The first week of UFL free agency is in the books and there are 42 new names on team rosters. Here, I’ll look at some pertinent numbers involving the players and their backgrounds.
1: Quarterbacks signed
Heading into free agency, there were a few teams light on the quarterback position (Birmingham, Houston), or whose quarterback situation was still up in the air (DC, St. Louis). Yet none of those teams inked the only QB to come to terms with the UFL during the week; instead, San Antonio added a fifth signal-caller to its off-season roster in the person of Chase Garbers. Out of the University of California, Garbers had been a Las Vegas Raider since signing as an undrafted free-agent in 2022. He didn’t make the team out of training camp this summer and was not signed to the practice squad. The Brahmas won’t take five QBs to camp, with Matthew McKay and Kurt Benkert the least likely to advance to Arlington. Whatever the case, San Antonio’s coaching staff has given themselves several options at the position.
1: Players signed that played in an NFL game in 2023
When Houston Texans kicker Kai’imi Fairbairn went down with an injury, the team brought in Matt Ammendola to kick. At the time, Ammendola had signed a letter of intent with the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. Ammendola went 6-for-9 in field goals over that five game span, and he was let go once Faibairn was healthy. Those five games represent the only five games played in the NFL in 2023 by players signed as UFL free agents in the first week. NFL teams are continuing to sift through practice squad players, signing them to futures contracts. Those are the players most likely to be on UFL team radars that also played NFL games in 2023. So once the faucet is turned off on those futures signings, we may see more players enter the UFL with that recent NFL game experience.
2: Teams that did not sign any free agents in the first week
After the protection phase and both dispersal drafts, the DC Defenders had 65 players on their roster, and the Memphis Showboats had 76. With teams only able to carry 75 players into camp, it’s no surprise the Showboats sat out the early part of free agency, as they’re already over the limit. The Defenders, however, have 10 spots open and did not utilize any of them. Now, that doesn’t mean they won’t be active in that regard between now and camp – and it may not even mean they haven’t signed anyone, as we know how XFL communications (since carried over to the UFL) at times struggled to disseminate roster and transaction info. It’s not panic time if you’re a fan of one of these teams, though others in the league certainly got better with the additions made in free agency while DC and Memphis stood pat.
3: Players signed that were USFL players in 2023
This phase of free agency represented an opportunity for UFL teams to not only sign those without previous XFL or USFL contracted status, but it was also open to those who played for either league last year but who, for whatever reason, were not protected or selected in either dispersal draft. Three USFL 2023 players fit this bill in CB Mark Gilbert, WR Trey Quinn and WR Jeff Thomas. Gilbert and Quinn were both released to join NFL teams in training camp, with Quinn returning to his original team, the Michigan Panthers. I included Thomas here even though he was released in March by the Birmingham Stallions, so he wasn’t on the team during the regular season. He later signed an LOI with the St. Louis Battlehawks, and was officially added to their roster in free agency.
3: Players that ended the NFL season on practice squads signed by UFL teams
Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht made an impassioned plea on social media to players who ended the NFL season on practice squads. He implored them to take the UFL route instead of settling for a futures contract. While we don’t know what effect his words truly had, three players who fit this category signed with UFL teams last week. They were G Deonte Brown, Carolina Panthers (Stallions); LB Zach McCloud, Indianapolis Colts (Brahmas); and CB Darius Phillips, Tennessee Titans (Brahmas). We also don’t know if these players spurned futures deals to instead play in this league, or whether they were not even offered those contracts.
5: Former Houston Roughnecks signed by the San Antonio Brahmas
San Antonio has not been shy about raiding the XFL Roughnecks squad, with Houston’s coaching staff moving over to the Brahmas for 2024. Over the course of the two dispersal draft, 25 Roughnecks were acquired by the Brahmas. That continued in free agency as the team added five others. WR Jontre Kirklin was the only one that played in Houston last year; the others were off-season LOI signings. But it was the Brahmas staff who scouted and claimed those players, so it makes sense that they’d be targets for them again in San Antonio.
6: Players returning to their 2023 XFL/USFL team via free agency
Continuity is important for leagues like this: With no long-term attachment to the history of the teams in these cities, fans need to be able to see recognizable names year after year to draw them in. The ability for teams to protect 42 of their 2023 players, as well as draft them back in the super dispersal draft went a long way in reconnecting UFL teams with their identities in their former league. That continued in free agency. Six players were re-upped by teams that had rostered them previously. Many of them return from sojourns in the NFL. Among them: DT Carlos Davis (back in Birmingham after a stay with the Falcons), Quinn, OT Derrick Kelly (a Brahma once again after briefly being a Brown), TE Alize Mack (from the Brahmas to the Titans to the Brahmas), WR Marcell Ateman (a Battlehawk sandwiched between a stop with the Bills) and WR Darrius Shepherd (another Battlehawk receiver back following an NFL training camp opportunity with the Chargers).
7: Players signed who were NFL rookies in 2023
This number surprised me; I thought there would be more. Instead, UFL teams opted to sign more veteran players in the first week of free agency, while rookies who didn’t latch on with NFL teams during the season will have to wait their turn. Only one rookie signed here failed to sign into the NFL as an undrafted free agent, and that was S Ja’Vonta Hicks out of Cincinnati, though he did get a minicamp tryout. Two of the seven rookies signed spent time on practice squads during the 2023 NFL season.
8: Players signed that were XFL players in 2023
This is five more than their USFL counterparts signed in free agency. A ninth, DE Owen Carney, was drafted by San Antonio in 2022 but signed with the Cincinnati Bengals and was thus ineligible to play in the XFL in 2023. Several of the players returned to their former teams, but others, like TE Jordan Thomas (Guardians to Stallions), RB John Lovett (Vipers to Brahmas) and DT Kobe Smith (Brahmas to Battlehawks) ended up with other franchises. It goes to show that just because protections and dispersal drafts are finished, former XFL and USFL players aren’t done returning to spring football.
11: Former NFL draft picks signed
Naturally, anyone picked in the NFL Draft is going to be the highest-quality of player entering the NFL in that given year. It means that, after all of the hours of scouting each team has done, and with the option of picking any other player remaining on the board, they opted for that particular person. Sure, scouting is an imperfect science, but front offices are paid to be right in this regard as often as possible. As the UFL searches for the highest-quality players to be a part of the league, the more former NFL draft picks they can acquire, the more likely that pool of players is going to provide the best on-field action.
14: Players signed that spent time on NFL practice squads in 2023
One-third of players signed in the first week of UFL free agency were on NFL practice squads at some point this season. These are players that not only attended training camp with a team in 2023, but who showed enough to be brought back, even for a short time, on a practice squad. NFL teams cycle players on and off this list, often on a weekly basis, and with each team carrying a max of 16 on this squad, more players than ever before can say they were a part of a practice squad in 2023.
34: Players signed that attended NFL training camp in 2023
This amounts to over 80% of the 42 players signed last week. This is the level of player that the XFL had been planning to target for its November draft had there not been a merger. Naturally, some of those players would’ve chosen the USFL path instead, so now teams that survived are the beneficiary. These are not necessarily the “Player 54” that Dwayne Johnson has preached about, but they are pretty darn close.
42: Total players signed
If you had asked me on Tuesday when free agency began how many players I expected to sign by the end of the week, I frankly wouldn’t have been able to even give you a rough estimate. There was simply no way of knowing how active – or not – each team would be during this phase of player acquisition. That said, 42 seems like a lot, and the quality of players signed was impressive. Thus far, fears of low player salary scaring away good players appear unfounded.
92: Players currently on the Brahmas roster
Prior to the merger, XFL teams were going to be allowed 90 players on its off-season roster, though they were not expected to take that many to training camp. While we know 75 players will be the maximum for each team upon their arrival at camp (in fact, they have to be down to 75 by February 14, 10 days before camp begins), there was no word on how many they could carry until then. The Brahmas are certainly testing those limits, with 92 on the roster (technically 91 as one of the players the team protected, OL Tyler Beach, signed a futures contract with the Steelers). Several players will have to be trimmed to get down to the 75-man limit next month, and I’d guess that would come largely from the list of 42 they protected. Many of those players were not chosen by the new regime and were holdovers from the previous coaching staff/front office.
