With news of the upcoming XFL Rookie Draft scheduled for Friday, June 16, I thought it would be beneficial to take a look back at the initial XFL Draft held last November. It was the first opportunity for teams to begin building what would become the bulk of their 2023 roster.
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. We’ll start, as the Draft itself did, with the Skill Position Phase.
1. DC Defenders (2,298 snaps)
DC had the best rushing offense and best scoring offense in the league in 2023, so it seems fitting they finish first here. RB Abram Smith lived up to the billing of the first overall pick in this phase. The Defenders got very little out of their second, third, and fourth round picks, but found gems in the later rounds. Their last pick, WR Lucky Jackson, ended up leading this group in snaps with 518. Ninth round WR Josh Hammond improved as the season progressed. TE Ethan Wolf was steady as the starter, while RB Pooka Williams, TE Briley Moore-McKinney and RB Ryquell Armstead served as valuable role players at different points in the season.
2. Houston Roughnecks (2,071 snaps)
In an offense that frequently features four-receiver sets, it was curious that Houston selected a running back in the first round and a tight end in the second. RB Adrian Killins was traded to Arlington before the season began, and TE Garrett Owens didn’t really develop into an offensive option until late in the season. The top four receivers drafted were frequent targets of QB Brandon Silvers; the snap count of this phase would be higher had WR Jontre Kirklin not been lost for the season due to injury in week five. RBs Max Borghi and Brycen Alleyne shared the backfield as the one-two punch by the end of the year. Houston tried to unearth some small-school gems late in the phase, but none panned out except Alleyne.
3. St. Louis Battlehawks (1,820 snaps)
St. Louis had the second pick of the phase and went with WR Marcell Ateman, who missed three games with an injury. WR Darrius Shepherd was likely their best pick, a steal in the fifth round for the value he brought as both a receiver and returner. Starting RB Brian Hill was picked two rounds later than his backup, Mataeo Durant. Two of the three tight ends drafted by St. Louis ended the season on Orlando’s roster: Jaylen Smith and Jordan Thomas. WR Austin Proehl, selected in the final round, finished third on the team in receptions and was a reliable target over the middle for QB AJ McCarron.
4. Orlando Guardians (1,789 snaps)
It may be surprising that Orlando ranks this high but they had some “hits” in this phase of the draft. WR Charleston Rambo was a solid pick in the first round; he was Orlando’s second-leading receiver and didn’t feel like a reach at the time. Their first running back was picked in round five; Jah-Maine Martin seemed to fall out of favor late in the season but carried the ball early in the year when Devin Darrington was on injured reserve. Though they didn’t get much out of their late-round picks here, there may not have been a better selection in this phase in terms of overpeforming a draft slot than TE Cody Latimer in the final round.
5. San Antonio Brahmas (1,767 snaps)
The Brahmas finished just 22 snaps behind Orlando in Skill Position Phase production. Had RB Calvin Turner not gotten injured prior to the season, he likely would’ve played a big role in this offense. His positional contemporaries, Jacques Patrick and Kalen Ballage, carried on in his stead. Third round WR Kendrick Rogers was a surprise cut in early February. Alize Mack was the only one of three TEs drafted left standing on the roster. The receivers underperformed in part due to uneven quarterback play throughout the season. Without injuries to Turner, Ballage, and WR Jalen Tolliver, San Antonio could’ve easily leaped to third in these rankings.
6. Vegas Vipers (1,650 snaps)
NFL veteran WR Martavis Bryant was the first pick for Vegas, and it turned out to be a trend as the Vipers focused on vets during the rest of the draft as well. RB John Lovett, their second round pick, backed up Rod Smith much of the year but saw his fair share of snaps and performed well. RB Matt Jones, at 30 years old, was an experienced hand that didn’t work out. Sixth round WR Jeff Badet lived up to his speedy reputation. WR Matthew Sexton provided competent receiver depth as the only pick on the right side of the list that contributed in a meaningful way.
7. Arlington Renegades (1,336 snaps)
After his 2022 USFL performance earned him an NFL contract with the Green Bay Packers, TE Sal Cannella made sense as as the first round pick for Arlington. He played the most snaps of anyone Arlington selected in this phase. Only two of the five receivers drafted here ended the season on the roster and only one of them was a starter. Even worse, none of the running backs ended up on the team by the championship game. Credit to Arlington director of player personnel Rick Mueller for doing a nice job in training camp and during the season in turning this part of the roster over in a way that allowed the Renegades to not only reach the playoffs, but win the league title.
8. Seattle Sea Dragons (1,269)
For reference, Seattle got over 1,000 snaps less than DC did out of players drafted in this phase. Over 40% of Seattle’s 1,269 snaps came from WR Jahcour Pearson. WR Kevin Shaa was one of the few first-round “misses,” cut by the team in their first wave of training camp releases. Aside from Pearson, Damion Willis and Juwan Green ate up snaps on offense at the receiver spot, mostly as role players. RB Brenden Knox, a fifth round pick, played just two games due to injury. The final five selections played a total of zero snaps, as they either didn’t report to camp or failed to make the club. Impressive that Seattle was able to put up the offense they were able to during the season for as bare as the cupboards turned out to be at the skill positions from this draft.
