EDMONTON — When Tyrell Ford was growing up in Niagara Falls, Ont., his offensive skills got to a point where he decided he needed a new challenge. So he gave up carrying and catching the football to try his hand at defence. His talents on that side of the ball have developed to the point where the Edmonton Elks made him the highest paid defensive back in the CFL when they signed him as free agent in April 2025. Heading into Friday night’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Commonwealth Stadium, Ford is tied for the lead in interceptions at five with Calgary’s Ben Labrosse. A far cry from the days when he and twin brother Tre, now quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, terrorized high school teams in Ontario with Tre playing quarterback and Tyrell as running back and receiver. “It originally started I was just better than him at football,” the six-foot, 200-pound cornerback recalled from his youth days. “So, Tre was the quarterback and he would just hand me the ball every play. Then I broke the touchdown record. I had like 28 and I think we had like eight games. “It got to the point where I was, OK, I’m gonna go to receiver and instead of handing it off, he’s gonna throw it to me. We were doing that for a while and then it was kind of like, no one’s really getting us better. “So I was, OK, I’m gonna go play defence.” He played it so well at the University of Waterloo that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers selected him in the second round of the 2022 CFL draft and Ford became a league all-star cornerback in 2024. With Edmonton last season he had a career-high 56 tackles along with two interceptions. This season he and the rest of the Elks defensive backs have become ball hawks with a league-high 16 interceptions, all of those coming in the last seven games. “He pays attention in the film room, so he understands route concepts, and when he’s playing, he reads route concepts based on what he’s seen on film,” Elks defensive backs coach Aaron Grymes said of Ford. “He’s got some God-given ability and he puts himself in position and he’s not afraid to attack the football when it’s in the air. He believes he is the receiver and our motto is, if it’s up, it’s ours. And he lives that motto every single play.” Ford says when he sees a pass into his area he doesn’t even look at the intended receiver, he pretends the quarterback is throwing the ball at him. “And then I go get it the best I can.” That’s the same mentality the rest of the Elks defensive backs have taken under Grymes’ direction. Four of the five starting backs have at least one interception this season, including three by JJ Ross who returned one 85 yards for a touchdown against Toronto in the Elks 42-12 win last week. Against Winnipeg, however, the Elks’ defensive backs will be facing quarterback Zach Collaros, who throughout his CFL career is averaging less than one interception per game. Grymes isn’t worried that his DBs may be overly aggressive in search of a pick. “We want these guys attacking the football every single play,” he said. “But we have to be ball aware.” Attack the ball, he adds, whether it’s in the air or in the opponent’s hands but be aware of the situation. “You err on the side of always attack the football,” Grymes explained. “Maybe this time we just want to make the tackle on the play because of the situation in the games. Let’s just get off the field.” The Elks defence has been exceptional at getting off the field. They have created a league-high 31 forced turnovers, including nine fumble recoveries, and those have been converted into 105 points. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2026. John Korobanik, The Canadian Press
