In preparation for the upcoming XFL Rookie Draft, I’m reflecting back on the league’s first draft, held last November, where teams began to build their rosters. This is part two, looking at the Offensive Line Phase. Part one, analyzing the Skill Position Phase, can be found here.
Draft analysis and rankings are ultimately subjective, but to add a little but more objectivity to the exercise, I decided to rank each team by the number of snaps played by draftees of that team in that particular phase. Obviously not all snaps are created equal, but I do think this pretty accurately reflects how well each team did.
1. Arlington Renegades (2,489 snaps)
Quarterback and offensive line are the two most important positions in a league like the XFL. For much of the season, Arlington didn’t have a quarterback. But they sure had an offensive line. It may or may not have been the best in the league, but there’s something to be said for consistency at the position given the need for everyone to work in concert. The first three draft picks combined to start 29 of a possible 30 games during the regular season. From round seven, Jake Stetz started six games. Veteran Brian Folkerts took over as starting center around midseason. Basically, the Renegades got four-and-a-half starters out of their nine picks, which is as efficient as you can ask for.
2. Houston Roughnecks (2,033 snaps)
The second place Roughnecks were still over 400 snaps behind those accumulated by the Renegades. Houston held the first overall pick in the Phase, and they chose Jack Snyder out of San Jose State. Snyder started out at guard and later in the season, played some offensive tackle. Second round pick Desmond Noel was an early-season weekly inactive before ending up on injured reserve and later released. Fifth rounder Tommy Champion began the season as the starting right tackle before he was eventually demoted and then cut. The last three picks salvaged the Phase: Dareuan Parker started nine regular season games; Dylan Pasquali was on the roster all season as a reserve; and Alex Mollette, the last pick by Houston, was named to the All-XFL Team.
3. San Antonio Brahmas (1,989 snaps)
For a team whose offensive line was in flux for much of the season, it’s a little surprising San Antonio got this many snaps out of their O-Line draftees. Their first pick was their best: Luke Juriga played 644 snaps at the pivot. Willie Wright, San Antonio’s third round pick, lasted all of 15 snaps in game one before being injured and placed on IR for the year. Mid-round picks Malcolm Bunche and Roubbens Joseph both struggled to hold their own. Norman Price was another player in and out of the lineup due to injuries throughout the season. Kohl Levao ended up being a Brahma success story: Released during camp, he was re-signed for depth purposes just before the first game. He ended up starting eight games and ranking as one of the highest-graded linemen on the team according to Pro Football Focus. San Antonio picked up four to five key contributors here.
4. DC Defenders (1,845 snaps)
The Defenders’ line was excellent at both pass blocking and run blocking: They led the league’s top rushing attack and also allowed just 10 sacks on the year (allowing no more than two sacks in a single game). DC did this with their Pro Football Focus highest-graded offensive linemen, Michael Maietti, playing just five games due to injury. Maietti was a sixth round pick in the draft. Also impressive was the line’s positive contributions this season without getting much out of their first two selections. Their first pick, TJ Storment, was traded to Orlando during the season. In the second round, Cody Conway was chosen. He started two games before ending up on IR. Third rounder Ty Clary turned out to be a valuable addition, filling in ably for Maietti. The only other player to pick up significant snaps was ninth round G Liam Fornadel, who started every game.
5. Vegas Vipers (1,755 snaps)
Vegas was the only team to use all 11 of their allotted picks in this Phase – most teams used just nine. For the Vipers, the extra picks didn’t end up translating to more snaps played in the regular season, however. First round pick Antonio Garcia was traded to DC in early March without playing on offense for Vegas. When starting C Khalil McKenzie went on IR, he was replaced in the lineup by third rounder Dohnovan West. Jamil Demby was another backup pressed into duty due to injuries ahead of him. Michael Miller and Quinterrius Eatmon were mid-rounders that started all season, though both graded out poorly per PFF. Clayton Bradley, Avery Young, Tre Johnson, and Fernando Frye were all released during training camp, though Frye was re-signed late in the year. In 2023, the line was under the tutelage of longtime NFL offensive line coach Bob Wylie.
6. Orlando Guardians (1,450 snaps)
In what appeared at the outset to be a weak draft, offensive line seemed to be the weakest for Orlando. That bore itself out on the field. By the end of the season, just four of the 10 players drafted in this Phase were still on the roster. Brandon Murphy and Kamalie Matthews, the first two selections, were both released in the first set of training camp cuts. Fifth round pick Josh Frazier was let go even before that. JaChai Baker started the first two games of the year but was among the victims of Orlando’s housecleaning after their poor start. ZeVeyon Furcron in the sixth round was probably their best pick, as he started a total of 10 games, mostly at center but also at guard. Jordan Ighofose worked his way into the starting lineup as the season progressed. Jalen Spady was a key reserve who started the final two games.
7. Seattle Sea Dragons (1,261 snaps)
There are three clearly-defined strata from Seattle’s Offensive Line Phase: You have the starters in first rounder Chris Owens, second rounder Michal Menet, and fifth rounder Liam Jimmons; then you have the backup in sixth rounder Paul Grattan; and finally you have those who didn’t play a snap, which makes up the rest of the draftees. Julien Davenport was signed by the Arizona Cardinals on the same day he was chosen by the Sea Dragons. The only other player to participate in the XFL in 2023 was Jovann Letuli, who was picked up by Vegas and started the final three games of the season for them.
8. St. Louis Battlehawks (1,028 snaps)
No quarterback in the XFL was sacked more times than AJ McCarron, a direct result of St. Louis’s inability to get more out of their Offensive Line Phase draft class. Jaryd Jones-Smith and Steven Gonzalez were the only full-time players out of the nine selections made. Daishawn Dixon and Christian Olmstead were weekly inactives, though Dixon was eventually claimed off waivers by Vegas in mid-April. Part of the problem is that two players expected to play major roles, Shane Carpenter and Jon Toth, never saw the field. Carpenter spend the year on St. Louis’s reserve list. Toth is one of the players from XFL 2020 who has had cups of coffee in the NFL since then. He did not report to camp. The other three players were waived during the preseason.
