UFL Draft Discussion

The Game Room
1

Okay, I’m just kidding. I wouldn’t be surprised if no other Doper knew that the newly-christened Universal Football League held its inaugural draft today. Unsurprisingly, not many of the names are exactly household-type.

112-year-old Adam Archuleta goes to Las Vegas, and signed J.P. Losman before the draft - it’s not really clear how the UFL decided Losman wasn’t draft-eligible, but I’m guessing each team was allowed to sign one or more players to whatever contracts they would take before the draft. New York gets pear-shaped former Jaguars backup LaBrandon Toefield, who showed flashes of brilliance in the NFL but never got a chance to start. Orlando gets occasional NFL starting QB Brooks Bollinger, former Bengals first-round pick Chris Perry and Mike Doss*. San Francisco gets… well, nobody even slightly interesting, actually.

Here’s the full rundown:

*Doss is an interesting story. After being drafted in the Colts in the second round, he was a candidate for defensive ROTY in 2003. Then he simply disappeared, buried by injuries and an avalanche of other Colts draft picks spent on defensive backs.

2

Doss was one of those guys that I saw during a random college game I had been playing and I would have sworn he would have been an all-star in the NFL. His (Doss) is the only case I can remember where I thought that of a college player and was completely wrong. And it wasn’t like he was bad (as RNATB mentioned), but he just lost it. What a weird story.

3

Er… drafted by the Colts, that should read. Not in the Colts.

4

Silly man. Of course we knew.

The guy I’m really pulling for is Wendell Bryant. Great story.
Really, a lot of these guys won’t even be in the UFL; most of the guys who will eventually be on UFL rosters are currently occupying roster spots 53-80 in the NFL.

5

Nothing all that strange. Doss was an impact safety but he couldn’t cover worth a damn. The NFL drifted away from the concept of a run stuffing, close to the line SS and it made him useless. The Colts experimented with playing him at LB but he just didn’t have the bulk for the position. See: Roy Williams for further information.

Femi Ayanbadejo is going to be the impact guy in the first season.

6

I confess it: I haven’t heard of the new UFL.

The site was rather busy-looking, and it is still early so can anyone break it down for me? Only 4 teams? Are they planning on being more like baseball’s minor league? When will they play? I do miss me my NFL, so if they can make a go of the UFL during the off time, I’d be pleased.

7

It’s not a formal minor league; nobody will be under contract to NFL teams. It will basically be NFL cast-offs – guys who were not quite good enough to make a NFL team in August can join the UFL in September, and the season starts in October, playing Thursday and Friday nights. There may also be a few guys who decide being a starter in the UFL beats riding the bench in the NFL.

8

I’m not sure I’ll watch it then. If it is on during the time I would get my football fix anyway, well, I don’t usually have enough time to watch all the college and pro games I want to already.

9

4 teams for now; they’re planning to expand to six after the first season. Denny Green, Jim Fassell and Ted Cottrell are head coaches; I don’t know who the other guy will be.

10

I love Denny Green’s melt down after their game with Da Bears! I either didn’t hear or wasn’t paying attention when he was let go.

11

Jim Haslett is coaching Orlando.

12

That’s kind of my thinking. I’d prefer a spring schedule. I think they’d get better players, too.

13

You didn’t notice that he wasn’t the guy on the Cardinals’ sideline during the Super Bowl?

14

:smiley: Good point. No, it didn’t occur to me. I do recognize him, but I wouldn’t have thought about who he coached for at any given time.

15

I don’t get why they try to run these leagues in the fall to compete with the NFL and college ball. During football season, I’m getting my football fix with lots of NFL and if I want, college games. Add some half ass minor league on top of that and why would I bother?

Now on the other hand, if they ran the season from April through June or something, when I’m craving football and there’s nothing to satisfy the urge, I’d probably watch some scrubs play some real football.

16

As far as I know, isn’t this the first attempt to do this? The AFL and the XFL both were spring leagues. Wasn’t even the WFL a summer league?

While I don’t think that trying to go head-to-head with the NFL is at all a wise thing for a second league to do, watching football in the spring seems somehow wrong to me. Might have somethign to do with the low ratings for non-fall football: that’s basketball, baseball or even hockey season.

17

I thought the XFL was a fall league and that’s a big part of why it failed. Guess I misremembered. The AFL only vaguely resembled football… if they were happy just to be minor league standard football, they’d have picked up an audience I think.

Maybe a January-March season… it’d overlap with the playoffs to begin with, but you could run the game on thursdays maybe. And the second half of your season would still be in the winter, but with no NFL season to compete with.

18

The (lone) XFL season ran from February 21 to April something-or-other. I anxiously await the return of the Orlando Rage.