With the conclusion of the Summer Showcase workouts, now comes the XFL’s most important step: player acquisition, which will occur in three phases. The first phase will be signing players who attended the showcases; in terms of talent level, those players likely will represent the bottom half of XFL rosters. The second phase will be signing unclaimed players that NFL teams cut in August; those players likely will represent the top half of rosters.
All of those players — about 600 to 700 total — will be placed into a pool for a draft, the third phase.
If the rosters are gonna be made up of like 42-52 guys, just how many from the showcase will be signed? Like only 200? Maybe I’m just a little confused lol
The number stated by Oliver Luck was in that 250 to 300 range. Let’s call this the first phase of signings. If 300 are signed from this group. Then the next phase after NFL cuts will probably be 400 plus player signings.
The team rosters in the XFL for the regular season are supposed to be 52 players each. 45 active players per team and 7 practice squad players.
8 teams and that would put the league at 416 players on regular season rosters.
Team Nine will be formed after final cuts in the XFL. The number reported for team nine is 40 players. So that takes us to 456.
The pool for the draft and training camps will need to be in that 600 plus range. If each XFL team carries 75 players going into camp. It would put the league at 600 players signed and drafted.
Here’s where the speculation part comes in. The XFL may decide to carry more players on each roster for training camp. So it’s possible that each team could max out at 90. Similar to an NFL offseason roster. That would max out the signings at 720 players.
The tricky part is how many of the XFL’s player signings end up in the NFL before the XFL draft. The league might sign players in August that end up leaving for an NFL opportunity. Some could circle their way back and still end up in the XFL draft in October.
So if the number is 750 players in the draft pool, and we are splitting this into a bottom half and then a top half. You could get 300 players signed from the Showcases with the rest coming after NFL cuts.
Personally, I would sign as many players on the front end as possible. After NFL teams cut down from 90 to 53. The 32 teams then form 10 player practice squads. So the cut down is really 90 to 63. That still leaves 864 players that do not make NFL active or practice squad rosters.
Some of those 864 players end up cycling back in the NFL due to injuries etc, and some of the 864 players wait on the sidelines waiting for a team to work them out or pick them up during the season. NFL teams have a lot of roster turnover during the course of a season.
So how many of those 864 players, are going to decide that the NFL door is closed on them for 2019 and go play in the XFL.
In theory, The XFK could sign a player in September, only to see that player go back to the NFL before the XFL draft happens in October.
Once a player, who is signed to an XFL contract is drafted. That player can’t leave for the NFL at that point. Until after the XFL season ends in late April.
It’s going to be a long wait for the players before they know what team they will be playing for. That might be the hard part. If you are signed in August. You have to wait two full months before finding out before where you will be playing in October.
The biggest thing with all of this like the Showcase process is getting agents on board with the concept.
The invitation process for the league was kind of the first olive branch extended between the league’s football operations department and player agents. It was kind of a proving ground and a test of the waters, so to speak.
Player agents and the league need to stay in dialogue with one another. There is a lot of stuff to be iron out. Stuff as crucial as a players ability to go to the NFL and not once the draft ends. There’s also the matter of pay for players. How that’s determined will be a big selling point. There are agents that probably feel that their clients should be a part of the league’s first or second tier of pay. The 6 figure range that is supposed to exist for select players on the top two tiers. Which will really amount to only 32 players.
The base contract for the lowest tier is supposed to be in that 50k range. Will some agents and players be cool with that? The third tier will be in that 70k to 100k range. Most of the players will want to be in that area. The AAF had every player from the long snapper to the QB making 70k per season. The XFL’s salaries are going to be on 4 different scales. So agents and players are going to have to be accepting of that.
