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XFL Returning 2020

SFH

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Kahran Ramsus said:
So is this the league for the guys who can't make it in the CFL?
There's going to be a star wide receiver with a pacemaker drop dead from the first tackle. That's the element of standards I'm getting.
 

HarleyQuinn

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Wrestlemania/Limp Bizkit WINNER said:
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So by estimation this is the maximum salary a guy could earn: Base Salary - $27,040. Per Game (10 Games + 2 Playoffs) - $20,220. Perfect Season Win Wise - $19,998. Total Salary - $67,258 for an 8th Round pick.

https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/xfl-vs-cfl-player-salaries/

"We know that the XFL has a “tiered” salary structure with the top tier making $250,000 a year with possibly going up to $600,000 while the bottom tier will pay from $50,000 up to $70,000."

Sounds like this is typical Vince salary gimmicking. Yeah, the 8th Round pick in a "bottom tier" could make almost $70,000 in total, in line with the above pull quote, but that is if everything breaks right. Just the base salary + per game (assuming they make it to the XFL Title Game) gets them to just over $47,000. Throw in a few wins and yeah, said player would make just above $50,000 so that salary tier isn't "wrong" per se but it's not really good for these guys either.

IIRC Vince pulled the same stunt salary wise in the original XFL, with a lower base pay while basically utilizing incentives (e.g. bonuses for wins) to push up a player's year end salary.
 

alkeiper

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$55,000 on average is somewhat accurate. Base salary, per game active (there's always someone active), and on average players pocket half the win bonus. So base salary + 10 active games + five wins = $55,000. The problem is that it will work out that more players aren't healthy will the whole season (or are cut/inactive) and the median salary will be quite lower.

Personally I think it's a hard sell that a competing football league has a salary structure where every single player would be crazy to pass up an offer to play in the NFL instead. A player has a great two games and an NFL team is interested in his services. Would said player want to stick around and risk injury for $30,000 when the NFL minimum is half a million? It makes the league a minor league. Minor league teams are interesting from a local fans' perspective, but will national fans give a damn?
 

KingPK

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Seems like it's not much better than a AA/AAA benchrider's salary. I assume the league or franchise is paying travel costs because if not there's gonna be a revolt among the players. I think this is a good indicator of the level of talent this league is going to attract (e.g. not very good).
 

HarleyQuinn

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Looked it up and the original 2001 XFL had base salaries for $45,000 (with variations for position) with winning bonuses split amongst entire roster on game days.
 

Kahran Ramsus

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alkeiper said:
$55,000 on average is somewhat accurate. Base salary, per game active (there's always someone active), and on average players pocket half the win bonus. So base salary + 10 active games + five wins = $55,000. The problem is that it will work out that more players aren't healthy will the whole season (or are cut/inactive) and the median salary will be quite lower.

Personally I think it's a hard sell that a competing football league has a salary structure where every single player would be crazy to pass up an offer to play in the NFL instead. A player has a great two games and an NFL team is interested in his services. Would said player want to stick around and risk injury for $30,000 when the NFL minimum is half a million? It makes the league a minor league. Minor league teams are interesting from a local fans' perspective, but will national fans give a damn?

Would it appeal to local fans? We are talking about New York and LA here. Not cities without NFL teams.
 

geniusMoment

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It's so obvious this thing is going to fail. Last time they tried they still had a major network behind them in NBC plus WWF was just white hot. They were drawing 3x the fans they currently do for Raw, so the promotion between the two would be much more effective. They even added in Jim Ross and Ventura to do commentary to hook over the viewers. You can't do that with Michael freaking Cole.

The fans dissatisfied with the NFL because of the kneeling thing aren't looking to watch 8 teams play a level of ball lower than the CFL in the Spring.

The whole idea of spending hundreds of millions on this is so stupid.
 

Kahran Ramsus

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Is the kneeling thing even still an issue? I haven't heard anybody really talking about it in at least a year.
 

geniusMoment

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Kahran Ramsus said:
Is the kneeling thing even still an issue? I haven't heard anybody really talking about it in at least a year.

It's not, but I think it's one of the things Vince saw that he thought he could exploit.
 

HarleyQuinn

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I think to Vince's credit, the league itself has a better... football feel to it all this go around. The coaches are better/more offensive focused (Bob Stoops is a legitimately BIG get in football circles) from Bob Stoops/Hal Mumme to June Jones to Kevin Gilbride even to guys like Pep Hamilton and Jim Zorn. They also add a bit more NFL legitimacy player development wise. The broadcasters and stations are more football-centric with proven names already as announcers so the production should be light years ahead of the 2001 XFL.

The big struggle, of course, will be the quality of play. The reason the USFL kind of succeeded in the 80s was it went into bidding wars with the NFL for college players. Hershel Walker, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Reggie White, amongst a ton of others were all notable collegiate players when they entered the USFL. The 2001 XFL largely struggled although some guys made names for themselves such as Tommy Maddox but we'll see with this league. One interesting aspect is the college kid from Virginia Tech who was drafted as he could represent an avenue for college players to get paid, get real 'NFL Coaching' experience, and better prepare themselves to possibly jump to the NFL after the season. This also eventually will tie back to the whole salary situation and if more money can come in that way for players.

I do think, if absolutely nothing else, the XFL should be entertaining from an offensive scoring standpoint solely based on the coaches involved. That's a bit of a step up from most of these start up leagues (UFL, AAF) which were mostly defensive minded coaches and the guys who were offensive oriented like a Steve Spurrier quickly proved how dominant they could be.

Ratings will probably not be good and the quality of play will likely struggle out of the gate although a good number of the players cut did make it to final cuts in 2019 for NFL teams, so it wouldn't shock me if we end up seeing a fair amount on NFL rosters by the start of 2020 pre-season.
 

Master Thrasher

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The Alliance of American Football had decent ratings before it shutdown. I have high hopes for this league.
 

geniusMoment

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XFL will enforce their contracts. No hopping to the NFL. My guess is this will decrease the talent level.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lions-xfl-quarterback-josh-johnson-interest-004214092.html
 

HarleyQuinn

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geniusMoment said:
XFL will enforce their contracts. No hopping to the NFL. My guess is this will decrease the talent level.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lions-xfl-quarterback-josh-johnson-interest-004214092.html

This does make sense for the XFL though. Why have a draft and contracts if a league like the NFL can just poach players at will?
 

geniusMoment

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Does the CFL stop players from going to the NFL? I honestly don't even know. If they don't you're going to have some issues with players picking the CFL over the XFL.
 

HarleyQuinn

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geniusMoment said:
Does the CFL stop players from going to the NFL? I honestly don't even know. If they don't you're going to have some issues with players picking the CFL over the XFL.

I think it's up to the players at the moment. One CFL draftee opted to continue playing in Canada already but 2019 was his first season playing there.
 

HarleyQuinn

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A lot of funky rules coming to the XFL.

The Good
Tiered point system: 2 yard line = 1 point, 5 yard line = 2 points, and 10 yard line = 3 points. Could make for a lot of interesting strategy.
OT as a shootout system: 5 plays from the 5 yard line worth 2 points. Really emphasizes effective goal line work on both sides.
Kickoff/Punt Coverage cannot move until the ball is kicked and/or touched: Should lead to more returns and potentially bigger collisions with guys going full speed from a shorter distance. More emphasis on block shedding and technique.
All plays are subject to review: Just an obvious move.
"The Coach-to-Player system would allow a member of the coaching staff in the bench area or the coaches’ booth to communicate to a player through a speaker in his helmet. Broadcast partners would have access to this communication and may use it during the game." As a fan of football strategy, this fascinates me much like the original USFL stuff.
Shorter halftime: Always good to speed up the 'back to the game' action.

The Bad
Punts are basically being eliminated with the ball moving to the 35 yard line if it goes out of bounds, whichever area is 'better' for the receiving team. Really hate this idea as somebody who's really gotten into the field position battle.
Double Forward Pass: Just sounds so gimmicky.
 

The Amazing Rando

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I don't really mind the Double Forward Pass. It's not like the QB can throw it to WR downfield and then that WR can throw it to another WR even farther downfield. It's probably just so they don't have to worry about things like the Music City Miracle being debated forever. I assume it'll be used about as much as the NFL uses it, just they don't have to worry about who is where.
 

HarleyQuinn

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Landry Jones is out 4-6 weeks with an injury so the Renegades signed QB Eric Dungey for depth.
 

Epic Springs

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I just saw an ad on Facebook for the NY team saying that they were kicking off on Feb. 9th. Is this when the season starts? Did this completely fly under the radar?
 

KingPK

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I've seen a couple commercials during the playoffs. Nothing like the hype of the first XFL (which might not be a bad thing). The Soup is on FOX this year, right? I'm guessing there will be a bunch of ads around then.
 

909

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KingPK said:
I've seen a couple commercials during the playoffs. Nothing like the hype of the first XFL (which might not be a bad thing). The Soup is on FOX this year, right? I'm guessing there will be a bunch of ads around then.

It is definitely a very bad thing.
 

HarleyQuinn

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52 Man Rosters have been named. Here are the names I mostly recognized. A few "household" names (pre-dominantly QBs) but a lot of guys who played briefly in the NFL or stuck around for multiple seasons on pre-season rosters/practice squads.

Dallas: QB Landry Jones (Injured), QB Eric Dungey, RB Lance Dunbar, RB Cam Artis-Payne, TE Donald Parham, DE Frank Alexander, LB Tegray Scales, OLB Hau'oli Kikaha (SFH's Dawg), S Derron Smith
DC: QB Cardale Jones, QB Tyree Jackson, RB Donnel Pumphrey, RB Nick Brosette, WR Eli Rogers, WR Simmie Cobbs, WR Rashad Ross, WR Malachi Dupre, DT Jay Bromley, LB Scooby Wright, LB A.J. Tarpley, S Matt Elam, S Shamarko Thomas
Houston: QB Connor Cook, RB De'Angelo Henderson, RB Andre Williams, WR Sammie Coates, WR Cam Phillips, DE Kony Ealy, DE/DT Gabe Wright, CB Saivion Smith
Los Angeles: QB Josh Johnson, QB Chad Kanoff, RB Larry Rose, RB Elijah Hood, WR Nelson Spruce, WR Tre McBride, DE Shawn Oakman, DE Devin Taylor, DT Montori Hughes, LB Taiwan Jones, CB Harlan Miller, K Nick Novak
New York: QB Matt McGloin, QB Marquise Williams, RB Justin Stockton, WR Joe Horn Jr., DT Joey Mbu, LB Nick DeLuca, LB Ben Heeney
St. Louis: QB Nick Fitzgerald, QB Taylor Heinicke, QB Jordan Ta'Amu, RB Matt Jones, RB Christine Michael, WR L'Damian Washington, TE Wes Saxton, LB Steve Beauharnais, S Will Hill, P Marquette King
Seattle: QB Brandon Silvers, RB Trey Williams, WR Kasen Williams, WR Austin Proehl, WR Keenan Reynolds(!), TE Colin Jeter, TE Evan Rodriguez, DE Stansley Mapongo, DE Jacquies Smith, DT Will Sutton, CB Channing Stribling, CB Steve Williams, K Garrett Hartley
Tampa Bay: QB Aaron Murray, QB Chase Litton, WR Antonio Callaway, WR Stacy Coley, WR Seantavius Jones, WR Tanner McEvoy, CB Rannell Hall
 

HarleyQuinn

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From Oliver Luck's Q and A: https://www.xfl.com/en-US/articles/q-a-with-commissioner-luck

"The one thing that was most important to me and my football folks was the 25-second clock. Plays were getting called in, communicated, they got to the line of scrimmage and the ball was getting snapped. In all four scrimmage games, we averaged 173 plays. There is going to be one or two delay of game (penalties), which isn’t the worst thing in the world.

More important than the total number of points is the closeness of the game. I think in a perfect world if you’re in the 20s – 28-24, 31-24 – those are games where you score points. Fans want defensive plays as well.

The NFL is right around 170 per game. We ended up at 173 for these four games. That’s a little bit misleading from the NFL side as you have 6-7 of those 170-some-odd plays be kickoffs into the end zone. In our book that’s not a play. We’d like to be in the 160-170 range."
 

Precious Roy

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https://nypost.com/2020/02/08/johnny-manziel-rips-the-xfl-while-praising-himself/

I can't believe this kicks off today
 

KingPK

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Man, this seems so much more low-key than the first time around. It actually looks like a real TV sports broadcast!

The kickoffs are...interesting.
 
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