EDMONTON - Hey, Chris Jones, it’s Franklin.

James Franklin, to be precise, the Edmonton Eskimos backup quarterback who should be elevated from that role to the office of starter. Stat, and for the foreseeable future.

Following the Eskimos’ 49-20 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday night, the evidence is clear. Franklin is the team’s best option at quarterback right now. By far.

Well, at least until injured starter Mike Reilly returns from rehabbing his left knee sometime in September. But maybe beyond that still to be determined date.

Who’s to say when the Eskimos’ offensive leader and third-year starter will be ready to resume speed running the Eskimos offence, even if he is deemed fit and healthy?

The proof has been in the playing this Canadian Football League season that veteran backup Matt Nichols has not seized the opportunity handed him when Reilly was injured during Edmonton’s season-opening 26-11 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Yes, Nichols entered the fray on Friday night with a 5-1 won-lost record as the Eskimos starting quarterback, tops in the nine-team league.

But by just about any other measure, Nichols rated out the worst among CFL starters, his 76.9 quarterback efficiency score the most glaring metric of all.

Yes, Nichols’ effectiveness had been sabotaged by too many dropped passes by his own receivers this season.

Yes, the offence had been operating adequately despite a rash of injuries, including those to Reilly; offensive linemen Simeon Rottier, Greg Wojt and Alexander Krausnick; and Canadian receivers Shamawd Chambers and Nate Coehoorn, just for starters.

The middling performance of the offence cannot be placed wholly on the shoulders of Nichols. But enough is enough.

Jones revealed his own impatience with Nichols’ progress back on July 25, when he summarily yanked the veteran in favour of Franklin, who promptly clicked, leading the Eskimos to a 32-3 shellacking of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Sure, Franklin benefited from superb field position that night. And Jones mixed and matched Nichols and Franklin since then, perhaps trying to keep the veteran engaged and bring the 24-year-old Franklin along carefully, slowly.

Following the game, Jones invoked closure on the quarterback question, as is his wont.

“We’ll go back and we’ll look at the film,” Jones said. “I don’t want to be too judgmental after a loss like this.”

Asked about his decision to insert Franklin, Jones shut down the line of inquiry: “I’m not going to sit here and talk about the quarterbacks. We’re going to go back and work. We’ve got a good football team. One loss like this doesn’t necessarily define a football team. We’re going to go back to work and when we decide what we’re going to do at the quarterback position, we’ll let you know.”

Franklin is capable both of engineering scoring drives and displaying the sort of passing inaccuracy you often see with rookie pro quarterbacks. That’s not to mention the odd interception generated by a bad read or an ill-advised pass. So let him learn on the job.