Fajardo returns to practice after battles with knee injury, COVID

Cody Fajardo is dealing with damage to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ quarterback has needed a brace on his knee since the CFL team’s Week 2 game against the Edmonton Elks.

After practice Tuesday, Fajardo didn’t expand much when asked if there was ligament damage to the knee.

“There is (ligament damage). I’ll leave it there,” the 30-year-old said.

But head coach Craig Dickenson elaborated on it.

“It’s an MCL, unless there’s something new from (Tuesday) that I don’t know. We know he’s got some ligament issues and hopefully it heals up on its own and he’s able to play,” Dickenson said, referring to Friday’s game against the B.C. Lions.

Fajardo missed Sunday’s game, a 31-21 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, but he said it was due to COVID, not the injury to his knee.

“I wasn’t able to get out of COVID protocol until Sunday, the day of the game, so the coaches looked after me and didn’t want me to go out there with no practice,” said Fajardo, who didn’t dress for the game while Jake Dolegala ran the offence.

“I lost some weight. (COVID) kicked my butt for 48 hours. It was really tough on me. I had just about every symptom that you could think of.”

Now back at practice, Fajardo believes he will suit up against the Lions. Kickoff for the game at Mosaic Stadium is set for 7 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 5 p.m.

“If it’s up to me, I’m playing,” Fajardo said. “Talking with the doctor and Coach, I think everyone feels like we’re on the same page and I should be able to be healthy enough to go out there and play some football.

“(The knee) is definitely feeling much better. It was almost a blessing in disguise missing last week. As much as I didn’t want to miss it, COVID had other plans.”

Fajardo has appeared in six games for the Riders this season, throwing for 1,488 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

Fajardo, who usually puts up decent rushing yards as a quarterback, carried the ball 10 times in Week 1 but hasn’t rushed more than five times in a game in the weeks since.

Dickenson said he will talk to Fajardo and the doctors to determine if the knee is good enough to go.

“He’ll (try to) play no matter what, so we’ve got to first of all ask him how he feels, we’ve got to evaluate what he looks like and see if what he looks like is what he’s telling us, and then thirdly we’ve got to talk to the docs and get their opinion,” Dickenson said.

“It’ll be a team effort with him having a large say in it, but also the doctors and the coaching staff.”