I enjoyed last season's aborted effort from the AAF and the Arizona Hotshots and I took my time in deciding who I was going to root for in the XFL.
The two top contenders were the local entry, the D.C. Defenders, and the Tampa Bay Vipers.
I liked both teams' colors/uniforms and each had an edge over the other.
D.C. had a solid red (my favorite color) and not cluttered up with junk uniform and the Defenders have three Ohio State players, including quarterback Cardale Jones, but the Defenders are going to be coached by Pep Hamilton, who was formerly the Browns quarterbacks coach and that wasn't a positive
Tampa Bay countered with colors similar to the late-AAF Hotshots, but in the end, I decided to do what I rarely do and root for the local team.
So I'll have D.C. Defenders coverage for the next ten weeks and like the Hotshots last season, I'll be writing about the team and adding the XFL to the PPM.
The team hasn't released depth charts (this was written early in the week), so I'm making a guess on the starters.
Here's the fun and often the difficulty in evaluating the new leagues when they begin play- the players that you have seen play before are often not the players that turn into the stars of the league.
The biggest name of the quarterbacks in the league will play for the Defenders in former Ohio State
Jones, who spent a few years in the NFL with the Chargers and Bills, is most remembered for those three games at the end of the 2014 season with Ohio State that saw Jones, the third-stringer QB take over and defeat Wisconsin in the Big 10 championship game, stun Alabama and then dump Oregon to win Ohio State the national championship.
It looks like Pep Hamilton is going to run a traditional offense with Jones, a pocket passer, and backup Tyree Jackson, a 6'7, 250 pounder who played his college ball with Buffalo and was part of the last cut by the Bills in training camp.
The running backs should be decent with Donnell Pumphrey, who set the all-time rushing record in NCAA at San Diego State and was a fourth-round pick of the Eagles in 2017 and spent one season in Philadelphia before failing to make teams in 2018 and 2019 training camp attempts.
Former Arizona Hotshot Jhurell Pressley, former LSU 1,000 yard rusher Nick Brossette, and former James Madison Duke Khalid Abdullah round out the running backs.
Pressley rushed for over 400 yards in the eight games the Hotshots played as their leading rusher, while Brossette played well in the preseason for New England and spent time on the Lions practice squad last season.
Abdullah appears to be a depth piece and maybe a special team standout.
It looks like the Defenders have done well in loading up the pass catchers for Jones to throw to and they appear to have done very well in drafting the receivers.
Another former Hotshot, Rashard Ross was arguably the top receiver in the AAF with 36 catches, almost 600 yards and seven touchdowns and former Steeler Eli Rogers should be one of the better slot receivers in the league.
Former Indiana Hoosier Simmie Cobbs was a very good player in the Big Ten and I was surprised to see Dallas (XFL) waived him with the Defenders quickly grabbing him with a waiver claim.
Malachi Dupre has been in several NFL camps after his LSU days, DeAndre Thompkins was a big play receiver at Penn State, Jalen Rowell of the Air Force might be a red zone target and Tyler Palka
has spent time in the CFL and Arena leagues.
Tight end may be an issue as none of the three have stood out although Khari Lee does have some NFL time with the Bears and Lions.
Derrick Hayward started for two years at Maryland but caught only eight passes in his college career, while Donnie Ernsberger played in two games for the Buccaneers in 2018.
I have to be honest and say I'm not familiar with the offensive linemen on the team and without a depth chart, I'm not even going to try to venture a guess.
The defensive linemen have a few names of note with former Buckeye Tracy Sprankle leading the way at defensive tackle.
Sprinkle has been in and out of several team's camps, but didn't play in a game.
Elijah Qualls spent 2017 with the Eagles but hasn't made a team since then, while Sam Montgomery was a 3rd round pick by the Texans in 2013 but never played an NFL game.
Montgomery played a few games last season for the AAF's Memphis Express.
Jay Bromley played four seasons for the Giants after New York picked him in the third round in 2014, but other than two games with New Orleans in 2018 has been out of football.
Tavaris Barnes of Clemson played twelve games with the Saints in 2015, but other than some time in the AAF with the Atlanta Legends hasn't played since.
KeShun Freeman of Georgia Tech also played for the Legends last season.
The biggest name of the linebackers is former Brown and Cardinal as well as Arizona Hotshot Scooby Wright,
Wright was the Browns seventh-rounder in 2016 and saw time with Cleveland before he was released and claimed by the Cardinals, where he finished 2016 and 2017.
Antwione Williams played for the Lions in 2016, Jonathan Massaquoi was an Atlanta Falcon for three seasons (2012-14) and played for the AAF's Birmingham Iron last season and Jonathan Celestin was a member of the Carolina practice squad last season.
The secondary has some recognizable names, but as I wrote above in these situations the bigger names often players that may not have the abilities remaining as the lesser names.
Former Ravens first-round safety (2013) Matt Elam attempts a comeback after four years in Baltimore.
Elam played 2018 with Saskatchewan in the CFL but didn't play in 2019.
Safety Rahim Moore spent four years in Denver after the Broncos took him in the second round of 2011 and played last season for the Arizona Hotshots.
Sharmarko Thomas was the Steelers fourth-rounder in 2013 after Pittsburgh traded their 2014 third-rounder to the Browns to move up to take him.
Thomas spent four seasons in Pittsburgh but never broke the barrier of the starting lineup.
Former Michigan Wolverine safety Tyree Kinnel was in the Bengals training camp last season
The corners are very heavy with AAF experience as three played for the Atlanta Legends and two with the Birmingham Iron.
Doran Grant was a fourth-rounder out of Ohio State by the Steelers in 2015 and spent one year in Pittsburgh.
Grant played for the Legends as did Desmond Lawrence and Elijah Campbell in 2019.
Bradley Sylve was highly thought of at Alabama before a torn Achilles slowed his career and Carlos Merritt also played for the Iron.
Ty Rausa, formerly of Boise State will be the placekicker in a league without extra point duties from the kicker while former Northwestern punter Hunter Niswander will be punting for the Defenders.
The Defenders have plenty of recognizable players to the hardcore football person, but I don't know how they will fare.
I wasn't impressed by Pep Hamilton's work in Cleveland and he struggled with Michigan in his two seasons with Jim Harbaugh as "passing game" coordinator, so I have a lot of questions with Hamilton compared to other XFL head coaches that includes a college national title winner (Bob Stoops), a coach that turned bad college programs around and runs an exciting offense (June Jones), a Grey Cup winner (Marc Trestman) and three former NFL head coaches (Trestman, Jim Zorn, and Kevin Gilbride).
I think the season all comes down to Cardale Jones.
New leagues are often about two things making a huge difference- good quarterback play and protecting the quarterback.
Jones has some very nice skill players for this level with him and I think the Defenders will score points.
The key will be protecting Jones, if they can keep him protected in the pocket the Defenders could be a title contender.
If not, they could be a middle of the pack club.
It'll be an interesting season to follow and we'll see how things fall out in Washington.
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