The

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division (CFL), West Division and plays their home games at Commonw ...

season was the 63rd season for the team in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

and their 72nd overall. This was the first season that the team competed under a new name, as the "Eskimos" moniker was retired in 2020, and the new name "Elks" was announced on June 1, 2021. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

following a week 14 loss to the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

on November 5, 2021. The team also finished the season without a home win for the first time in the team's 72–year history following that same home loss to the Roughriders. This was the fourth season under

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Brock Sunderland. This would have been the first season under

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Scott Milanovich Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also the head coach of the Toront ...

, but he resigned from his position on January 25, 2021. Instead, Jaime Elizondo was named as the 23rd head coach in the team's history on February 1, 2021. An 18-game season schedule was originally released on November 20, 2020, but it was announced on April 21, 2021 that the start of the season would likely be delayed until August and feature a 14-game schedule. On June 15, 2021, the league released the revised 14-game schedule with regular season play beginning on August 5, 2021.

Offseason

CFL Global Draft

The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021. With the format being a snake draft, Edmonton selected second in the odd-numbered rounds and eighth in the even-numbered rounds.

CFL National Draft

The 2021 CFL Draft took place on May 4, 2021. The team had six selections in the six-round snake draft and had the fifth pick in each of the rounds.

Preseason

Due to the shortening of the season, the CFL confirmed that pre-season games would not be played in 2021.

Planned schedule

Regular season

Season standings

Season schedule

The Elks initially had a schedule that featured 18 regular season games beginning on June 12 and ending on October 30. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

, the

delayed the start of the regular season to August 5, 2021 and the Elks began their 14-game season on August 7, 2021. On August 22, 2021, it was announced that the Elks had several players test positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, so the August 26, 2021 game was postponed with the rescheduled date to be declared once the Elks pass health and safety protocols. The CFL announced on September 2, 2021 that the game was rescheduled for Tuesday, November 16, 2021, meaning that the Elks will play three games in just a seven-day span. *Top attendance in CFL

Team

Roster

Coaching staff

References

External links

* {{Edmonton Elks seasons Edmonton Elks seasons 2021 Canadian Football League season by team Edmonton Elks season Elks, 2021