XFL Summer Showcase Contract Candidates

[MikeMitchell]

XFL in STL,

One of the things that will help former AAF players get contracts and fill out the bottom half of XFL rosters , is all the former AAF executives and coaches in the XFL now.

Like for example, Bobby Blizzard in Dallas, may still want to work with players he coached up, whole coordinating The Memphis offense.

The DC staff has Chris Scelfo and Todd Washington. Two coaches who worked heavily with o line position with Arizona and Orlando respectively. There may be players from those teams that they want to still continue developing. Some of the players that didn’t perform well but still have potential to develop.

This extends to every team in the XFL. From Mike Riley in Seattle to Randy Mueller in Houston to Vince Amey in LA. They will all want players that they are familiar with. Who they either scouted or coached.

[MikeMitchell]

Agreed. They'll likely have access to all the AAF's players plus the players they can recruit with their higher salaries and just generally more professional setup, PLUS potentially any underclassmen they can recruit.

For all their issues, what the AAF accomplished was not presenting garbage football. That’s the fear with these leagues. That’s not to state that there weren’t aspects of the style of play, that weren’t flawed, but not coming off as trash football was a victory. Especially considering how rushed the product was. The QB play wasn’t great. Some of the non blitzing rules took away from the big play potential, but overall, they did a good job in this department. In my opinion.

I agree. The QBs who were good consistently were really good though.

It was a mixed bag. A lot of it may have had to do with a quarterbacks lack of experience. The majority of the AAF quarterbacks had very little pro starting experience. Luis Perez started off red hot, cooled off and nearly lost his job. Logan Woodside was ok, he was mostly in a time share with Marquise Williams. Josh Woodrum in Salt Lake was very inconsistent. As was Mike Bercovici in San Diego. They all had some really ugly performances.

Gilbert was the most experienced of the bunch and it showed. Wolford was a gamer. He has some Drew Brees like qualities. Once Memphis got past the Hackenberg mess, Mettenberger did alright. Manziel was ok, all things considered, but it was Brandon Silvers who excelled in Bobby Blizzard’s Hal Mumme inspired, Air Raid offense. For my money, Silvers was the league’s best quarterback in the last three weeks of the AAF season.

What hurt and helped quarterbacks in the Alliance, was the limited blitzing rules. Not being able to send more than 5 rushers or more than 2 players from one side, gave quarterbacks more time in the pocket, but it also forced defenses to play a prevent style defense. It led to a lot of underneath passing and smaller windows. Limiting blitzing eliminates the big game changing plays on defense, but also on offense. The Quarterback is less of a signal caller and reader of the defense, and some of the best opportunities for big plays are when you catch the defense in a blitz or pick it up and execute.

[nick1091]

Given the amount of AAF guys at the showcase (many of whom were starters), I'm curious to know what the criteria is to be an AAF guy that Luck and the XFL has enough tape on, so to speak.

Guys like Will Hill, Johnathon Massaquoi, Jhurrell Pressley, Reggie Northrop all started I believe all 8 of their respective AAF team's games, and I'd assume are all probably locks to at least get drafted.

[MikeMitchell]

Given the amount of AAF guys at the showcase (many of whom were starters), I'm curious to know what the criteria is to be an AAF guy that Luck and the XFL has enough tape on, so to speak.

Guys like Will Hill, Johnathon Massaquoi, Jhurrell Pressley, Reggie Northrop all started I believe all 8 of their respective AAF team's games, and I'd assume are all probably locks to at least get drafted.

Do you mean a few of the available top AAF players that did not workout or did not receive invites?

I am assuming that that your question is in reference to Oliver Luck’s recent comments of certain players not getting invites because the league had enough tape on them. That doesn’t necessarily mean just AAF players who are current free agents.

If we are talking about just the AAF, My guess is that it probably leans towards certain quarterbacks that could be in the top tier like Brandon Silvers and Luis Perez. There’s some mystery surrounding Silvers, Mettenberger and Beniquez Brown. All 3 were listed on the original Summer Showcase roster for Houston. Neither of the three ended up working out.

Not everyone who played in the AAF, is going to be in the XFL. They had over 400 players in their league. If you don’t count specialists like starters at kicker, punter and long snapper. That’s 176 starting Offensive and Defensive players in the AAF per 8 teams. Probably only a small handful are in the non workout criteria. Some of the non workouts could also be injury based.

I do know that Ja’ Quan Gardner was in LA but couldn’t physically work out. He is still recovering from a labrum injury, but he was still invited for the interview process.

Of the 176 starting offensive and defensive starters in the AAF. Not all of them are guaranteed to get contracts or even be starters in the XFL. It’s going to be based on how these bottom half players compete with the top half of the league’s signed players. The league plans to sign about 700 players in total. So the other half of the league is currently on an NFL roster.

[nick1091]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the insight. Yeah I wasn't suggesting that every AAF player would receive an invite or play in the XFL - some are in NFL training camps, playing in Canada or other leagues, etc. Some of them just quite frankly didn't rise to the opportunity that league presented to them.

I guess it was more or less just wondering aloud as to what some of the additional criteria might be on who gets the invite or not and that the basis can't just be who's got recent pro/semi-pro games on tape, though I suppose it's probably a nuanced and kind of unanswerable question universally. Certainly your logic on the QB's makes sense.

[XFLInSTL]

Given the amount of AAF guys at the showcase (many of whom were starters), I'm curious to know what the criteria is to be an AAF guy that Luck and the XFL has enough tape on, so to speak.

Guys like Will Hill, Johnathon Massaquoi, Jhurrell Pressley, Reggie Northrop all started I believe all 8 of their respective AAF team's games, and I'd assume are all probably locks to at least get drafted.

Do you mean a few of the available top AAF players that did not workout or did not receive invites?

Hill and Pressley both got invites. Did they not participate?

[MikeMitchell]

Given the amount of AAF guys at the showcase (many of whom were starters), I'm curious to know what the criteria is to be an AAF guy that Luck and the XFL has enough tape on, so to speak.

Guys like Will Hill, Johnathon Massaquoi, Jhurrell Pressley, Reggie Northrop all started I believe all 8 of their respective AAF team's games, and I'd assume are all probably locks to at least get drafted.

Do you mean a few of the available top AAF players that did not workout or did not receive invites?

Hill and Pressley both got invites. Did they not participate?

They worked out. The only AAF players that I know of, that received invites and did not work out on the field were Ja' Quan Gardner (injury), Brandon Silvers, Beniquez Brown and Zach Mettenberger. The last 3 were on the list of participants in Houston, but did not work out. I am not sure the reasoning behind each one individually, but it's possible that they were there, as XFL show mentioned a few weeks back, but didn't work out on the field.

[LeoNY]

It will be interesting to see how many of these projected signings end up being true. Good post.