The XFL is back — and it’s got new owners and new spring football competition. Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson and RedBird Capital Partners have taken over Vince McMahon’s twice-failed league (once via pandemic, once via terrible decision making) and will vie against the revived USFL for viewers this February.
While we already knew the eight teams that would make up the latest incarnation of the institution that gave us He Hate Me and Tommy Maddox and who’d be coaching them — Wade Phillips! Bob Stoops! Hines Ward! — we didn’t know who’d make up those rosters. In fact, without a published list of eligible players we couldn’t even accurately wonder who might follow in the footsteps of PJ Walker and Jordan Ta’amu as the stars of XFL 3.0.
Until this week, where a three-day draft process filled the league’s roster with former college standouts and a handful of NFL veterans. The majority of this year’s XFL draftees will be known primarily to fans of whatever universities they played for — guys like Andre Mintze or Charleston Rambo or Mataeo Durant. That doesn’t mean there won’t some familiar faces in the crowd when the Seattle Sea Dragons and St. Louis BattleHawks face off next spring.
So who are the most notable veterans? Here are 15 players who most NFL fans should recognize, ranging from former All-Pros to players most of us forgot about years ago.
Vic Beasley, Vegas Vipers
Position: EDGE
NFL experience: Six seasons, 60 starts, former top 10 pick and 2016 All-Pro.
Martavis Bryant, Vegas Vipers
Position: WR
NFL experience: Five seasons, 18 starts. Was most notably traded by a Steelers team likely to release him after missing the 2016 season due to suspension to the Raiders for a third round pick (he had 19 catches for Oakland).
Rahim Moore, Arlington Renegades
Position: S
NFL experience: Five seasons, 54 starts. Moore is possibly best known for getting roasted by Joe Flacco in Baltimore’s 2012 playoff win in Denver.
Cody Latimer, Orlando Guardians
Position: WR
NFL experience: Six seasons, 15 starts. Former second round pick of the Denver Broncos
PJ Hall, Seattle Sea Dragons
Position: DT
NFL experience: Three seasons, 27 starts. Former second round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders
Will Hill, Arlington Renegades
Position: S
NFL experience: Four seasons, 32 starts. Started 14 games for the Ravens in 2015, but failed a drug test in 2016 and was released and hasn’t played in the NFL season.
Julie’n Davenport, Seattle Sea Dragons
Position: OT
NFL experience: Five seasons, 32 starts
Matt Elam, Orlando Guardians
Position: DB
NFL experience: Four seasons, 26 starts. Elam was a Ravens first round pick in 2013.
Kalen Ballage, San Antonio Brahmas
Position: RB
NFL experience: Four seasons, eight starts. Ballage was a part of the reason why a 37-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Dolphins in rushing in 2019.
Ben DiNucci, Seattle Sea Dragons
Position: QB
NFL experience: One season, one start for the Dallas Cowboys. He’s the only quarterback in the XFL to have started an NFL game.
Matt Jones, Vegas Vipers
Position: RB
NFL experience: Three seasons, seven starts. Jones had three 100-yard games for Washington and is probably familiar to fantasy players with a deep intimacy of their league’s waiver wire.
Marquette King, Arlington Renegades
Position: P
NFL experience: Six seasons. King was a 2016 All-Pro, but he may be best known for being the league’s raddest punter before being released in Jon Gruden’s first season as a Raider.
De’Vante Bausby, Arlington Renegades
Position: DB
NFL experience: Five seasons, six starts.
Kentrell Brice, DC Defenders
Position: S
NFL experience: Three seasons, 14 starts.
Marcell Ateman, St. Louis BattleHawks
Position: WR
NFL experience: Four seasons, 6 starts.