The Official XFL Thread!

[SkippyX]

38 minutes ago, August4th said:

 

Pour one out for our homie, Maurice Clarett  (and Mike Williams)

[ET80]

2 hours ago, SkippyX said:

Pour one out for our homie, Maurice Clarett  (and Mike Williams)

Next time a freshman QB jumps into the transfer portal, Vince needs to send a few Divas to his house to recruit him.

[y*so*blu]

I'm hearing that CFL legend S.J. Green (now 34 but still with prime speed, and coming off 1000 yards receiving in 2019) has reached out to the XFL. They reciprocated quickly, and he was signed by the Seattle Dragons on Monday. Green had a highly successful career with Montreal and Toronto. He will be a big addition to a Dragons backfield that already has Austin Proehl, Keenan Reynolds, and Dontez Byrd.

[animaltested]

12 minutes ago, y*so*blu said:

I'm hearing that CFL legend S.J. Green (now 34 but still with prime speed, and coming off 1000 yards receiving in 2019) has reached out to the XFL. They reciprocated quickly, and he was signed by the Seattle Dragons on Monday. Green had a highly successful career with Montreal and Toronto. He will be a big addition to a Dragons backfield that already has Austin Proehl, Keenan Reynolds, and Dontez Byrd.

Seattle Dragons are a sleeping dragon. Talent aint there yet, but they have sold the most tickets, and the Seattle-Tac market was by far the best in week 1. 

[animaltested]

6 hours ago, August4th said:

 

Do it. The NFL-CFB cabal preventing 18-20 year olds the ability to earn a living using their specialized skills is awful. 

[Thelonebillsfan]

51 minutes ago, animaltested said:

Do it. The NFL-CFB cabal preventing 18-20 year olds the ability to earn a living using their specialized skills is awful. 

They gotta offer the kids more than 30K a year. That's why the JBL died in infancy, dudes weren't getting paid.

[ET80]

3 hours ago, animaltested said:

Do it. The NFL-CFB cabal preventing 18-20 year olds the ability to earn a living using their specialized skills is awful. 

I've been saying take it a step further. DT Bryan Bresee is the current top rated player in HS football and is currently committed to Clemson; He will be playing for the Tigers in 2020. Offer him (and other highly rated players from the HS ranks - maybe the top 30 guys in the nation) a fully guaranteed 3 year, $1.5mm contract. The players who agree to join are the basis for the XFL draft. 

He gets to make a small fortune playing football immediately, and is out of his XFL contract right when he's NFL draft eligible. He gets to showcase his talent against a few former pro players, and gets 24/7 access to former NFL coaches to refine his game. He'll have a ton of XFL tape for NFL scouts to look at. He wouldn't be required to go to a certain number of classes a year or maintain a certain GPA (as he will at Clemson).

This right here would be a game changer for the XFL. Call the spade a spade, these "student athletes" are not students - at all. So, go and get the top tier HS players and let them cash in on their careers early.

[y*so*blu]

4 hours ago, ET80 said:

I've been saying take it a step further. DT Bryan Bresee is the current top rated player in HS football and is currently committed to Clemson; He will be playing for the Tigers in 2020. Offer him (and other highly rated players from the HS ranks - maybe the top 30 guys in the nation) a fully guaranteed 3 year, $1.5mm contract. The players who agree to join are the basis for the XFL draft. 

He gets to make a small fortune playing football immediately, and is out of his XFL contract right when he's NFL draft eligible. He gets to showcase his talent against a few former pro players, and gets 24/7 access to former NFL coaches to refine his game. He'll have a ton of XFL tape for NFL scouts to look at. He wouldn't be required to go to a certain number of classes a year or maintain a certain GPA (as he will at Clemson).

This right here would be a game changer for the XFL. Call the spade a spade, these "student athletes" are not students - at all. So, go and get the top tier HS players and let them cash in on their careers early.

That's a nice idea, but I think it might open a can of worms. Many are still hung up on the ideal that all young people, even athletes, need to get college degrees as soon as they are eligible for them--even though it's impractical, even though college is overrated and overpriced, even though class and intellectual curiosity can only be instilled by family (rather than taught by a system), even though many of these guys don't yet know what they want to do after football...whatever argument you care to make against the traditional HS -> University -> NFL path, there's going to be a backlash.

I'm not saying it can't work, just that I'd expect a lot of noise about the XFL "exploiting" young athletes if they try to go this route. Frankly, any discussion about them expanding or developing their operations is premature. Right now all the league will be focusing on is their numbers for Week 2: attendance, and especially ratings. If they tank almost immediately like the AAF did, that bodes ill for their continued existence.

Edited February 13, 2020 by y*so*blu

[dtait93]

25 minutes ago, y*so*blu said:

That's a nice idea, but I think it might open a can of worms. Many are still hung up on the ideal that all young people, even athletes, need to get college degrees as soon as they are eligible for them--even though it's impractical, even though college is overrated and overpriced, even though class and intellectual curiosity can only be instilled by family (rather than taught by a system), even though many of these guys don't yet know what they want to do after football...whatever argument you care to make against the traditional HS -> University -> NFL path, there's going to be a backlash.

I'm not saying it can't work, just that I'd expect a lot of noise about the XFL "exploiting" young athletes if they try to go this route. Frankly, any discussion about them expanding or developing their operations is premature. Right now all the league will be focusing on is their numbers for Week 2: attendance, and especially ratings. If they tank almost immediately like the AAF did, that bodes ill for their continued existence.

Trade school > college 

[DannyB]

4 hours ago, ET80 said:

I've been saying take it a step further.

Meh, you're not going far enough. I say down with any age limits at all. If we can't sit down and kick back on a weekend, and watch some lanky 12 year old get absolutely torpedoed by a 6'2" 250 pound veteran linebacker, then what are we even doing here? What is this, communist Russia?...

[Drained]

19 hours ago, August4th said:

 

Must admit I fear over NCAA retaliation, they're bigger than the entire NFL and every other professional sport league, and they won't take kindly you taking away their future stars.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Drained

[ET80]

4 hours ago, y*so*blu said:

That's a nice idea, but I think it might open a can of worms. Many are still hung up on the ideal that all young people, even athletes, need to get college degrees as soon as they are eligible for them--even though it's impractical, even though college is overrated and overpriced, even though class and intellectual curiosity can only be instilled by family (rather than taught by a system), even though many of these guys don't yet know what they want to do after football...whatever argument you care to make against the traditional HS -> University -> NFL path, there's going to be a backlash.

And this is where Vince needs to be Vince and turn the NCAA into the heels that they are. Highlight how graduation rates across football players are declining year after year, highlight how little these players are getting compensated at the collegiate level, highlight how the NCAA is literally making billions of dollars with no labor costs to account for. 

The NCAA is an absolutely horrible entity. It's not hard to paint them out to be the bad guy, and position the XFL as the reasonable alternative.

4 hours ago, dtait93 said:

Trade school > college 

As a college graduate, I agree 100%.

4 hours ago, DannyB said:

Meh, you're not going far enough. I say down with any age limits at all.

Damn child labor laws. This is why China is winning.

5 minutes ago, Drained said:

Must admit I fear over NCAA retaliation, they're bigger than the entire NFL and other other professional sport league, and they won't take kindly you taking away their future stars.

What is there actual recourse, though? Outside of some actual changes to their current system (which would be a major win for the players if so?)

Let's not forget, Vince has significant pull himself. His wife Linda McMahon is currently the head of the Small Business Administration for the current regime - and the current sitting president has a pretty good relationship with McMahon (he once shaved his head, actually...)

The NCAA might be biting off more than they can chew in a dogfight with the McMahons.

[Drained]

Just now, ET80 said:

What is there actual recourse, though? Outside of some actual changes to their current system (which would be a major win for the players if so?)

Let's not forget, Vince has significant pull himself. His wife Linda McMahon is currently the head of the Small Business Administration for the current regime - and the current sitting president has a pretty good relationship with McMahon (he once shaved his head, actually...)

The NCAA might be biting off more than they can chew in a dogfight with the McMahons.

NCAA being the biggest sport provider on the same networks the XFL broadcast on, we need to ask ourselves why the NFLPA has this rule when its pretty obvious to all that age doesn't matter in contact sports or players in hockey would be forced to wait until they're 22 and same with people in rugby, both sports yielding more injuries and concussions than football. A lot of these networks won't like people not tuning in cause a lot of the future of college programs went to the XFL and therefore the NCAA level of play dropped and everyone is just watching horrific football.

Then again Oliver Luck was a NCAA executive, if hes seriously considering it, then I'll take him at his word. 

[ET80]

12 minutes ago, Drained said:

NCAA being the biggest sport provider on the same networks the XFL broadcast on, we need to ask ourselves why the NFLPA has this rule when its pretty obvious to all that age doesn't matter in contact sports or players in hockey would be forced to wait until they're 22 and same with people in rugby, both sports yielding more injuries and concussions than football.

It's a symbiotic relationship - the NCAA needs that TV money as much as the TV conglomerates needs the NCAA. If the NCAA really rocks the boat on this, both sides lose. 

The NFL has the rule in place because NCAA football is a free feeder league. Why pay for the infrastructure of a minor league when you have 116 college teams that'll pay it for you?

12 minutes ago, Drained said:

A lot of these networks won't like people not tuning in cause a lot of the future of college programs went to the XFL and therefore the NCAA level of play dropped and everyone is just watching horrific football.

My proposal isn't for EVERY 5 Star player in HS - there's got to be a cap, maybe the top 20-30 guys. Much like the NFL Draft (in fact, probably moreso than the draft) there are 1-2 star guys in HS who just "click" in college and turn into the stars you watch. Realistically, who are you missing out on when less than 1% of all scholarship athletes in the sport might not show up?

[Drained]

1 minute ago, ET80 said:

It's a symbiotic relationship - the NCAA needs that TV money as much as the TV conglomerates needs the NCAA. If the NCAA really rocks the boat on this, both sides lose. 

My proposal isn't for EVERY 5 Star player in HS - there's got to be a cap, maybe the top 20-30 guys. Much like the NFL Draft (in fact, probably moreso than the draft) there are 1-2 star guys in HS who just "click" in college and turn into the stars you watch. Realistically, who are you missing out on when less than 1% of all scholarship athletes in the sport might not show up?

I see your point. I'm just worried this league will go and bite off more than it can chew early, which doomed the UFL and the AAF.