Well, with that information I have to say it is a little odd.
You have a hybrid site. I also build sites that use Elementor and ACF but when using Elementor I do not work on PHP templates, or I do so rarely because we use Elementor Pro and build templates using its template builder. ACF fields are used in the Elenntor editor.
If you the site does not include Elementor Pro then my guess would be that the developer or the client did not want to pay for it or the developer did not know how to use it, or it could even be that the site was built before there were header/footer template plugins available for Elementor, and that the developer custom built the footer, or it could be that elementor was added later.
It’s always fun inheriting a site. I have several of those I work on that baffle me trying to figure out why the developer did what they did.
