Panthers quarterback P.J. Walker was the standout star for the XFL this year before its season was cut short due to COVID-19.
His Houston Roughnecks were 5-0 and he was the clear-cut frontrunner to win the league’s MVP award. Walker was thrilling the football world with highlights reminiscent of some of the game’s best quarterbacks – he was the XFL’s answer to Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson, who we have ranked as the top two QBs in the NFL right now.
Walker’s remarkable performance during those five games earned him a new job in the NFL backing up Teddy Bridgewater for Carolina.
In a piece for The Player’s Tribune, Walker wrote about how every player in the league was on a mission.
“Beyond that, though, the best thing about the new XFL was that it gave the guys who are on the fringes of pro football the opportunity to go out there and play and show what they can do. There are so many great, talented players on NFL rosters that the league just isn’t big enough for everybody to play. And that’s a shame. The XFL was important to so many guys. It’s hard to single out names because I don’t want to leave anybody out — because there are just a lot. If the season had gone on, most of them would definitely be getting their chances to play in the NFL. I believe that. I mean, some of them already are.”
The Panthers have been at the forefront of signing players from the now-defunct league. Walker was the first to join an NFL team this year. The team also picked the first former XFL-er in the draft by taking Kenny Robinson in the fifth round.
The whole article is definitely worth a read.
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