Elks sign QB Bethel-Thompson to one-year deal worth up to $500K: TSN
Toronto Argonauts quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson throws the ball during CFL action against the host Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 10, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Move over, Tre: the Edmonton Elks have signed a new quarterback.
The Canadian Football League club agreed with McLeod Bethel-Thompson on a one-year deal, according to TSN's Farhan Lalji.
Lalji said in a social-media post on Friday the contract could be worth up to $500,000 with incentives.
Bethel-Thompson is the former starting signal-caller for the Toronto Argonauts, leading them to a Grey Cup victory in 2022 while throwing for a CFL-best 4,731 yards and 23 touchdowns along with 15 interceptions.
The 35-year-old left the Argos following their championship season to join the USFL's New Orleans Breakers, leading that league with 2,433 passing yards and 14 touchdowns to go with eight interceptions in 10 games.
The move leaves 25-year-old Tre Ford's status in uncertainty after the second-year pro grabbed the starter's reins in the second half of a season in which the Elks used two others to helm the offence, Jarret Doege and Taylor Cornelius, the latter reportedly released Thursday by the team that went 4-14 in 2023 for the second campaign in a row.
Ford appeared in 16 games for the Elks in 2023, throwing for 1,069 yards passing, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.
The 2024 season will be Bethel-Thompson's seventh in the CFL. The San Francisco native broke into the league in 2016 on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' practice roster before moving to the Argonauts the next year, rising to back up fellow Sacramento State graduate and former star Edmonton QB Ricky Ray in their 2017 Grey Cup victory and eventually becoming Toronto's starter..
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