Cardale Jones Signs with CFL’s Edmonton Elks, Replacing Former Ohio State Teammate J.T. Barrett

Just like Ohio State in 2014, the Edmonton Elks are turning to Cardale Jones to replace an injured J.T. Barrett.

Edmonton announced the signing of Jones on Friday while simultaneously announcing it was moving Barrett to the retired list due to an injury Barrett suffered in late March that would have kept him out for the entire 2022 season.

TRANSACTIONS | The Edmonton Elks have inked former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones.

Details | https://t.co/RjZHdNithC | #GoElks pic.twitter.com/BFn8vIec4Y
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) May 6, 2022

This isn’t the first time a football team has called upon Jones after an injury to Barrett, of course, as Jones famously led Ohio State to the 2014 college football national championship after Barrett went down with a season-ending ankle injury.

For Jones, it will be his first opportunity to play professional football since he played for the D.C. Defenders during the first XFL reboot in 2020. The signing comes less than two months after Jones participated in Ohio State’s pro day, where he threw passes to Ohio State draft prospects Chris Booker and Master Teague as well as former Ohio Dominican wide receiver David Turner and former Fisk University basketball player-turned-tight end Malik Smith (the younger brother of Tyreke Smith).

Jones has also been keeping busy with multiple other ventures – he’s the chief talent officer for NIL agency Ten Talents and the co-founder of The Foundation, one of the two collectives that is funding name, image and likeness deals for Ohio State athletes – but told reporters at Ohio State’s pro day that he wasn’t ready to be done playing football quite yet.

“It's a thin line because a lot of my focus right now is on the NIL world and helping the athletes of Ohio, in particular Ohio State, capitalize on their name, image and likeness,” Jones said. “But my dream and goal is still to play professional football.”