Cody Fajardo

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Cody Fajardo
refer to caption
Fajardo with the Montreal Alouettes in 2023
No. 7 – Montreal Alouettes
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1992-03-29) March 29, 1992 (age 31)
Brea, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school:Servite (Anaheim, California)
College:Nevada (2010–2014)
Undrafted:2015
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status:Active
CFL status:American
Career highlights and awards
Career CFL statistics as of 2023
Passing completions:1,261
Passing attempts:1,789
Passing yards:14,893
TDINT:67–45
Rushing touchdowns:38
Player stats at CFL.ca

Cody Michael Fajardo (Spanish pronunciation: [faˈxaɾðo]; born March 29, 1992) is an American professional football quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Early years[edit]

Fajardo was born in Brea, California. He played high school football for Servite High School in Anaheim, California.[1][2] As a senior, he led Servite to a state championship and a No. 3 ranking in the national polling.[3] He won the Glenn Davis Award in 2009 as the best high school football player in California.[4]

Fajardo's father played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and his grandfather played for the Colorado Buffaloes.[3]

College career[edit]

Fajardo committed to the University of Nevada, Reno in late January 2010.[5] He was redshirted during the 2010 season as Colin Kaepernick completed a four-year run as the starting quarterback for the Nevada Wolf Pack football team.

As a redshirt freshman, Fajardo became the starting quarterback for 2011 Nevada Wolf Pack football team.[6] Playing against Texas Tech in the third game of the 2011 season, Fajardo rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries and completed four of six passes for 59 yards and a touchdown. On October 15, 2011, he led the Wolfpack to a 49–7 win over New Mexico, running for two touchdowns and completing 20 of 25 passes for 203 yards.[7][8][9] He finished 2011 with 1,707 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns and 694 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.

Fajardo had 2,786 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 1,121 rushing yards, and 12 rushing touchdowns. In 2013, he passed 2,668 yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 621 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. As a senior in 2014, he passed for 2,498 yards and 18 passing touchdowns and rushed for 1,046 yards and 13 touchdowns. Fajardo accounted for 101 touchdowns in his career at Nevada.

Fajardo became the second player in NCAA history with 9,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing, the first having been Colin Kaepernick, another alumnus of the University of Nevada.

College statistics[edit]

Season Team Passing Rushing
GP Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD
2010 Nevada Redshirt Redshirt
2011 Nevada 10 150 218 68.8 1,707 7.8 6 6 89.7 128 694 5.4 11
2012 Nevada 12 246 367 67.0 2,786 7.6 20 9 97.5 190 1,121 5.9 12
2013 Nevada 10 243 358 67.9 2,668 7.5 13 3 98.3 141 621 4.4 8
2014 Nevada 13 239 405 59.0 2,498 6.2 18 11 80.5 177 1,046 5.9 13
Career 45 878 1,348 65.1 9,659 7.2 57 29 135.0 636 3,482 5.5 44

Professional career[edit]

Oakland Raiders[edit]

After going undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft, Fajardo signed with the Oakland Raiders on May 8, 2015.[10] On September 1, 2015, he was waived by the Raiders.[11]

Toronto Argonauts[edit]

On October 8, 2015, Fajardo was signed to the practice roster of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.[12][13] He re-signed with the Argonauts on May 17, 2016.[14] Fajardo scored his first professional rushing touchdown on July 13, 2016, before throwing his first professional touchdown pass on July 25, 2016. Fajardo would see his role expand during 2017 into a change-of-pace backup while starter Ricky Ray was injured but remained the short-yardage quarterback when Ray returned. He scored the game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds remaining in the 2017 East Final in short-yardage on a 1-yard plunge against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, sending the Argonauts to the 105th Grey Cup game.[15] The Argos would go on to win the championship game over the Calgary Stampeders. Although Fajardo showed considerable promise and poise when he played, the Argonauts were unable to sign him to a contract extension with the acquisition of James Franklin from the Edmonton Eskimos.

BC Lions[edit]

After entering free agency, Fajardo signed with the BC Lions on February 16, 2018.[16] Fajardo continued his role as a short down rusher and change of pace quarterback behind Travis Lulay and Jonathon Jennings, registering 14 completions on 20 attempts for 153 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, as well as 42 rushes for 108 yards and 5 more scores.

Saskatchewan Roughriders[edit]

On the third day of free agency in 2019, Fajardo signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a one-year contract,[17] joining a quarterback room featuring Zach Collaros and David Watford. Fajardo became the starting quarterback following an injury to Collaros in the opening game of the season.[18] He led the team to a win on July 1, 2019, throwing for 430 yards against the Toronto Argonauts.[19] Fajardo continued to play well in the following weeks which prompted the Roughriders to trade Collaros to the Argonauts, solidifying their trust in Fajardo.[20] On October 21, 2019. Fajardo agreed to a two-year contract extension with Saskatchewan. He signed a contract extension through the 2022 season with the team on January 5, 2021.[21] Fajardo remained the starting quarterback for the Riders in 2021, leading the team to 9–5 record and secured a home playoff match against rival Calgary Stampeders, whom they defeated 33–30 in overtime despite Fajardo throwing four interceptions.[22] The Riders were defeated in the Western Final by the eventual champions the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.[23] On January 31, 2022, Fajardo and the Roughriders agreed to a restructured contract for the 2022 season.[24] After starting the season with four wins in their first five games the season proved to be challenging for Fajardo and the Riders as the team would go on to lose nine of their next 11 matches, culminating in Fajardo being benched for the Riders penultimate match.[25] On February 13, 2023, one day before becoming a free agent, Fajardo posted on Twitter announcing that he would not be returning to Saskatchewan.[26]

Montreal Alouettes[edit]

Fajardo with the Alouettes in 2023

On the first day of free agency Fajardo signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes.[27] Fajardo had a 9–7 record as a starter and helped the Alouettes to a playoff spot as runners-up in the East Division. The Alouettes reached the 110th Grey Cup, in which Fajardo was named the game's Most Valuable Player. He threw three touchdowns in the championship game, including the winning score to Tyson Philpot with 13 seconds remaining.

CFL career statistics[edit]

Legend
Won the Grey Cup
Bold Career high

Regular season[edit]

Year Team Games Passing Rushing
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Rtg Att Yds Y/A TD
2016 TOR 8 0 0–0 11 18 61.1 107 5.9 2 0 114.8 21 89 4.2 3
2017 TOR 18 0 0–0 18 30 60.0 154 5.1 2 0 95.7 59 240 4.1 5
2018 BC 18 0 0–0 14 20 70.0 153 7.7 1 1 88.1 42 108 2.6 5
2019 SSK 18 16 12–4 338 473 71.5 4,302 9.1 18 8 105.2 107 611 5.7 10
2020 SSK Season cancelled Season cancelled
2021 SSK 13 13 9–4 281 404 69.6 2,970 7.4 14 11 90.9 78 468 6.0 4
2022 SSK 17 15 6–9 282 401 69.8 3,360 8.4 16 13 95.4 81 357 4.4 8
2023 MTL 18 16 9–7 317 443 71.6 3,847 8.7 14 12 97.1 57 341 6.0 3
SSK Career 92 44 27–17 944 1,346 70.1 11,046 8.2 53 33 97.6 388 1,873 4.8 35
CFL Career 110 60 36–24 1,261 1,789 70.5 14,893 8.3 67 45 97.5 445 2,214 5.0 38

Post-season[edit]

Year Team Games Passing Rushing
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Rtg Att Yds Y/A TD
2017 TOR 2 0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 1.0 1
2018 BC 1 0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
2019 SSK 1 1 0–1 27 41 65.9 366 8.9 0 1 83.9 3 23 7.7 0
2021 SSK 2 2 1–1 41 60 68.3 454 7.6 2 4 73.9 16 110 6.9 1
2023 MTL 3 3 3–0 54 74 73.0 677 9.1 6 3 111.2 11 118 10.7 0
Career 9 6 4–2 122 175 69.7 1,497 8.6 8 8 92.0 35 255 7.3 2

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ben Bolch (December 12, 2009). "Servite quarterback Cody Fajardo's reality exceeds his dreams". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ "This Fajardo kid is alright". OCVarsity.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Cody Fajardo Bio". University of Nevada at Reno. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  4. ^ Ben Bolch (January 3, 2010). "Player of the year: Cody Fajardo; Servite High quarterback had dream season capped with state championship". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ "QB Cody Fajardo Makes His Choice". InsideSports.net. January 29, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  6. ^ Joe Santoro (October 12, 2011). "Fajardo retains starting QB job at UNR". Nevada Appeal.
  7. ^ "Cody Fajardo Statistics". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  8. ^ Joe Santoro (October 15, 2011). "Fajardo, Pack take bite out of New Mexico". Lahontan Valley News.
  9. ^ "Cody Fajardo scores twice on the ground to lead ground attack, Nevada beats New Mexico 49–7". The Washington Post. October 16, 2011.[dead link]
  10. ^ "Raiders announce undrafted free agent signings". Raiders.com. May 8, 2015. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  11. ^ "Raiders announce transactions". Raiders.com. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  12. ^ Murray, Chris (October 15, 2015). "Wolf Pack alum Cody Fajardo signs with CFL team". rgj.com. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  13. ^ "TRANSACTIONS – 2015". cfl.ca. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  14. ^ "ARGOS SIGN QB CODY FAJARDO". argonauts.ca. May 17, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  15. ^ "2017-11-19 Game Tracker – Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Toronto Argonauts (2454) – CFL.ca". CFL.ca. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  16. ^ "Lions Add quarterback Cody Fajardo – BC Lions". February 15, 2018.
  17. ^ "Riders sign quarterback Cody Fajardo – CTV News Regina". regina.ctvnews.ca. February 14, 2019.
  18. ^ Vanstone, Rob (June 24, 2019). "Vanstone: Fajardo provides hope for Roughriders". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  19. ^ "Cody Fajardo provides spark for Riders' passing attack". CFL.ca. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  20. ^ "Toronto Argonauts acquire quarterback Zach Collaros from the Saskatchewan Roughriders". TSN. July 31, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  21. ^ "Riders lock up All-Star quarterback Cody Fajardo through 2022 season". Riderville.com. January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  22. ^ "2021-11-28 Game Tracker – Calgary Stampeders vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders (6198)". CFL.ca. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  23. ^ "2021-12-05 Game Tracker – Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6200)". CFL.ca. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  24. ^ TSN ca Staff (January 31, 2022). "Roughriders and QB Fajardo agree to restructured contract – TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  25. ^ McGuire, Brendan (October 19, 2022). "Saskatchewan swap: Riders bench QB Cody Fajardo for Mason Fine ahead of most important game of 2022 season". 3DownNation. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  26. ^ TSN ca Staff (February 13, 2023). "Cody Fajardo pens goodbye to Saskatchewan Roughrider fans". TSN. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  27. ^ TSN ca Staff (February 14, 2023). "Montreal Alouettes sign Cody Fajardo to a two-year deal". TSN. Retrieved February 15, 2023.

External links[edit]