The XFL was part of every major sports league that cancelled their season due to the outbreak. The XFL released a statement on the cancellation.
XFL statementhttps://t.co/MbuHgUmzmZ pic.twitter.com/PIZLOl1fld
— XFL (@xfl2020) March 12, 2020
It was a great gesture by the league to pay their players the base salary plus benefits despite the league cancelling the remainder of their first season. With their season now in the books, what is in the future for the three former Texas Longhorns who were still on active rosters?
The XFL has advised players they can sign immediately with teams in the NFL or any other league once their exit physicals are complete tomorrow, per sources. So for the stars — Josh Johnson, P.J. Walker, Jordan Ta’amu, et al. — a chance to land quickly.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 13, 2020
Cedric Reed and Patrick Vahe of the Los Angeles Wildcats and Kent Perkins of the St Louis Battlehawks will now have an opportunity to get another shot at the NFL if a team should look their way for training camp rosters in the 2020-21 NFL seasons.
Vahe was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Baltimore Ravens following the 2019 NFL Draft. He spent the entire offseason and training camp with the team prior to the beginning of the season. He was a roster cut casualty before being picked up the following October for the XFL Draft. He should garner some interest this offseason.
Perkins was a part of the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals as part of their practice squad, moving up to the active roster late in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He, much like Vahe, was an undrafted free agent after not being selected in the draft. He was released after announcing retirement from the NFL. He resurfaced in the XFL, so could he apply for re-instatement into the NFL? That will be one situation to monitor.
Both Vahe and Perkins could provide interior depth for the upcoming seasons provided they are brought onto training camp rosters. Both should still be eligible to be on practice squads for the upcoming season.
The third member of the former Longhorns who could make the jump back to the NFL is Cedric Reed. He was an undrafted free agent from the 2015 NFL Draft class. Reed signed with the Buffalo Bills and spent the 2015 season as a member of their practice squad.
He was released the following July and picked up by the Miami Dolphins. He would be released prior to the 2016 season as part of roster cuts. Reed didn’t play football again until he was picked up in the XFL Draft. As a member of the Wildcats, Reed accumulated 13 tackles, three sacks, three tackles for loss and five quarterback hits in five games.
The hope for Reed, Vahe and Perkins is that they put enough quality tape together for NFL teams to become interested. The possibility for the former Longhorns is there, just a matter of monitoring the situation at this point.