MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes took their first steps into their future on Thursday, when they held a press conference to introduce Davis Alexander as their starting quarterback.
The 26-year-old went into action in July, after then-starting QB Cody Fajardo went down with a hamstring injury. He led the team to four straight wins between July and August, helping the Alouettes lock up the East Division title and the right to host the 2024 Eastern Final. Alexander completed 105-151 passes for 1,347 yards and six touchdowns in 2024, while rushing for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
The Als’ announcement of Alexander’s three-year contract extension made it clear that he would be taking the reins of the offence from Fajardo. On Thursday, general manager Danny Maciocia gave some more insight into that dynamic. Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s press conference.
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THE QB FUTURE IS NOW
Maciocia quickly doubled down on the statement the team made in its release earlier in the week. This is Alexander’s offence now and for years to come.
“You can adopt a mindset or an attitude that you’re year-to-year on certain positions: receiver, DB,” Maciocia said of how making the move away from Fajardo went down.
“But it’s very difficult to have that kind of mindset at the QB position because of the importance of the position.
“There’s something to be said about having the right guy under centre and when you feel like you have the right guy under centre and you think you could potentially get on a run at the tender age of 26, you don’t want to live year-to-year at that position. That’s how we came to the conclusion that we came to and that’s why we’re here today.”
FAJARDO’S FUTURE
Fajardo led the Als to the 110th Grey Cup last year, but lost his starting job to Alexander (Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.ca)
Both Alexander and Maciocia were effusive in their praise for Fajardo, who led the club to the 110th Grey Cup, just over a year ago. It was around this time a year ago that Fajardo had signed a two-year extension. With a year remaining on his deal, Maciocia said he will work to find a place to trade Fajardo.
“He still feels like he’s a starting quarterback in this league. I feel the same way,” Maciocia said.
“Not knowing what’s going on in a couple of other markets…but if there’s an opportunity for him to start elsewhere we’re going to help him.
“If that opportunity does not present itself then there’s going to be another conversation. We have not talked about salary structure, we have not talked about anything else moving forward except how we came to this decision and that this organization is more than willing moving forward to do what is best for Cody Fajardo.”
Alexander arrived in Montreal in 2022 and was in the QBs room with Fajardo through last year’s run to the Grey Cup. Over the last two years, Alexander said Fajardo had taught him a great deal.
“He’s helped me grow as a player, as a person as a quarterback, as a leader for the two years I got to spend with him,” said Alexander, who added that the two have been in touch since he’d signed his new contract.
“He’s been tremendous in helping me in every single way and I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done for me. Cody told me…you have to be ready for your opportunity because they don’t come along often in this league. If you…take advantage of that opportunity your life can change just like that.”
ROLLING THE DICE
Perhaps one of the best lines from the day came from Maciocia, who sounds plenty comfortable taking the risk on going all-in with his backup quarteback.
Danny Maciocia on the risk that comes with making Davis Alexander the starter: “Scared money doesn’t win at the casino…”
Added that this team has taken risks before & they’ve worked out under his watch#Alouettes
— Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri) November 28, 2024
The GM didn’t rule out the possibility of Fajardo sticking around as a backup quarterback next season, either. He said that Fajardo had told him that he knew he’d have to make a decision between the two players. When Maciocia had done all of the film review and consultation with his staff, he arrived on Alexander as the starter.
Maciocia drew on his experience in Edmonton 20 years ago with a successful two quarterback system.
“I believe in Jason Maas. I’m never going to have to worry about this locker room as long as Jason Maas is the head coach here,” Maciocia said.
“This whole thing about having two QBs, I’ve been quite fortunate and blessed to have Grey Cups in ’03 and ’05 with Jason Maas and Ricky Ray. I had two QBs and found a way to win with those two and I’ll tell you those two locker rooms were as united as two locker rooms could have ever been. I believe it can work.
“Does that mean that’s what we’ll do? I don’t know. Everything is out there right now. The most important thing for me and this organization is to make everyone understand that Davis is our starting QB…and he will deliver for us for the next few years.”