Tag: USFL

Former Chiefs QBs Shea Patterson, Jordan Ta’amu headline USFL draft

Former #Chiefs QBs Shea Patterson and Jordan Ta’amu were the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the USFL Draft. | from @EdEastonJr

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The NFL offseason is officially underway and like clockwork, there is a new fledgling football league popping up.

The United States Football League (USFL) has been reincarnated into the latest spring football league, seeking to bridge the gap during the NFL’s offseason. The league initially ran from 1983 to 1986. This time around they’ll be looking to do better than past spring football leagues, such as the XFL and Alliance of American Football (AAF).

The newly established league held Day 1 of its draft on Tuesday night. The first round of the draft was solely dedicated to quarterbacks. The top overall pick went to the Michigan Panthers via lottery, and they selected one-time Chiefs QB Shea Patterson.

Patterson was a star at the University of Michigan, so this is a good move for a team that’s likely looking to sell some tickets and merchandise. Patterson signed with Kansas City as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He was signed following April’s draft, but his time with the team was short-lived. He didn’t even make it to training camp with the Chiefs after the team signed veteran Matt Moore to replace him on the offseason roster.

With the second overall pick, the Tampa Bay Bandits selected another former Chiefs QB in Jordan Ta’amu. Ta’amu played collegiately at Ole Miss and was a start for XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks. He also spent the 2020 offseason with the Chiefs, but he actually made it through training camp and spent time on the practice squad in Kansas City. They even had him simulate Ravens QB Lamar Jackson on the scout team.

Ta’amu will look to use his experience with the Chiefs and Battlehawks to excel in the USFL.

The two young quarterbacks have an opportunity to shine in the new league as it kicks off this Spring. The time spent in the Chiefs system in 2020 should benefit them as they move forward in their football-playing careers.

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USFL drafts some former Lions players in unique format

Some former Detroit Lions were among the players selected on the first day of the USFL draft

The USFL is coming back soon, with the eight-team league resurrecting later this spring. The new USFL held its first player draft on Tuesday in a unique format, one that saw a couple of players who had Detroit Lions ties selected in the first 12 rounds.

Unlike the NFL draft, the USFL locked each round into just one position group. The first round was strictly reserved for quarterbacks. Two who had cups of coffee with the Lions, Jordan Ta’Amu and Kyle Sloter, were among those chosen in the inaugural draft.

Ta’Amu, taken No. 2 overall by the Tampa Bay Bandits, was on the Lions practice squad in 2020 and then with Detroit in the following offseason. Sloter was on the Lions roster for the final few games of the 2019 season after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. Sloter is now the property of the New Orleans Breakers.

The second through fourth rounds featured defensive linemen and edge rushers, with the fifth through seventh rounds focused solely on offensive tackles. Rounds 8-11 was all about cornerbacks and the 12th circled back to quarterback. The USFL deployed a snake draft concept, with the team picking last in one round earning the first pick in the next.

No other players with Lions ties were selected, though some familiar names did come off the draft board, including former Michigan Wolverines CB Channing Stribling, DE Carlo Kemp, and the league’s No. 1 overall pick, ex-Michigan QB Shea Patterson.

Former Tiger headed to Pittsburgh

A former Clemson Tiger was drafted by a professional team on Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Maulers of the new USFL spring football league selected former Clemson offensive lineman Isaiah Battle with the eighth pick in the sixth round of Tuesday’s …

A former Clemson Tiger was drafted by a professional team on Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Maulers of the new USFL spring football league selected former Clemson offensive lineman Isaiah Battle with the eighth pick in the sixth round of Tuesday’s inaugural USFL Draft.

Following his time at Clemson from 2011-15, Battle was taken in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft by the Rams. From 2017-19, he was signed to reserve/future contracts by the Chiefs, Seahawks and Panthers, then was picked by the Seattle Dragons in the first round of the 2020 XFL Draft.

The USFL is scheduled to kick off on April 16.

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8 former Cardinals players selected on Day 1 of USFL draft

Eight former Cardinals players, most of whom spent almost no time with the team, were selected on Day 1 of the USFL draft Tuesday.

The USFL held the first day of their draft on Tuesday. The reboot of the old football league has eight franchises and completed 12 rounds of their draft to begin and fill out rosters.

According to Pro Football Network, USFL rosters will have 38 players and a seven-man practice squad. The league will hold 35 rounds of a draft, each round designated for a position. After that, teams will use free agency to full the final seven spots on the roster and practice squad.

The first and 12th rounds were designated for quarterbacks, Rounds 2-4 were for edge defenders, rounds 5-7 were for offensive tackles, while rounds 8-11 were for drafting cornerbacks.

On Tuesday, a total of eight former Arizona Cardinals were selected, although most spent almost no time on the team.

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USFL draft: Penn State’s Christian Campbell selected by Tampa Bay

Former Penn State CB Christian Campbell was picked in the USFL draft

After decades on the sidelines, the USLF is back. That is, a revamped version of the USFL brand is back. And on Tuesday evening, the eight-team league began the process of forming rosters with the first day of a player selection draft. Among the players drafted by a USFL team included former Penn State cornerback Christian Campbell.

Campbell was selected with the first pick in the 10th round by the Tampa Bay Bandits. Each round of the draft was designated for various positions, with each team drafting from a pool of players by position group.

Campbell was a sixth-round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2018 NFL draft but was cut by the team prior to the start of the 2018 season. He was later picked up by the New Orleans Saints and spent part of 2019 with the San Francisco 49ers before being waived before the start of the 2019 season.

The USFL draft will conclude on Wednesday.

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2022 USFL Draft: Six From Mountain West Selected On Day One

Six former Mountain West football players were selected from the USFL draft pool, ahead of the fabled league’s revival.

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2022 USFL Draft: Six From Mountain West Selected On Day One

Six former Mountain West football players were selected from the USFL draft pool, ahead of the fabled league’s revival.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire

Spring football is back once again.

The Mountain West was well-represented on the first day of the USFL Draft, an event which marked a big step in the revival of a league that, for a brief time in the 1980s, approached rivaling the NFL.

Six former players from the conference were selected in the first twelve rounds from an expansive draft pool, part of a process that, unlike the annual NFL Draft, operated in a “snake draft” fashion and saw each team select from the different position pools in each round (quarterbacks in the first round, edge defenders and defensive ends in the second, and so on). Interestingly, however, one particular team seemed to take a liking to Mountain West football athletes.

The Michigan Panthers, who won the first USFL championship game back in 1983 and are now coached by Jeff Fisher in their newest iteration, selected four players altogether.

Former Utah State defensive end Adewale Adeoye was the first of the Panthers quartet to be selected in the second round. Back in 2018, Adeoye earned an all-conference honorable mention nod by collecting 38 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack, as well as recovering three fumbles.

The Panthers also built the foundation of their offensive line with Keith Williams, who made 13 starts for Colorado State from 2018 to 2020, and Teton Saltes, the New Mexico tackle who won the 2020 Wuerffel Trophy.

Lastly, Lobos defensive back Jalin Burrell joins the Panthers after spending 2019 with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.

Elsewhere, the New Jersey Generals selected former San Diego State offensive tackle Terry Poole. Since being selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Poole has played in the NFL, the short-lived AAF, the XFL, and the CFL.

Josh Love, the former San Jose State quarterback who was the conference’s offensive player of the year in 2019, will join the Pittsburgh Maulers after brief stints with the Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers. He joins first-round pick Kyle Lauletta on the Maulers roster.

The second day of the USFL draft will cover rounds 13 to 35. Though it is not being broadcast, each pick can be seen on the league’s official Twitter account.

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NFL QB bust Paxton Lynch final pick on Day 1 of USFL draft

The last pick on the first day of the USFL draft was once a first-round NFL pick, QB Paxton Lynch

This is not where Paxton Lynch expected to be hearing his name on 2/22/22.

However, the former No. 1 pick of the Denver Broncos in 2016 — No. 26 overall — finds himself chosen as the last pick Tuesday on the first day of the USFL draft.

Lynch was released by Denver in 2018 and the spiral … not the kind he was expecting to throw for years — has gone downward since.

It got so bad that earlier in the day he was released by the CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders. As the third-string quarterback, he did not dress for games last season and spent most of the time on the one-game injured list.

In fact, the New York Post ran a story on Tuesday saying Lynch’s career had hit a new low.

This is a new start for a player who once was hoped to be a franchise quarterback by John Elway and the Broncos’ brass.

First former Ohio State player drafted in the USFL 2.0

First former Ohio State player drafted in the USFL 2.0 #GoBucks #USFL

The United States Football League 2.0 is kicking off with the USFL Draft tonight and although the draft is painful to watch due to the rounds being broken down by position, it has still been enjoyable watching some recognizable names get another professional opportunity.

I for one was expecting Cardale Jones to make a surprise appearance during the first round which featured quarterbacks, but unfortunately, I was met with disappointment. Fear not though as a former Buckeye did make an appearance in the fourth round as Jonathan Newsome was selected with the tenth pick in the round.

Few fans may remember Newsome, but he was a Big 33 All-Star recruit out of Glenville High School in Cleveland and played sparingly in two seasons, but did earn one start before transferring to Ball State and absolutely dominating the MAC.

Newsome was actually drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts and was solid before moving onto the CFL and finding stardom with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Ottawa Redblacks, and BC Lions.