Davis Alexander faces former teammate Cody Fajardo in the 2026 Grey Cup

The Story

Davis Alexander will face former teammate Cody Fajardo when Montreal plays Edmonton in the 2026 Grey Cup in Calgary.

The two quarterbacks have a connection that dates back to 2023, when Alexander served as the Alouettes’ third-string quarterback behind Fajardo.

That season, Fajardo led Montreal to the Grey Cup title and was named the game’s MVP.

Alexander’s learning curve continued into the next season, including after Fajardo threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns in the 2024 East Division final.

Despite being behind the veteran earlier in his CFL development, Alexander later became the focus of the Alouettes’ plans, and Montreal traded him to the Edmonton Elks.

Alexander, 28, will start a second straight Grey Cup game after being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player this season.

Fajardo, 34, has helped engineer Edmonton’s turnaround and the Elks reached the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015.

Speaking at McMahon Stadium on Wednesday, Fajardo said he “just knew” Alexander would take the opportunity when it came.

Fajardo also recalled Alexander texting him earlier this season to thank him for his mentorship, saying he got “emotional” after reading it because “you don’t know what impact you have” unless it is shared.

Alexander said Fajardo “was a major, major part” of his growth as a person, quarterback and leader, adding that it could be uncomfortable for a starter to have someone “on your hip all the time” but Fajardo never did.

He described Fajardo as “like a coach,” saying he could ask detailed questions and “he wasn’t going to hold any information.”

Alexander’s 2026 season included hamstring issues that limited him to seven regular-season games and hampered him in the playoffs in 2025.

In 2026, he threw for 5,257 yards, ranking second to Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris (5,370), and recorded 35 touchdown passes, which were second to Calgary’s Vernon Adams Jr. (36).

In the East Division final, Alexander threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

Fajardo said he gave Alexander “too much of the blueprint” in their early time together in Montreal, but that Alexander still “ran with it” as a student of the game who took notes and listened in meetings.

Fajardo also pointed to the close communication they’ve had since Alexander’s development years, describing Alexander as “gracious about the way that I treated him when I was in Montreal.”

Alexander described Fajardo as an “ultimate competitor,” saying they used to battle in games such as ping pong, cornhole and fantasy baseball.

He said Fajardo will “leave it all out on the field” and that it could come down to who has the ball last.

Edmonton’s results reflect the early stage of that transition: the Elks went 7-11 in Fajardo’s first season with the team and then reached the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015.

The 2026 season also included an extension for Fajardo in December, and he finished with 4,788 passing yards and 25 touchdown passes plus 517 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

In this year’s West final, Fajardo threw a touchdown pass and ran for another while passing for 274 yards.

Fajardo said he won’t make a decision about his future without consulting his wife, Laura, and he described her as the driver behind returning for another season after last year’s Grey Cup.

He recalled Laura telling him, “You can get back there,” and said, “That’s all I needed to hear,” adding that the decision to come back “wasn’t my decision. It was my wife’s decision.”