The XFL’s two-day draft began Tuesday. In addition to certain quarterbacks being assigned to teams, several notable players went off the board in the rebooting league’s selection event.
The league divided its draft into sections. Skill-position players (and other quarterbacks) went in one portion of the draft, with offensive linemen going second and then select defenders in another section. Connor Cook was the first quarterback to go in the non-allocation portion of the draft, being selected by the Houston franchise at No. 2 overall.
Here are some recent NFL skill-position players taken:
- RB Christine Michael (No. 6 overall, St. Louis)
- WR Tommylee Lewis (No. 13, Dallas)
- WR Sammie Coates (No. 18, Houston)
- RB Cameron Artis-Payne (No. 20, Dallas)
- TE Jace Amaro (No. 26, Seattle)
- WR Keenan Reynolds (No. 39, Seattle)
- RB Matt Jones (No. 54, St. Louis)
- RB Lance Dunbar (No. 61, Dallas)
- QB Tyree Jackson (No. 65, Washington)
- RB Andre Williams (No. 66, Houston)
Here are the notable offensive linemen selected in that section of the draft:
- T Isaiah Battle (No. 2, Seattle)
- T Matt McCants (No. 3, St. Louis)
- T Kyle Murphy (No. 8, Washington)
- T Cyrus Kouandjio (No. 11, New York)
Lastly, some front-seven names of note came off in that part of this event:
- LB Ben Heeney (No. 7, New York)
- LB Hau’oli Kikaha (No. 8, Dallas)
- DT Sealver Siliga (No. 9, Dallas)
- LB Terence Garvin (No. 15, St. Louis)
- DL Tenny Palepoi (No. 30, Seattle)
- DE Jacquies Smith (No. 45, Seattle)
- LB Steven Johnson (No. 46, Seattle)
For a full team-by-team breakdown, Sporting News cataloged the first parts of this event.
I haven’t paid attention, but Manziel isn’t mentioned. Has he finally given up?
Not squeaky clean enough
Can’t believe we left out super bowl winning Rashard Davis as the number one pick out.
FCS Champion at JMU. Much more prestigious.
JMU Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes!
I might remember this a little better than some people simply because I am a Baltimore Ravens fan.
Might be worth noting that “WR” Keenan Reynolds broke the then TD scoring record as a dual threat QB in college and finished 5th in the Heisman voting.
The Ravens already had Joe Flacco as their starter and took a flier on Keenan thinking they could convert him into a WR/receiving back/KR/PR type of player but it never panned out. Other teams kicked the tires on him as well. Perhaps the team that drafted him might turn to him as their signal caller?
He was mostly just the triple option offense threat. Threw 33 TDS/ no more than 1,200 yards a season while rushing for 88 TD and 1,000+ 3/4 seasons. That type of offense could work in the XFL though and would be interesting to see on a bigger stage.
Does anyone really care about the XFL? Will any football fan sit through an entire game? Not likely. It’ll be the same quality of entertainment as the “pro wrestling” at your local American Legion or VFW.
Actually I care about the XFL. All other sports have minor leagues except for football. There’s not many opportunities out there for the guys that just missed the cut. It’s a shame all of the people that are starting these new leagues don’t get together and consolidate their effort into one solid plan that would work.
That’s a good point. My thing is the time of year. I actually think a more summer or fall league would be better. Maybe play games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Especially if the NFL was to get rid of the practice squads. Someone gets injured during the NFL season than you can do some scouting on Tuesday and bring someone in for the weekend.
i care about it as well, or will watch a few games. obviously it wont draw nfl numbers but if people will sit through a redskins dolphins game this last weekend then i think an xfl game can draw viewers. if you can bet on it or get fanduel/draftkings to do xfl daily leagues than that will get my attention as well, along with others im sure
This league is gonna fail just like the Alliance. Nobody wants football of poor quality in the spring.
What if the NFL adopts a rule like the Premier League and the team with the worst record is relegated to the XFL and has to win in that league to return to the NFL?
“Welcome your newest XFL team, the Miami Dolphins!”
Cincinnati is giving them a run for that title.