With training camp underway, I’ll take a look a potential Tampa Bay Vipers depth chart. This is a more difficult task than normal given the expansion nature of this and all XFL teams. There’s no previous season to look back on for a guide as to who may be a part of the starting lineup.

Given the unknowns, I’ve emphasized professional experience and draft status in order to craft a potential depth chart almost a week into camp. I’ll tackle the offense today, with defense and special teams in the coming days.

Quarterbacks

First Team: Aaron Murray (Georgia; Assigned)

Second Team: Taylor Cornelius (Oklahoma St; R9/69), Quinton Flowers (South Florida; R5/37)

Murray was assigned to the Vipers prior to the draft as a Tier 1 quarterback, giving him a leg-up on the competition. It has to be concerning that he wasn’t a starter out of camp in the Alliance of American Football, but Murray does have talent. Marc Trestman is the kind of coach who can squeeze it out of him.

At 6’6”, Taylor Cornelius has intriguing size but it’s unlikely he’s ready to challenge Murray for the starting job. The Vipers seemed to want to make sure they had a competent backup behind Murray by not waiting until the open phase to select Cornelius. He played at a high level at a big-time college program in Oklahoma State. Cornelius is technically in his first professional season, so he should use this to soak up as much knowledge from Trestman and the veteran Murray as he can.

Initially drafted as a running back, Flowers has received snaps at the quarterback position during minicamp and training camp. If nothing else, the hometown player will add a wildcat-like wrinkle to the Vipers offense. When it comes to being active on gamedays, the more you can do the better. He may also be a special teams option.

Running Backs

First Team: De’Veon Smith (Michigan; R3/21)

Second Team: Jacques Patrick (FSU; OP2)

Third Team: Tarean Folston (Notre Dame; Minicamp signee), DJ May (Wyoming; OP3), Mack Brown (Florida; Training camp signee)

Despite being the only RB on Tampa’s roster selected in the skills phase of the draft, I don’t think De’Veon Smith is guaranteed a starting spot. This position really feels up-for-grabs without a defined pecking order. Smith did not have a dominant college career at Michigan and went undrafted in 2017.

Smith and Patrick are similar backs, in that they’re big and not particularly fast. That could open an opportunity for Folston or May to see playing time as a change-of-pace back. A player to keep an eye on is Mack Brown, who was just added to the roster within the last few days. He has played in 13 NFL games during his career and despite being a late entry into the race, has a real chance to crack the rotation. The Vipers could scour the waiver wire for a chance-of-pace back.

Tight Ends

First Team: Nick Truesdell (Grand Rapids JC; D1/5)

Second Team: Colin Thompson (Temple; OP2)

Third Team: DeAndre Goolsby (Florida; OP3), Pharoah McKeever (FIU; MC); Kano Dillon (IR – South Florida; MC)

You’d have to think Truesdell is the unquestioned starter here, as he was the first-ever Tampa Bay draft choice. Truesdell lit up the AAF and parlayed that into a spot on the New York Jets training camp roster this past summer. He’ll look to further cement himself in the eyes of NFL decision makers this spring.

Thompson has been with the Chicago Bears and New York Giants in the NFL, though he has yet to see regular season action. A two-year starter at Temple, Thompson is a big target, going 6’4” and 255 pounds. He could be an inline tight end while Truesdell is the more vertical threat in the passing game.

The third tight end battle (unless Tampa keeps four) appears to be between DeAndre Goolsby and Pharaoh McKeever. McKeever was claimed during minicamp and has played WR and DE during his career in addition to TE. His athleticism could be intriguing enough for this staff to want to keep and develop.

Wide Receivers

First Team: Seantavius Jones (Valdosta St; R2/12), Freddie Martino (North Greenville; OP2), Alonzo Moore (Nebraska; R10/76)

Second Team: Reece Horn (Indianapolis; R8/60), Jalen Tolliver (Ark-Monticello; R4/28), Jawill Davis (Bethune-Cookman; SD)

Third Team: Daniel Williams (Jackson St; OP1), Ryan Davis (Auburn; OP1), Tanner McEvoy (Wisconsin; SD), Donteea Dye (Heidelbrerg; W/LA), KJ Maye (Minnesota; OP3)

The numbers seem to indicate Tampa Bay will start three receivers rather than a fullback (no true FB on roster) or two tight ends (thin at the TE spot). Jones and Martino are the veterans in the room. Tampa took a flyer on a couple of young receivers early in the draft in Horn and Tolliver. This could be a fluid lineup as the season progresses.

If the younger players gain more experience and confidence as the year pushes forward, I have no doubt their playing time will increase along with it. Some of the players in the third team above will need to stand out and contribute on special teams to make it out of camp and onto the opening day roster. McEvoy played QB in addition to safety at Wisconsin, so like Flowers, he could have multiple roles on the team.

Offensive Line

First Team: OT Martez Ivey (Florida; R2/13), OT Christian Morris (Mississippi; R6/45), C Jordan McCray (UCF; R1/4), G Tre Jackson (FSU; R5/36), G Andrew Tiller (Syracuse; R4/29)

Second Team: OT Jerald Foster (Nebraska; SD), OT Rod Taylor (Mississippi; TC), G Tony Adams (R7/52), G Daronte Bouldin (Mississippi; R8/61), C/G John Yarbrough (Richmond; OP1)

Third Team: G William Campbell (Michigan; R10/77), Marquis Lucas (West Virginia; R9/68), Isaiah Williams (Akron; MC)

Tampa Bay is deep at guard, but thin at tackle and center. They must plan on cross-training their guards at other positions, as they spent a significant amount of draft capital at that position. Ivey and Morris seem good bets to start at the tackle spots. Rod Taylor is an interesting pickup: He tore his ACL in 2018 after being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals and has already been suspended numerous times by the NFL. We’ll see how long of a leash he has here.

Jackson and Tiller will face competition from Adams, Bouldin, Campbell, and Lucas, all who were drafted in the offensive line phase. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Adams emerge as a starter at one of the guard spots. Jordan McCray should anchor the pivot. Yarbrough is listed as a guard but has experience at center and will likely back up McCray.

Today, the XFL released the schedules for each of its eight teams, as well as its television broadcast schedule. When the NFL releases its schedule each year, analysts and fans can debate strength of schedule, historical rivalries, and other quirks. Because each XFL team is basically an expansion team, we don’t have those kinds of discussion points at our disposal. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to analyze, however. Taking a look at how the Tampa Bay Vipers’ schedule shakes out:

Tampa opens week one on the road against a division foe in New York. It’s no surprise the New York market would get a home game to start the season. It’s a 2pm Sunday start on Fox, the early game of a doubleheader. This rating will be key; we saw how the original XFL dropped after the curiosity factor wore off following week one. After fans sample one or both Saturday games to open the season, how many will be back for more on Sunday? That could be another reason the New York market got that game – the biggest media market means a better chance for a higher retention of viewers.

In week two, the Vipers travel across the country to visit Seattle. If Seahawks fans are any indication, this will be a difficult road matchup. And they do it on less than a full week’s rest, taking the Saturday evening timeslot. The cross-country excursion could be a challenge, but it occurs early enough in the season that the team should still be fresh. This is another Fox ballgame.

Tampa gets its home opener in week three, hosting Houston Saturday afternoon on ABC. This is likely to draw well regardless, but could be dependent upon the momentum of the entire league at this point. If by week three quality of play or ratings are down, fans could start to jump ship (pun intended, considering Raymond James Stadium) before Tampa even plays a home game. Tampa and St. Louis are the last two teams to play at home, both in this third week.

After two straight out of division games, Tampa faces DC, again at home, in prime time on Sunday night on ESPN2. The atmosphere should be raucous for that one. DC may end up the geographical rival of Tampa, at least in the early years, with no other teams close by. St. Louis would be the other contender for that mantle.

At the midway point of the season, Tampa goes back out to the west coast to face Los Angeles. It’s another primetime Sunday night game, this one at 9pm EST. That’s as accommodating as you can expect for a game on the left coast: Sunday night the week before, and Sunday night that week. Routine is important.

The Vipers come all the way back across the country for week six, as they host the BattleHawks. It’s a Saturday, 5pm EST start on FS2. It’s the only time they’re not on one of the major network or cable properties. There’s a lot of shifting of times and stations throughout the season, so you hope ABC/ESPN and Fox do a great job with promotion.

Week seven is the final cross-divisional game of the season when Tampa Bay locks up with Dallas. They’re back in Tampa for this one after being on the road for two weeks. Home cooking will be a relief by then and hopefully for the Vipers, spur them on for the homestretch of the regular season.

It’s the Defenders again in week eight, in DC, Saturday afternoon at 2pm EST on ABC. It’s the first game of week seven, a game that many east division foes will be keeping an eye on. The final three weeks are all interdivisional games, adding importance as teams jockey for playoff spots. There will have been a reasonable four weeks in between DC vs. Tampa contests.

Three weeks after doing battle with St. Louis, Tampa ventures out to Missouri to face them again. Two key divisional games in a row are away. This could be a trouble spot, just as the first two games of the season being away could cause problems.

They wrap up at home against New York, the team they squared off against in the opening weekend. Sunrise, sunset. It’s also the final game of the XFL regular season, so a lot could be on the line in this one, Sunday night on either FS1 of ABC.

Half of Tampa’s games are slated for broadcast networks, ABC or Fox (one more than half if the final game is picked up by ABC). Two games are on ESPN, and one each on ESPN2 and FS2. If Tampa Bay is to become a playoff team, they’ll have to overcome two away games in a row to start the season, and two away games in a row to lead off the important final three weeks of interdivisional slugfests. Other factors will certainly come into play throughout the season, but that’s what I see in digging into the Tampa Bay Vipers 2020 regular season schedule.

With the XFL Draft now in the rear-view mirror, let’s take a look at how the Tampa Bay Vipers fared in each phase of the draft.

Quarterback Assignment: Aaron Murray, Georgia

A Tampa native, Murray was the first player with Florida ties, but certainly not the last, to become a Viper over the two-day draft period. While many assigned QBs had long been linked to the XFL, Murray was one that came out of left field. After a prolific college career in the SEC where he threw for 121 touchdowns and just 41 interceptions, Murray was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 5th round of the 2014 NFL Draft.

A backup who bounced around practice squads, Murray found himself out of the league in 2017. He resurfaced with the Alliance of American Football earlier this year, playing for the Atlanta Legends. Murray’s strengths are his accuracy and his ability to move in the pocket, taking off as a runner when necessary. Head Coach Marc Trestman runs a version of the West Coast Offense, where Murray’s lack of arm strength can be hidden and his smarts can be utilized. Despite being a Tier 1 quarterback, I don’t believe he’ll be handed the job in camp and will have to fend off challenges from Taylor Cornelius and Vinny Testaverde Jr.

 

Phase One: Skill Players

If fortune favors the bold, the Vipers will be set up for a strong first season in the XFL. With the fifth overall pick in the round, Tampa made the first surprise of the day in picking TE Nick Truesdell. He was the first tight end selected, and the second one wasn’t chosen until pick 26. You could say Tampa pounced on the best tight end in the draft; you could also say that, because of the snake format, they had to wait until pick 12 to make their next choice, limiting their options of the top wideouts and backs.

Truesdell was on-and-off the New York Jets camp roster this summer after blowing up the AAF and leading all tight ends in receiving. He has taken a circuitous route to get to this point, with stops in the Indoor Football League and Arena Football League. He was one of two TEs taken by the Vipers in this phase, joined by Cole Wick out of Incarnate Word. Truesdell goes 6’5″ while Wick stands 6’6″.

Just ahead of Truesdell in AAF receiving was Seantavius Jones, who was Tampa’s second pick. Jones goes 6’4″, so whatever QB wins the training camp battle will have some big bodies to throw to. He was a part of a WR-rich New Orleans Saints team in 2014 and 2015. Four other receivers were taken during this phase, none under 6’0″. Given the picks here, it was clear this staff wasn’t going to be mesmerized by big names or big schools, as they took several under-the-radar players from small schools.

Rounding out the phase were two running backs and a quarterback. Not every team took a second QB in this phase, and while Cornelius was picked later (ninth round out of ten), he’s younger than Murray and could present a camp challenge in his first year as a pro. At 6’6″ and 232 pounds, the former walk-on from Oklahoma State won’t be overwhelmed by the competition. The running back selections were interesting. De’Veon Smith is a big back whose slow 40-yard dash time (4.85) at the 2017 NFL Combine likely led to his undrafted status. He’s almost exclusively an early-down runner.

He’ll be paired with Quinton Flowers, who played his college games at Raymond James Stadium, where the Vipers will call home. Flowers was a college QB who could be for the Vipers what Taysom Hill is for the Saints. If nothing else, he provides a contrast to what Smith brings to the table out of the backfield.

 

Phase Two: Offensive Linemen

Twelve of the first thirteen overall picks of this phase were offensive tackles. I’ll give you one guess as to what team bucked that trend. Yes, it was the Vipers, who selected UCF center Jordan McCray with the fourth overall pick. The same pros and cons of picking a TE over WR and RB also apply here. This was not a draft deep at the pivot, so McCray will anchor the line from the middle.

Tampa clearly scouted the AAF hard, as McCray participated there and has been in a number of NFL camps since 2014. That gives him experience in different types of offenses. The second pick may be their most intriguing, as the Vipers took OT Martez Ivey out of Florida (one of 15 players with Florida ties drafted by this franchise). Ivey was a heralded five-star recruit out of high-school who never developed into a top-tier tackle in college.

Offensive line coach Jonathan Himebauch will have a big piece of clay to mold during camp to get Ivey to where he needs to be for this team to be successful. Worth noting that Tampa took seven guards and just two tackles, so the expectation could be that those two tackles will bookend the line. If that’s the case, Ivey will be joined by Christian Morris from Mississippi. Some of the guards may be able to cross-train at tackle.

Andrew Tiller is a former sixth-round pick of the Saints and has 28 NFL games played to his name. Tre Jackson was a fourth-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2015. This doesn’t strike me as a strong group; there are players with substantial upside but who have underachieved or don’t have much experience. Then again, that may be symptomatic of the offensive line pool available.

 

Phase Three: Defensive Front Seven

Of the ten picks in this phase, four were defensive ends, two were defensive tackles, and four were linebackers. With the first pick in the phase, Tampa Bay this time went with the conventional wisdom, taking Oregon State pass rusher Obum Gwacham. Gwacham may not make it to mini-camp in December, as he has been on the NFL workout loop since being released by the Indianapolis Colts in final cuts. He tried out as recently as October 8 with the Colts.

Gwacham is an explosive athlete and a former WR, so he’s still learning the nuances of the defensive end position. He can play end or linebacker depending on coordinator Jerry Glanville’s scheme. That flexibility will be an advantage. Deiontrez Mount, Tampa’s second pick in this phase, has similar positional flexibility. A former Tennessee Titans draft pick, Mount, also like Gwacham, has NFL game experience. He’s more of a strength player who can run defend, posing as a compliment to Gwacham’s pass-rushing prowess.

Ricky Walker was a strong undrafted free-agent out of Virginia Tech this past year. He’ll work in the defensive tackle rotation with Josh Banks, who’s a little more stout than Walker. The Vipers posted a neat video of LB Lucas Wacha revealing his destination to the high-school football team he’s coaching:

.@Lucas_wacha12 got quite a celebration after getting that “you’ve been drafted” call 📞

📸: @joshgibson_pg

pic.twitter.com/hBQBKAxtEQ

— Tampa Bay Vipers (@XFLVipers) October 17, 2019

The one other name that stands out from this group is the final choice, DE Devin Taylor. He was a fourth-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2013 and has 63 NFL games to his name. He also, you guessed it, played in the AAF in the spring.

 

Phase Four: Defensive Backfield

Seven corners and three safeties were the count for this phase of the draft. First-and-second-round picks Arrion Springs and Picasso Nelson are young and inexperienced at the pro level, which makes the selection of Demontre Hurst in the third round all the more valuable. He has seven years as a pro under his belt, most of those years with the Chicago Bears, though he recently was in the CFL.

Springs had been a starter since his sophomore year at Oregon and can play inside or outside. Nelson was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Southern Mississippi by the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was never a real threat to crack their once-deep defensive backfield.

Micah Hannemann and Marcelis Branch are the top two safeties, but the final safety pick may be the most recognizable: Robenson Therezie out of Auburn, who made the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free-agent in 2015 and has played in 25 games.

This is another position where the Vipers chose youth over some of their more veteran counterparts.

 

Phase Five: Open

While some teams didn’t even draft specialists, Tampa Bay stocked up. They took two kickers, a punter, and a long-snapper. Andrew Franks was their first kicker taken. He spent two years with the Miami Dolphins where he connected on 78.4% of his field goals. At punter, the Vipers went with Jacob Schum who, like Franks, legged out two years in the NFL. Schum averaged 42.6 yards per punt with a 38.5 net with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 and the Green Bay Packers in 2016. Long snapper Nick Moore was in camp with the Saints this year. He was rated by many as one of the top snappers to enter the NFL Draft this past spring.

A second kicker, Matthew Wright of UCF, was also chosen. Like at the QB spot, it doesn’t hurt to have a little competition, especially when you’re either picking your 10th linebacker who has little chance of making the team, or creating real competition at a position. Wright left UCF last season as their career leader in field goals and points. He camped with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After taking just two RBs in the skill position phase, Tampa Bay opted for three in the open phase, adding DJ May, Ralph Webb, and Jacques Patrick. Patrick may be the most intriguing: Heavily recruited out of high-school, he attended Florida State and is another size and power back. Webb is a speedster with a 4.48 40. May, a former linebacker who had injury and off-the-field issues at Wyoming, is worth a flier.

Tampa sacrificed a little size in the WR room when they took Auburn’s all-time leader in receptions, Ryan Davis, in the open phase. Davis is just 5’9″ and could end up in the slot. Freddie Martino is another player with both NFL and AAF field time. Same with LB Terrance Plummer, as the Vipers added some nice depth pieces in the final phase.

Vincent Testaverde Jr, whose father spent five years with the Bucs, will stay close to home. Vincent also attended Buccaneers training camp this summer. He’ll have to prove he was more than just a sentimental pick. DT Nikita Whitlock has crossed paths with members of this coaching staff in the CFL. He also doubles as a fullback.

 

Conclusion

While the XFL spurned the idea of allocating players by location, some teams sorted that out themselves, including the Vipers, whose draft has a distinct Florida flair. It’s great for marketing a team before the season begins, but ultimately wins and losses will determine fan support in South Florida. The scouts and coaching staff also seemed to value those who played in the AAF. It could make the transition to the XFL easier having already gone through a similar iteration recently.

Tampa Bay took the first tight end and center of the draft, and built their receiving corps around size to fit Trestman’s West Coast offensive philosophy. Offensive line and defensive back positions are largely untested based on the group they’ll bring to camp, but it’s possible those areas will be improved through the supplemental draft(s) the league will hold, and through usual training camp roster churn.