On Wednesday, the Edmonton Elks continued to tweak their roster with the signing of four players. They are QB Case Cookus, OL Emanuel McGirt, DL Chris Nelson, and DB Herb Waters.
Case Cookus is a 26-year-old from Thousand Oaks, California, who played college football at Northern Arizona University. Cookus played in 41 games with 892 passes for 12,082 yards, 105 touchdowns, 21 interceptions, 206 carries for 232 yards, and six touchdowns.
Cookus won the Jerry Rice Award in 2015, First Team All-Big Sky Conference (2015), Big Sky Conference Co-Freshmen of the Year (2015), and STATS FCS Freshman Player of the Year (2015).
After college, Cookus went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft and signed with the New York Giants but was released in August 2020. This year, he had tryouts with the Broncos, Raiders, and Vikings.
Emanuel McGirt is a 25-year-old from Durham, North Carolina, and played for five years at NC State. He battled injuries while at NC State. He went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft and didn’t sign with any team.
Chris Nelson is a 26-year-old from Lakeland, Florida. He played for four years at Texas. He played in 45 games with 109 tackles, 3.5 sacks; one pass defended, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. Nelson helped Texas win two bowl games, the Texas Bowl in 2017 and the Sugar Bowl in 2019.
After college, Nelson went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft. He had stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans in training camp.
Herb Waters is a 28-year-old from Florida City, Florida, and played college football for the Miami (FL) Hurricanes as a wide receiver. He played in 47 games with 99 catches for 1,534 yards and nine touchdowns.
After college, Waters went undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft and signed with the Green Bay Packers. He switched to defensive back but was cut during training camp. He returned to Green Bay in 2017 but injured his shoulder and missed the season.
Green Bay brought Waters back in 2018 but was cut and later signed with Steelers. He was on the Steelers’ practice squad in 2018 but was released by the Steelers in August 2019.
In 2020, Waters played four games with the Tampa Bay Vipers of the XFL. He recorded two tackles, and one pass defended. Herb Waters reunited with Elks head coach Jaime Elizondo, who was an offensive coordinator for the Vipers.
The Elks are on a bye week. The Elks’ next game is on Friday, October 29th, against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 9:45 pm on ESPN+.
