Football
The XFL’s third iteration cranks up this weekend with games airing on the ESPN and Fox family of networks. The brand loyalty is fleeting at best for the eight teams, but several well-known names from college and NFL seasons past will be competing this spring. Among them: quarterback Paxton Lynch, receiver Josh Gordon and pass rusher Vic Beasley.
Quarterbacks in particular become casualties of the NFL car wash, and there’s no longer a developmental league to handle the overflow as NFL Europe once did. From 1999 through 2003, three quarterbacks who started for NFC representatives in the Super Bowl (Kurt Warner twice, Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme) had honed their skills in Europe. Perhaps the XFL can become a training ground for future NFL starting quarterbacks while also developing offensive linemen and other positions of need.
For now, each XFL roster contains a mix of former NFL players looking for another opportunity and prospects seeking their first shot. Here is a baker’s dozen of players I’m watching in the XFL this season.
Football Brett Hundley, QB, Vegas Vipers
Selected by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round in 2015, Hundley immediately shouldered the label of a potential Aaron Rodgers successor. In 2017, Hundley started nine games for the injured Rodgers and finished 3-6 with nine touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. He has seen only three games of action since and ended 2022 on the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad. Like so many other quarterback prospects, Hundley was deemed a failure instead of learning and growing from his inconsistency.
Football Drew Plitt, QB, Arlington Renegades
Plitt is the classic story of a quarterback slipping through the cracks at the pro level. He played at Ball State and in 2020 earned MAC championship game and Arizona Bowl MVP honors. He returned to Ball State the next year for a sixth season and finished his career with 9,051 passing yards and 68 touchdown passes. If he has success, Plitt could parlay his XFL experience into a real NFL shot. He spent a brief stint in Cincinnati Bengals training camp last summer.
Football Pooka Williams, RB, D.C. Defenders
Williams, a two-time All-Big 12 running back, was often the lone on-field bright spot for his Kansas teams, rushing for more than 1,000 yards as a freshman and sophomore. He opted out midway through his junior season and became a seventh-round draft pick in 2021. Blessed with blazing speed, Williams could vault onto the NFL radar as a returner and change-of-pace back.
Football Travell Harris, WR, Houston Roughnecks
One of the most prolific receivers in Washington State history, Harris caught 179 passes for 1,999 yards and 17 touchdowns over four seasons from 2018 to ’21. He ranks third on the program’s all-purpose yards leaderboard with 4,286 and set Washington State career records with 86 kick returns and 2,063 kick return yards.
Football Brian Folkerts, OL, Arlington Renegades
If Folkerts eventually lands with an NFL team, his story has Disney appeal. Folkerts (6-4, 300) competed at Division II Washburn through 2011 and played 28 games at center for Carolina and St. Louis from 2013 to ’15. He joined his alma mater as the offensive line coach, and now the 32-year-old is giving it the old college try once again in pro football.
Football Paul Grattan, OL, Seattle Sea Dragons
A decorated college lineman at both UCLA and Villanova, Grattan (6-4, 300) earned the Iron Bruin Award for his weight room prowess as a senior. Grattan attended rookie camp with the Seattle Seahawks last year but wasn’t signed to the training camp roster.
Football Malik Fisher, DL, D.C. Defenders
At Villanova, Fisher was incredibly productive with 22 sacks, 33.5 tackles for loss, nine forced fumbles and eight passes defensed. Fisher didn’t get his NFL shot in 2022, but the 24-year-old has plenty to prove this spring.
Football Vic Beasley, Edge, Vegas Vipers
A former first-round pick and NFL All-Pro, Beasley is looking to resurrect his career in the XFL. In 2016, Beasley led the NFL with 15.5 sacks and six forced fumbles as the Atlanta Falcons made the Super Bowl. Beasley had eight sacks in 2019, then bounced between teams in 2020 and hasn’t resurfaced the last two seasons. If he shows he still has something left, Beasley could wind up in an NFL camp this summer.
Football Mike Rose, LB, St. Louis Battlehawks
Along with Brock Purdy and Breece Hall, Rose was instrumental in elevating Iowa State to a Big 12 championship game appearance in 2020. A first-team All-American, Rose started 49 career games, registered 321 tackles (including 41 for loss), 9.5 sacks and six interceptions. A physical hitter with good coverage skills, Rose battled through a shoulder injury in 2021 and signed as an undrafted free agent with Kansas City before he was released.
Football Shakur Brown, CB, Arlington Renegades
Brown had five interceptions in seven games for Michigan State during the COVID-altered 2020 season. He declared for the draft that winter and bounced around on multiple practice squads but has a chance to earn another NFL opportunity.
Football William Likely, CB, Houston Roughnecks
At Maryland, Likely (5-7, 180) was a ball hawk and return man extraordinaire. In a 2015 game, he broke a 76-year-old Big Ten record with 233 punt return yards. Likely was a first-team All-Big Ten defensive back, started at receiver and was a first-team All-American returner with seven total return scores. His senior year was scuttled by an ACL tear. Now 29, Likely looks for one last shot.
Football Jack Koerner, S, San Antonio Brahmas
A former walk-on at Iowa, Koerner became a three-year starter and a second-team All-Big Ten selection. In 2021, he recorded 62 solo tackles, which were the most by an Iowa defensive back since Bob Sanders in 2002. Koerner set Iowa positional records in the squat (515 pounds) and bench press (390) and intercepted six passes over three years of regular action.
Football Jose Borregales, K, Orlando Guardians
With NFL teams always looking for kickers, Borregales has another chance to make a great impression. He was a first-team All-American kicker at Miami (Fla.) in 2020 after connecting on 18 of 20 field goal attempts and nailing all 35 extra points. Borregales twice was named a Lou Groza Award finalist and was a practice teamer with Tampa Bay in 2021.
(Photo of Brett Hundley: Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)
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