Updated info on XFL player acquisition

XFL Football discussion.
GregParks
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Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Neil Stratton, of Inside the League (who the XFL recently announced a partnership with), posted somewhat of a Q&A to answer some questions agents/players have on the player acquisition process. The link is here: https://succeedinfootball.com/2022/05/2 ... quisition/

From the article - I'll put my own thoughts in comments in parentheses and bolded after each:

-The XFL will have a comprehensive player pool. (this seems like a pretty empty statement)
-The league will announce its team-by-team personnel directors next month, though we’ve heard that timetable -might be moved up so as not to miss out on any talented players from the ’22 draft class. (again, the XFL appears to have hires but are keeping them under wraps to announce them on their own time-frame. I know they'd probably like to spread out the news, but when it comes to key parts of the player acquisition process, the sooner the better)
-Though we don’t have any definitive info, it’s our understanding that players need not have participated in one of this summer’s engagement camps to be signed. (I would hope they wouldn't have to participate to be signed - you'd be missing out on players who get cut from current NFL teams during training camp)
-All players interested in demonstrating their skills in front of XFL personnel and coaches are asked to visit showcases.XFL.com or to email info@XFL.com.
-The HBCU camp and the engagement camp in Hawaii are by invitation only because the league is trying to tightly control participants, limiting them to only those of Pacific Islander heritage for the event held in Honolulu and to players from historically black schools for the HBCU workout. (I figured the Hawaii one being invite-only would be for Pacific Islanders, especially given Dwayne Johnson's background and the perception of some that these players are missed in the draft process)
XFL head coaches and personnel directors will select players for the exclusive XFL draft pool based on the following criteria:
-XFL Showcase evaluations
-College/pro film evaluations
-XFL staff evaluations at NFL training camps. Invites to the draft pool will be sent to players in early June. (Hopefully that means invites will BEGIN to be sent in early June - that would be before any of the showcases or NFL cut-downs. There are some free agents right now who wouldn't need to attend a showcase to be invited. Maybe that's the crew that would get the first wave of invites)

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GregParks
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Apparently players and agents are asking for more info on the process of breaking into the XFL, so Neil Stratton posted a Q&A with Doug Whaley about said process on his site: https://succeedinfootball.com/2022/06/0 ... quisition/

Among the highlights:

-Requests are being sent each day to players/agents to opt-in to the draft pool - players will have to submit to background check and medical history to be eligible for the pool.
-No additional showcases are planned, but coaches/personnel may work out players locally "in accordance with league policies" (not sure what league policy this is specifically referring to)
-As expected, the XFL draft will be in November, about a month later than it was in 2019 for 2020.
-Players will continue to be added to the draft pool up to a week before the draft.
-As in XFL 2020, no college or territorial draft rights
-Coaches/team personnel directors can recommend players to the league office for inclusion in the draft
-The XFL will monitor the waiver wire of other leagues to compile the best players for the draft.
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Gopher123
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Gopher123 »

I’m interested to see if quarterbacks are going to be assigned like last time, or selected in the draft.
GregParks
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Gopher123 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:24 pm I’m interested to see if quarterbacks are going to be assigned like last time, or selected in the draft.
I actually got to ask Doug Whaley this question last night. Subscribers to Tyler Dunne's "Go Long" Substack were treated to a Zoom "Happy Hour" with Whaley (Dunne is a former Bills beat writer and his "Go Long" podcast partner is former Bills FO member and current XFL VP Jim Monos). I hopped on about halfway in, thinking there'd be a ton of people so I'd just sit back and see if there were any XFL questions. Turns out, there were only five of us there. So I asked him how the league plans to deal with the QB position.

Naturally this far in advance they don't have a concrete plan yet. From my interpretation of his answer, the idea seemed to be that the league would take a look at the QBs who are in the draft pool closer to draft time, and based on the quality or lack thereof, will decide what to do draft-wise with the position. When the entire video is posted I'll go back and expand on his answer if necessary, as well as any other XFL questions that he got that I may have missed.
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Tank55
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Tank55 »

I mean, we're not THAT far in advance. When did Landry Jones sign? August? If they're planning on just waiting until October/November, that basically means they're not planning on recruiting like 2.0 did.
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GregParks
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Tank55 wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:45 am I mean, we're not THAT far in advance. When did Landry Jones sign? August? If they're planning on just waiting until October/November, that basically means they're not planning on recruiting like 2.0 did.
Sorry, the "this far in advance" point was in reference to the draft set-up they'll have, not anything to do with signing/recruiting players.
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4th&long
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by 4th&long »

GregParks wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:37 am
Gopher123 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:24 pm I’m interested to see if quarterbacks are going to be assigned like last time, or selected in the draft.
I actually got to ask Doug Whaley this question last night. Subscribers to Tyler Dunne's "Go Long" Substack were treated to a Zoom "Happy Hour" with Whaley (Dunne is a former Bills beat writer and his "Go Long" podcast partner is former Bills FO member and current XFL VP Jim Monos). I hopped on about halfway in, thinking there'd be a ton of people so I'd just sit back and see if there were any XFL questions. Turns out, there were only five of us there. So I asked him how the league plans to deal with the QB position.

Naturally this far in advance they don't have a concrete plan yet.
From my interpretation of his answer, the idea seemed to be that the league would take a look at the QBs who are in the draft pool closer to draft time, and based on the quality or lack thereof, will decide what to do draft-wise with the position. When the entire video is posted I'll go back and expand on his answer if necessary, as well as any other XFL questions that he got that I may have missed.
Wow... interesting.
GregParks
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

4th&long wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:03 pm
GregParks wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:37 am
Gopher123 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:24 pm I’m interested to see if quarterbacks are going to be assigned like last time, or selected in the draft.
I actually got to ask Doug Whaley this question last night. Subscribers to Tyler Dunne's "Go Long" Substack were treated to a Zoom "Happy Hour" with Whaley (Dunne is a former Bills beat writer and his "Go Long" podcast partner is former Bills FO member and current XFL VP Jim Monos). I hopped on about halfway in, thinking there'd be a ton of people so I'd just sit back and see if there were any XFL questions. Turns out, there were only five of us there. So I asked him how the league plans to deal with the QB position.

Naturally this far in advance they don't have a concrete plan yet.
From my interpretation of his answer, the idea seemed to be that the league would take a look at the QBs who are in the draft pool closer to draft time, and based on the quality or lack thereof, will decide what to do draft-wise with the position. When the entire video is posted I'll go back and expand on his answer if necessary, as well as any other XFL questions that he got that I may have missed.
Wow... interesting.
Is it really, though? The draft is five months away. Does it matter what the draft format is, whether it's like 2020 or something different, in June? I don't think the format for the 2019 draft was made public until just a few days before the draft.
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Tank55
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by Tank55 »

Right, but they had already signed quarterbacks well ahead of the draft.
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GregParks
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Re: Updated info on XFL player acquisition

Post by GregParks »

Tank55 wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:43 pm Right, but they had already signed quarterbacks well ahead of the draft.
The league announced the signing of Landry Jones in mid-August for an October draft. To my memory, he was the only signing announced ahead of time. The other QBs who were assigned were announced just prior to the first day of the draft.

The impression I got from Whaley is they're going to go hard after players cut by NFL teams before the regular season. They very well could end up signing QBs who are "on the street" right now (draft invites have begun to go out and it's reasonable to assume QBs are among them), but who knows if they'll be announced by the league.
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