careers — going all the way back to legends like Johnny Bright and Jackie Parker, who joined the Esks in the 1950s after incredible college careers down South and became beloved figures in the city with local landmarks named after them to this day.
Johnny Bright, Normie Kwong, and Jackie Parker
You can look at every decade of the Green and Gold and see people who have made Edmonton a home and continued to make an impact in the community. From 90s Double E alumni like Trent Brown and Sean Fleming – who have become business leaders in Edmonton – or 2010s alumni like Grymes and Sherritt who have become leaders on the coaching staff.
Even the Elks current leadership structure in President and CEO Chris Morris and VP of Football Operations and General Manager Ed Hervey have shown that when you give to Edmonton, Edmonton gives back to you.
That message was part of the selling process for Hervey. The idea of preparing for life after football while in your prime years can be lost on some players when you’re caught up in the thick of a pro career.
Robbie Smith is one of those players. He is an Ontario product that went to school at Wilfrid Laurier and spent the first five seasons of his career in Toronto. Smith left the familiarity of home, with a young family in tow, because he believes in what the Elks are building and what the city of Edmonton can mean for him.
Robbie Smith and his family
“One of the cool things about Edmonton is everybody I know that played in Edmonton in the past said great things about the city,” Smith said. “Even guys going as far back as Kwaku Boateng, he loved it here. He still has places out here.”
“Guys like Ed, Coach Maxie, and Coach J.C. Sherritt, all these guys have long histories with the Edmonton Elks organization and they say such great things about it… I think it just goes to show you how great of a place Edmonton is and how great of an organization it is that so many people from generations past, whether it be the 1990s, 2000s, or the 2010s that have played here, are still here.”
Smith’s teammate Jared Brinkman was another addition that already feels an affinity to Edmonton. The Northern Iowa product is excited to experience the Alberta wilderness, but most of all, he’s excited to get on the field for a team that made him a priority.
“Everything they said to me, I wanted to come to a place that I felt wanted and loved,” Brinkman said on his decision to join the Elks. “I felt that in Edmonton.”