The veteran defensive end is back with the Canadian Football League club, less than one week after being released in a payroll-cutting move.
"I still have a couple of more years left in me," Payton told the Edmonton Sun last week.
The defending Grey Cup champion Eskimos won't re-sign the 36-year-old until he passes a physical when training camp opens this Saturday.
Elfrid Payton is back with the Edmonton Eskimos after being released last week. (CP File Photo)
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- Eskimos part ways with Payton
Payton appeared in just two games in 2003 after suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 2 when he collided with former Calgary Stampeders running back Lawrence Phillips.
"Elfrid has worked hard to return from a very serious injury," Eskimos head coach Tom Higgins said in a statement Thursday. "He's an intense player who has asked only for a chance to come to camp and compete for a job and we've agreed to give him that opportunity."
Payton, the CFL's outstanding defensive player of the year for 2002, is just eight sacks shy of breaking the league record of 157 held by Grover Covington.
The 13-year veteran and four-time all-star led the CFL in sacks in 1993, 1997 and 2002.
with files from Canadian Press
