2024 UFL Preseason Preview and Week 1 Predictions

Going over the latest round of cuts and transactions from the final week of UFL training camp.

Also will be giving a breakdown of the final UFL Rosters going into week one and even my predictions!

Be sure to like, share, and subscribe as we continue to march to 2k subscribers now!

What is going on everyone I got Nicholas Thorne here after some massive massive issues on the technological side of this believe it or not my it degree did not do anything to help me here we are back we are uh talking about these recent UFO

Cuts we’re going to be doing my week one prediction we’re not going to do too much roster breakdown because I feel like we’ve done way more than anyone even cares at this point but we are going to talk a little bit about the roster specifically like you know

Probably like DC with Abram Smith looking at doing about an hour hour and some change appreciate you guys dropping in once again very sorry about the live stream I know we have a great time doing it we get a lot of good feedback but it’s not the reality we live in today

Unfortunately Nick how you doing today bro doing great you know excited to give some final thoughts on these rosters and start talking about actual games which will be played you know this week which is kind of crazy to think about it felt like this day would never come this off season but we’re

Here yeah I mean it’s funny to think we’d be in like what week six of XFL season and then like two weeks away from the usfl season last year instead we’re in you know week three or something like that of the IFL getting psyched up about that

Right yeah I mean obviously it hurts to you know lose eight teams and you know there’s a lot of a lot less football being played this year than last year but the quality is going to be higher and you know we’ll get into it when we talk about these rosters a little bit

But you know there’s a lot of interesting things to look forward to even if uh you know 16 teams aren’t a reality anymore yeah well first thing we’re GNA do we’re gonna talk about these these uh releases and everything like that going through Arlington who you got who you

Got on Arlington that really surprised you man yeah there’s a few names um Arlington wasn’t that interesting of a team to me going into camp but some guys um kind of exceeded expectations um uh with uh uh DayDay Hunter at running back uh beating out guys like Devon darington and Morgan

Ellison uh Jan uh Mano or uh M mango I don’t know exactly how to say his last name but uh uh he was uh you know uh a Mexican Football League player um and was able to make the final roster so as you can see here this is my roster dock

Um the depth chart is you know TBD this is more approximations than like confirmed but you know there there’s a few guys that you know those are two that I think no one really gave a chance going into camp that actually beat out some pretty good players to you know make a final

Roster yeah I mean to me when I look at their roster it’s or excuse me when I look at their cut um list the biggest one that I see is uh Christian Sam um because of his his deal of walking off during the walkthrough allegedly per Holton aers who’s the unofficial P rep

For that team right now um and also Maris Lucas guy’s been around a while you know kind of I think he’s another guy like we saw with like Manny bunch and whatnot that’s going to retire um pretty pumped about that offensive line the tight end group um I think with uh

Winstead that’s going to be kind of the guy um at that wide receiver group but don’t be surprised if Cale vanderash finishes season 40 plus tackles overall defense looks kind of similar pretty pretty solid up front um you know gonna be very curious to see if a guy like

Colin schooler who you know kind of fits the both of that special teams Ace how he’s gonna do um Dante Hood uh niia guy what what his deal is and then um specialist I mean a little bit older but pretty solid and then that team only

Gets better in my opinion when if they get Garrett mcin back who I was told had they torn miniscus and then Cameron Brown so I think pretty straightforward on them man like you said nothing too crazy I do like Austin Allen um a lot of people got real gidy with him when he

Went to the Giants um because Daniel Bellinger was hurt and he got a lot more reps and everything like that but as far as Cuts really nothing to like oh my God what was this nonsense type thing you know what I’m saying yeah no um you know it was sad to see a

Guy like Noah Taylor go who another name to mention um just because he’s you know a younger guy got beat out by some veteran Edge rushers but all in all I think they’re they’re pretty set it’ll be interesting to see how the secondary shakes out with a lot of new faces there

But yeah no I think it’s of all the teams this one’s one of the more straightforward ones for sure yeah now getting a little bit off the beaten path a little bit you go to DC um two guys that really came off the list was Jazz Ferguson and Tim Ward

Which Tim Ward Tim ultimately goes back to the San Antonio bras what do you think about Tim Ward and also kind of surprised that zaquandre wri gets cut um because not because he’s amazing to me but because I think he’s extremely solid and he could serve as more of that

Traditional running back compared to puka Williams I think they should have Ked puka because of his versatility and all the issues they’ve kind of had at receiver um with retirements and whatnot versus and he can play in the Special Teams game as well and puka was pretty underwhelming last year to be honest

With you yeah I mean that’s going to be I think the big question is running back and receiver with a lot of new faces or guys who were depth pieces um having to step up this year yeah spoke very highly about Cameron Harris and Brandon Smith we’ll see I mean it seems like

They’re going to get the shot first um for week one there’s a lot of interesting pieces around there Kiki cutie Ty Scott Darius Hagens there’s some guys I’m I’m really intrigued to see how it’ll all shake out Kelvin Harmon I’m really surprised he was able

To beat out some of the guys he beat out to make a final roster here but uh yeah I mean it’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out for sure um Williams I think was kind of a surprise for me I didn’t have a making the roster

Um it was you versatility on a 50 man yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure you know you look at um did you watch my video with flip yesterday I haven’t gotten to that yet so I asked him that and I I I messed up the question a little bit I phased it in

A wrong way as far as what I said was if you have an a player at one position I should have said if you had a b player and you have like a B minus and a C+ guy who can play three or four positions does that guy get the roster spot when

You’re looking at like roster spot number 45 46 47 I I said a player but he kind of helped me out and phrased it in a better way um and specifically I talk about a guy like Jordan Thomas who we’ll talk about in the Birmingham stallions

Um that’s a guy that to me he plays like four different positions plus he’s a core for special teams guy you know when I saw some like pre- roster people who were like or preview people who were like oh yeah he’s going to get cut and I’m like he’s he’s he’s

Not there’s no way he he fills six different positions like it’s 50 man 50 man rosters dude so that was something that I always kind of kept in the back of my mind some surprises that are still on this roster by the way for me um DJ

Swaringer and Monte Nicholson and uh a little bit older and I think it’s kind of cool that like Gary garyan Conley and DeAndre Baker uh some some uh what’s the word I’m looking for some some projects over there yeah two former first round picks for sure um the one that really sticks

Out to me as far as like a guy I can’t believe made it this far is Dennis Johnson uh that fourth defensive lineman um for the DC Defenders uh he was an XFL combine um participant uh so a lot of those guys you just kind of assumed that

Through this whole process were GNA get kind of phased out as the teams went from you know 16 to eight uh but he was able to hang on he was only one of I think three or four guys in the entire league that were a part of that XFL

Combine that were able to um stick around so those kind of guys are the ones that you kind of want to keep an eye on Nadar Rouse is another guy he was a uh if you remember last year that was was it the NFL alumni Academy he was a a

Yeah assigned player coming out of that so the fact that Not only was he able to stick around last season but he’s able to stick around in a very deep you know uh secondary where guys like Kent trell Bryce who were starters last year didn’t

Make it as something to keep an eye on also yeah there were a couple there were a couple NFL alumni Academy like when I first saw it I feel like both sides kind of bid off more than they can chew um you know because they had some guys who

Had no business being in the NFL alumni Academy and they were like oh I’m going to go do this and I’m going to get an opportunity with the XFL and it’s like uh bro and then they kind of threw him a bone a little bit like to all of the

Players I think it was like 30 or 40 guys that got on the roster and like some of them ended up some some of them ended up sticking around um I don’t the biggest one I could remember is uh Kayla vanderesh was an alumni Acy guy there’s

A couple more that I know I’m missing um a couple running backs uh Jeremy Cox I think was one um but there was a couple running backs towards the end of the season and then you know one guy who wasn’t a star by any means and this is

This is probably what I really liked about you know having two leagues last year is like you saw alumni Academy guys get cut from the XFL and then sign usfl contracts within 15 minutes of getting cuts and you know that’s the great thing when you have 16 teams but you know I’m

I’m I’m starting to believe that I think the sweet spot for spring football league right now is 12 I think 12 is yeah I’d agree with that like 12 good teams at your worst team is a four you know a four- win team because then some of the you know you

Look at some of the backend rosters and whatnot and we’ve talked about this before is like they were sign signning some guys like in the XFL I felt like they were signing some guys that had no business being in the league because they were like why would

I go sign like with like if my one guy why would I sign with you when the usfl is going to give me 10 weeks of paychecks so some of those guys that were signed towards the end I was kind of like H okay you know through that

Week seven to week 10 but you got a couple gems in there like uh Kelly Bryant was one like not that he was a star but he was extremely valuable to Arlington towards the end but I I’m starting to you know get a little sidetracked here but I’m starting to

Believe that uh 12 is The Sweet Spot where you get enough guys employed to where you also have um plenty of plenty of people you know who deserve to be playing higher level football to continue to make the product extremely sufficient um so these are all these uh

Friday press releases and whatnot uh going to the Houston Ru necks um only surprise here they’re going into the season with three running backs with Mark Thompson possibly on the fritz you would have think they just signed a guy um or brought back like a Ryan null or

Something like that just for like two weeks and then put him on his way biggest release here for me was Manny bun she was an all us guy last year he obviously announced his retirement so you wanted you kind of wonder if he was actually cut versus like he went into

CJ’s office and was like Hey I can’t do this anymore yeah I mean that’s pure speculation at that point um I’ll say like as far as running back go um if Thompson you know remember you you know there’s 50 on a roster but you have to have only what 42

I think it is active yeah 42 or 43 I think they were going to have two running backs up anyway um and I like Evans and Pledger as a a onetwo punch early in the year um so I don’t mind that so much the thing that really

Intrigues me is the receiver r where they got what is that eight receivers and you know keum uh Anthony Ratliff Williams and Emanuel Butler is guys who were returning from last year which were never they I mean some of them were fine but it was they were role players for

Them last year in a offense that didn’t like to throw the ball so where is where are they fitting in are those guys really good special teams guys or they you know like Chism is a good special teams guy Cyro Grayson is a special teams guy Henny obviously a special teams guy more

In the return game yeah um PA I mean I think I think they open it up you you know guano got a little bit of that washu wash state with him wazo um it just to me it’s like what you know I think they’re going to be in a

Lot more like 10 Personnel or you know it originally I thought they’d be in a lot if when they had Bahar and this roster was kind of like taking shape I was like okay a lot of 12 personnel lot of you know double tight end sets

Like roll outs stuff like that now I’m kind of leading to a more spread attack um a spread attack and I’m very curious at their tight end position because if you look through their three guys uh Sig is the most athletic out of those two and he has better hands than Bowman and

Braden so we I think you see Sig as that like you know because he’s going to he’s he’s starting fullback for them when they choose to do that which is why I thought they would keep four tight ends possibly and then move you know one of them one

Of the move away from one of the receivers but I I don’t really know what their offense is going to look like based off these numbers I think they’re going to be at the uh more more you know spread offense you know four wide or

Three wide with a tight end in the slot or something like that what do you think about that yeah I think I kind of agree they built in the offseason to be this kind of big you know two tight end 12 Personnel set type offense and it feels like they’ve

Realized that they can’t get away with that and they’ve kind of adjusted on the Fly uh the last guy I’ll point out on the rough nexts um uh Jamari Brown uh the the name in purple that means that they’re draft eligible for 2024 he’s one of two players in the league right now

Uh both of which made the final 50 man roster so they’re two guys that you know if they play really well that’s something to keep on an eye on because those are the guys that you know you think are the most likely to go back or

Not go back but go to the NFL um maybe even get into the conversation of being a SI six seventh round pick potentially yeah I mean for me especially like what what do sixth seventh round picks do they play special teams really uh really focused on what

They’re going to be doing as far as like with him whether it be on the field but yeah I definitely I definitely agree like someone that I’ve seen kind of pop up here and there uh Houston to me is one of the most intriguing teams because

It not and I say identity change I don’t mean by like gamblers the rough necks I mean just by personnel and whatnot so I’m very curious to see what’s going on um I know like CJ has talked about using that qb2 in the game a little bit when

He said that to me I am I I think that it is this is my mentality is that you activate Nolan Henderson because he’s more athletic so he gives you that true change of pace but if guano’s ineffective or gets hurt Reed CET your starter if that makes sense because you

Could run sure there’s a few teams like that yeah where like okay like your third string quarterback is really your backup and you’ll just deal with the repercussions of having the more change of pace guy unless you keep all three active obviously that’s that’s my take on that moving on to

Birmingham um couple surprise Cuts there man I thought bubble Balden yeah that was a guy a lot of people were pretty high on Slade Balden they advertise these guys man and and then they cut them like we’ll talk about it with Memphis a little bit um Co Cabra that

Might have been a numbers thing you know Schneider Schneider’s a guy who can play guard guarder uh guarder or Center you know like I think he’s an all League player dep no matter what to be honest with you um O’Shea Douglas has been there for two years myON Mitchell has been a reserve

Guy for them hre sore pretty good dude and then chony Rivers but Birmingham we always thought had the plethora of talent uh that linebacker room very strong defensive lineman really strong this team is very strong all around um their weakest part and I use it Loosely might be their running back room

Might be like I don’t I don’t know what the weak link is on this team yeah we’ll get to it when we we’re doing our predictions for week one Birmingham for me their only true weakness is the fact that they have a high turnover great for their roster you

Know they sent 17 guys to the NFL five of five or six of them stuck so the guy the core of their team is going to be fundamentally different this year and I think it’s going to take maybe a few weeks to figure out who

Exactly is going to be those guys um but yeah I mean you look around you know very few teams can lose um sleep Balden and Victor Balden in the same week and still like you look at the receiving corn like it’s pretty good you know they’re just stacked across the board uh

Cole cabal to me was the biggest surprise especially just because he was their starter last year so they picked their backup center over their starting center which is interesting um I like it just because the fact that it shows that like it was a true competition this year

It wasn’t just okay well we have our guys that are definitely gonna stick around um when a guy like that gets cut um but yeah I mean looking across the board Edge rusher is kind of surprising too where they uh you know they they only have two guys from the beginning camp at

That edge group Taco Charlton and Jonathan Garin were uh mid Camp editions so it’ll be interesting to see what they got there but all in all I mean it’s not surprising this team’s you know pretty stacked across the board yeah I mean we I’m pretty I’m pretty excited to see

What they can do and like you said that turnover is pretty gnarly from the last two years um but you know you talk about the core and everything like that like you got Jamar Smith year in the offense you got CJ Marbel third year with the team Ricky Pearson year two um Zuber

He’s a pro at this point you know third year in Spring ball Deon Kane second year sternberger second year Marcus ball three years um a couple of their offensive linemen you know two or three years in the system Tillman three years Scooby Wright three years you know

Demarcus Gates three uh two years plus all his other time Lorenzo Burns you know Kenny Robinson granted it’s been a minute like all these guys got experience all these guys know the game air quote the Special Teams group you know two out of three three years with

The team with blck going into his second year I mean looking relatively healthy besides Willie yarboro it it doesn’t nothing really surprises me with this group um I still think jar goes into to week one as the guy but quick leash on my opinion but Jar’s fighting for his legacy fighting

For his career right now so that might motivate as well and is Marlon Williams on his second year or third year I don’t remember it’s his third year but he barely played last year because he TS Achilles or ACL it was something where one like first

Play so yeah I think he was he was like in line for a big game too um and then he got hurt like he had like three receptions in the first quarter first half and then you’re like okay let’s see what’s going on there especially because

They had Osiris Mitchell who they or not Osiris Mitchell another God um going into the battle Hawks uh couple surprises here um first one is for me Kevin Atkins fan favorite and believe it or not my second one is is Dallas ormac I mean every else kind of makes sense to

Me I thought they might have kept Mitchell around but who are you GNA who are you cutting uh Jeff Thomas might have had to have done some good stuff there um to keep him around as well but I mean you know we talked about them cutting a defensive lineman I think we

Both agreed on TJ pesfa and it obviously wasn’t they like tent ins Sals because of his versatility Abdul beum was a guy I thought was kind of a close to not making it um but obviously he his versatility and whatnot I think really what it came down to for warmac um is

They had Donovan West who’s younger probably more athletic and can play both guard and center and then you have warmac who’s kind of a little bit older and they probably chose the younger you know beum plays a little tackle magwood can play the guard spots yeah everyone

On that roster could pretty much play multiple positions um if you really needed to you could put Mike P at at defensive tackle if it really got short and put Donovan West in there or any of these other guys but I mean outside of Kevin Atkins and that

Became a numbers game he beat out Kobe Smith not too surprised um Callahan O’Reilly must have done something you know to get that spot yeah because that was a guy I was like you know I’d love to see this dude make the roster as a rookie you

Know I don’t know he was a draft pick or udfa um I think he was a dra he was he was the other uh he was the combine so he was an XFL combine guy so yeah that’s that’s another guy there yeah that was a guy I you know if they

Kept the roster I think they were talking about going to like 55 like yeah he makes the team but you know that’s a strong linebacker room very versatile they love Mike Rose they think Mike Rose is going to be there they were saying Mike Rose had an

Injury in Miami and he would have made the team but also had defensive back a little bit surprised Levert Hill made it um was kind of you know I know he was all XFL but I felt like there were guys better and I think we got some Swan

Songs here man I think you know this is the last season for Travis feni if he doesn’t you know produce at the level he’s at a couple of these guys uh some Swan songs but we’ll see what happens on that front you know Jake southernland

The guy who’s like 30 years old at this point you know see what’s up with him they really like Jamarcus Bradley um but they also were very cognizant that he was going to be a little bit lower on the depth chart because of Shep and and Butler and

Jackson and Amman and they love Jerome cap so I’m very curious to see Cap’s like involvement with a lot of this stuff as well but nothing too crazy for the battle Hawks in my opinion yeah um just a few other points uh the you know you’re talking about veteran guys that

Secondary drayvon escu Henry Cameron Kelly Channing stribling these guys have been around forever uh in these sort of leagues so you know those that that’s some veteran depth but in general St Louis to me might be the least interesting team not because they’re bad but just because it feels like it’s the

Same core from last year for the most part there’s some you know running backs one that’s going to look different uh defensive line but like as far as like teams that I just don’t know what to expect I know exactly what St Louis is and isn’t um going into the year pretty

Much and you know any surprises would be breakout canidates not guys that you know it it it uh because like for the most part it’s just guys who you know like you look at their linebacker crew they starting three guys are back so it’s like okay it’s going to be the same

Pretty much across the board yeah I mean the only real breakout candidate to probably who someone a little bit more casual is going to be Marcel Amman and that was because he got hurt last year and Butler really took on a lot of his workload so I mean for wide receivers

Across this league the biggest breakout candidate I have is Gary Jennings to be honest with you and that’s because he was buried under that roster in St Louis and now kind of moves up a couple spots in in in Birmingham but we’ll see what happens with that you

Know I mean they got some guys Deion Kane’s going to be a little bit more involved in their passing attack and whatnot so I mean you assume so so I mean nothing too crazy on that moving down to San Antonio um I mean Calvin Turner was really the

Only guy that I was like oh man that sucks yeah um now the one weird thing about say Antonio is they still have 52 players at the moment so I don’t know there might be some guys that got placed on IR that we don’t know about um but

But right now we just we that that’s one thing I’ll just point out um everyone else is at 50 so that keep in mind there might be a guy or two that we talk about that actually isn’t gonna play because they got cut and did they didn’t talk

About it or whatever um but yeah I mean to me San Antonio is like the opposite of St Louis where I have no idea what I to expect with this team but I but in a fun way where they have a lot of pieces that if it comes together it could be

Really fun um that receiving core is really interesting you know guys like Marquez Stevenson uh Matt lanters making their debut Anthony McFarland I kind of keep mentioning it is a guy who I I view very highly and I think could be a star in this league potentially um if they

Use him in the correct way and you know he he is what I think he will be um defensively it’s a little bit less interesting just because it’s a lot of returning guys not necessarily to the brahmas but just in Spring football in general guys like Savon Patton uh

Delante Scott Tim Ward Devonte Beckett Jordan Williams but um but all in all they did a pretty good job of of getting new faces um in their offensive Line’s going to look very different than you know either the brahmas or the the rough necks looked last year there’s new

Phases um some secondary there’s going to be some new faces so all in all like um this is one of the more interesting teams the teams I’m excited to see week one because I don’t know what to expect yeah like how this Quinn and dormy do an AJ Smith

System um Cody ladimer can he repeat um and that’s a good story to follow because I think if Cody laimer has another good year like someone’s gonna take a flyer on him despite his age uh Landon Acres could he get himself back into the league can JRE Kirkland you

Know stay healthy the whole year uh running back room you know I think you got three good backs down there I do agree that like you know Bryson alen because of his versatility is going to be chop that second that first guy off the bench in my opinion and then J John

Love it is a guy who had some success last year um you know pretty good career at Penn State and was he at USC as well I feel like I I don’t know that off the top of my head I have was at I think I know he

Transferred I don’t remember if he was with uh he was with uh USC or then went to Penn State but I know he’s a two School guy those are two dudes that I’m really like excited to see what’s going on in their running back room with

McFarland in the lean and you know kind of sucks man because you know loveit’s not a bad guy but you know maybe he needs one more year to kind of push forward on that um going to Michigan I think Michigan had one of the more notable like like wow they’re really cutting

This guy type thing was uh J Fernandez um yeah I knew they really liked Noah Dawkins and I know they like gindo so it really to me speaks volumes of what Des white is doing more than anything else because that was a a draft pick of

Theirs a late pick and then pushed into you you know to action replace Sandell leam who was another draft pick of theirs I think they made pretty well on the draft for them to have these guys able to go and whatnot but I know they just released Drew himman who I was very

High on but obviously not high enough on you know Ryan Pope and Josh Dunlap did a pretty good job of obviously securing their spots they got niia product from Benedictine Jim oaf for he’s over there as well receiving core looks pretty good you know no one that like blows my mind

Or anything like that but uh you know Devin gray pretty underrated Marcus Sims took some strides last year running back room I like a lot and then you know EJ Perry or Danny etling pretty athletic guys I could see making some plays with their legs tight end group um let’s a

Lot of people were very high up on gunar Oaks last year so I’m very curious to see if he can kind of you know Leap Frog Cole hick atini who was dominant in the slot and in the red zone at times defense interior pretty strong you know I think Breeland

Speaks you know let’s see what he can do with Kenny wils on the other side of him because he had his big game week one tailed off and then really wasn’t the same guy until Levi Bell came and then you saw Levi Bell make some plays and

Then speaks ended up getting more one-on ones that’s a guy I would really I’m very curious to see how they can have that symbiotic relationship and uh really both of them benefit because it was a different defense once they got Levi Bell there and I think not enough people talked about

That yeah um looking around the roster I think the one that stands out to me again draft eligible guy to Gabriel Floyd him beating out Dado Fernandez is you know interesting you know that’s a guy who I you know I wouldn’t have bet on him getting cut at

All and the fact that he made it over Fernandez is something I’m you know keeping an eye on wils I fully agree on that’s one I’m keeping an eye on the defensive line those top two guys and wise and Carter is certainly some that I’m gonna keep an eye on um but with

This Panther team there’s a reason why I have them kind to low and there’ll be some talk about this when we talk about predictions but that receiving core I just I’m not sold on at all and I you know honestly I’m kind of the one I’m most interested in is high tower just

Because he’s new we kind of know what the other five are unless someone steps up these are all guys who have been receiver twos or threes in the usfl and the level is higher now so I just I just really am not high on that group um and

And and their weapons in general I’m just not there’s just nothing other than like Nate McCary who I personally watched um play for the Ravens in the preseason pretty well like two years ago um so he’s a guy I’m keeping a hard eye on but other than that like it’s just a

Lot of like well I know this guy’s not gonna suck but like yeah there’s a lack of upside at those groups for sure yeah you look a guy like a guy like Trey Quinn you’re like ah he’s going to put up you know 4 receptions 500 yards again

But you’re like is that really what you want from you’re number one you know like like I view Trey Quinn as the number I know you have him in the slot but I view him as their number one receiver on this team probably yeah yeah like Jord yeah I mean

Jord I mean Devin gray but he’s you know he doesn’t stretch the field like Gwyn does I mean Devin Ross you know more of a legacy at this point you know that was another one that was really surprised yeah I mean by San Antonio last year played with Michigan for a

Couple games made it to the practice squad of the Raiders for five minutes and then you know came back yeah a little bit older too you know you’re kind of like you know good for him right uh biggest disappointment on this on this team uh Jared H when be honest with

You see if he yeah we’ll see about him and okaf for yeah because they’re they were both rookies and right now it seems like Pope and dun lap are going to be your starters at least that’s what they’ve you know what we’ve seen on social media you know maybe horse made a

Late push but you know if if he can’t beat out Ryan Pope I’m a little disappointed not that Pope’s awful but he’s a guy that clearly teams view as replaceable he’s this is his like I think fourth team in the last 12 months or something ridiculous maybe 13 months

He’s just been all over the place so you know we’ll see uh you know maybe he’ll he he took a step up but I’m not it’s just not something to get terribly excited of yeah so that’s his fifth team last making the tour right now right now well the final team they look

Over it is uh the Memphis show votes um I mean the biggest cut to hear was DJ Daniel you know DJ you know DJ Daniel yeah we talked about a little bit was chance little they were really pumping him on social media um cam suon I thought was you know a

Little bit more athletic than JJ Wilson but I I think we talked about that like JJ was a guy seems more of a blocking blocker you know this you can put in the back field I know they had him at fullback couple times last year Rashard

Davis been with the team for years um couldn’t crack that roster I do like their receiving core um I know they’ve been very high on Daywood Davis Jonathan Adams absolute stud Lee Morris flashed flashed um a lot of potential last year D Anderson same thing you know you got D Anderson as

Your wide receiver four that’s not a bad place to be at in my opinion yeah um I saw a tweet this morning uh from vonte Diggs where he was talking about um you know offensive player of the year candidates from Memphis and the fact that he included

Davis in that group um opened my eyes to like oh they they really view this guy highly um he was in a list of a couple names but clearly they you know that kind of is a tell that he’s gonna be a starter there um so on this team that’s

The guy I think I’m the most excited about overall though this this is a team that in general is another one where it kind of is okay they’re built out of spring League vets so like if you followed the usfl or XFL the last couple years you know the vast majority of

These names they’ve been around so you know at first it made me you know it felt like oh they’re this all usfl team basically um they built through the drafts um which made me put them kind of high up but I’ve kind of cooled down on

Memphis because I just don’t know if the upsides there for them uh unless the you know again like a few other teams I mentioned some surprise guys come out of nowhere um but in general I just I’m just looking at this roster I’m like it they’re probably not

Going to be terrible but I I think their ceiling is kind of capped on how good they can be in a league like this yeah I mean the usfl runs through Birmingham until until different like that’s the biggest thing is like it’s for you know

We get yeah I mean we could talk about these other teams and like really it just seems like who gets that second playoff spot even if Birmingham regresses to where they’re like six and four they’re still going to make the playoffs and then you just hope that you

Catch them on a bad day more than anything else um to go let’s let’s go straight into these predictions man bring that tab up real quick so made a little nice little graphic here um a little bit difficult to get the the colors unack to be honest

With you I’m still learning how to do that but you know starting off the week strong Birmingham stallions versus Arlington Renegades first you know met first game of the season um I go Birmingham you know I don’t I didn’t I I couldn’t think of any scores

To be honest with you but I go Birmingham um I think they’re just more solid all around like we talked about uh you know I do like Arlington a lot I think Garlington is going to be better than what they were last year in the regular season I know that’s speaking

Out both sides your mouth when they won a championship but I mean for you know for Arlington first real test I feel like I’ll be able to gauge the Arlington season even if they lose after this game yeah this one’s a lot closer than I

Think a lot of people will have it um as far as betting goes my hunch is that birmingham’s going to be ahead heavy favorite going into this game and um if they are if any either of these teams are heavy favorites I think I’m going to

Take the the underdog plus the points um as far as betting goes because I think Arlington even though they’re not as talented they’re a team that has their core together more than Birmingham does so I think birmingham’s gonna kind of come a little slow out of the gate we

Saw in the usfl last year the teams like Memphis that had to completely reinvent themselves from year one to two were the ones that started off losing a bunch of games um and I think that you know that might mean birmingham’s still talented they’re still gonna be in this game but

And I’m I think I’m gonna take them still because it you know I’m that that’s a little too hot takey for me but I’m just saying that Arlington is much closer to this and and this one’s much more of a um a pick them to me than it

Is like a oh obviously birmingham’s the better team yeah to me it’s like a 20 like if if Birmingham wins 28 24 uh you know 24 20 that that like within that four point swing right there um it would not surprise me if we just looked up and it was 10 nothing

Arlington because they you know their script was on point um you know maybe maybe they do go with Matt carral over jar and Matt’s just like this is this is way faster than I thought it was type thing like and maybe do a QB switch or something like that like or vice versa

Or something since it’s been a minute since J’s played in the game and whatnot so I got Birmingham I think it’s gonna be it is going to be a lot closer uh for the sake of the league I hope it is a lot closer but yeah no Birmingham Birmingham starts off week

One uh pretty strong with that this one is a pretty easy pick for me I could see a 2810 battle Hawks Victory um I I think they’re too fast I I think they are too fast for Michigan I know I’ve been very high on genda’s Improvement in the in his past

Defense but you spread it out and you you know Jacob Sailors is a guy who I think could take a wheel route to the house if you put them up against a linebacker you kind of run levels you know some clear out on one side of the

Field and then you got Jacob sailor running down the field and whatnot that’s a guy that I don’t I can expect to have an impact on this game from the receiving option as well physically if they you know if they are able to like chip speaks a lot and wils

Isn’t the guy that a lot of people think he is um you know and and they did such a good job with their drag routes last year they could not match like a lot of teams could not like appropriately pass uh pass Hakeem butler off because of his

Speed and whatnot and then you got Shep in the slot I do think Adonis Alexander’s good I think Levante Taylor’s good I know he was very B but don’t break but yeah no to my to me right now it is a clear like 28 to 10 31 to1

Game yeah I fully agree um St Louis they’re they have a lot of um their core is the same as last year so I think they’re going to get off to a hot start and they’re the more talented team if there’s a game that’s going to be a

Blowout week one I think this is the one that’s the most likely to be um because it to me it’s just there’s a talent difference and there’s also a continuity difference you know I hope Michigan can make it a better game and maybe you know

EJ Perry if we see you know second half playoff EJ Perry maybe he’s able to make it a little bit closer than we’re saying but yeah no I’m taking the battle Hawks all the way for this one for sure yeah I mean there could be like some cheap

Touchdowns where you’re like oh see they lost 30 to 20 and you’re like did they though did they did they lose by 10 this one this one pretty clearly defined to me as well um I it’s a little bit closer though it’s a little closer to me and if San

Antonio plays to their plays to their potential this is this is going to tell a lot of the season now after Abram Smith got hurt I felt that you know DC went from an eight- two to seven and 8-2 seven and3 to a six

And4 team and I that’s a lot of stock in that guy but I think Abram Smith in that offensive front like and he powered over people on that second level and took a lot of pressure off teamu who last year and the year before in the usfl it took him a minute to

Figure it out so San Antonio could sneak a win here I still think that DC wins 20 to 17 yeah um I agree with who you’re picking but I disagree with the outcome I think this game is another one that could get to blowout potential for DC um

Yes they’re gonna have they have some things to figure out at running back and receiver I fully acknowledge that but they’re actually the team that has the highest amount of players from year one going into year two they had like 28 um and uh they also last year we saw how

They played against um this run and shoot air raid system it was the teams that they did the best against Seattle Houston I you know Greg Williams kind of has the number there uh against this scheme uh you know he kind of put you know Brandon Silvers in Hell last year um

When they came to DC so I think you know this is a game that kind of reminds me of um you know as an NFL comparison last year the Ravens played the Texans week one and I think this is similar where uh San Antonio I think will be a good team

Like I think they’re GNA be a middle of the road um Team like they can win games down the stretch I think once they figure it out but they they’re not going to figure it out we one that it’s going to take them a few weeks to find their

True identity um and I think DC is just too ahead of the curve I I’m DC and I think it’s gonna be a few touchdown game yeah I mean I mean we’ll see you know that’s that early Sunday game um going into the final game of the

Week I I would argue that this might be the air quote best game of the week in a weird way because I think talent wise there’s not much difference if that makes sense even though I think Memphis is the better team like you said it’s G

To take them a minute to figure it out so we could see some of these defensive defensive players on the rough necks start eating a little bit um man I go to quarterback play on this and I think that case cookus is going to lead the

Showboats in a 24- 18 Victory what do you think I think my comparison for this game would be the breakers U MERS week one game last year where the defenses were just ahead of the offenses for the most part and both offenses kind of struggled out of the gate more than you

Expected them to um I think it’s going to be a low-scoring game I I’m gonna pick Memphis but I’m really cooling off on Memphis um had them at like three going into camp and now I think I have them at like five or six in the league

Um and and you know that that being said though Houston has been at eight the whole time I I just I need to see it from Houston first if they win this game though I I think it’ll be very interesting going forward seeing what Houston can be because they do have some

Potential they’re not like this you know they’re not like Orlando last year where they were bottom of the barrel and you knew they were going to be bottom of the bar the whole season um yeah the the they have potential every team in this league has potential yeah when the FCF team that

Played in the XFL yeah that was that was entertaining I mean I I yeah so I’m gonna pick Memphis but it it it could be a little bit um closer than I think a lot of people will have um going into week one yeah I

Mean I you know I hate put so much value on one position because it is a team sport but like I don’t know anything about Jared Gano outside of the preseason film and you know some of his workouts and whatnot and his college film I know that case cookus is going to

Grit his way to first downs and touchdowns or at least into field goal range um and when you got you know guy like Matt cin you’re probably feeling pretty confident within 40 yards 45 yards and whatnot um um yeah I like the grit factor of it on

That sense uh you know offensive line to me they’re talking about being way more athletic there than they were last year in New Orleans very curious to see what they got going on on that front um how much they’re going to lean on Darius Victor or just their running game in

With all you know with their weapons at wide receiver but it is similar to a little bit similar to Philadelphia last year where you know they had Cory Coleman and granted a lot of injuries and whatnot but you know a lot of solid pieces at wide receiver but cookus at times looked

Completely destroyed behind that offensive line but he also was able to like lead the team in rushing in like three games just based off scrambles and whatnot so I’m very curious to see you know I feel like half the league is unknown half the league we feel we

Know what we’re talking about as far as like yeah like St Louis is probably going to be seven and three 8-2 DC probably going to be seven and three 8 and two or you know I don’t think they win nine games I think they split with St Louis

Um you know San Antonio probably going to be four- six five and five Memphis or excuse me in the usfl conference it’s like who’s going to be that six and four team in in the uh for that second spot you know I know we talked about earlier with

Birmingham you know I did say they could be six and four I don’t think they are but um you know it’s to me I think everyone’s pretty confident that like you know it will be a six and four team or excuse me Birmingham will be a playoff team regardless of their records

So who’s gonna you know figure it out like is when is EJ Perry gonna figure it out will he have the opportunity to figure it out or do they go straight with Danny etling so those are a lot of things to me that I am very curious on as well um moving forward

Any you want to add on any of that stuff um I mean I feel like covered a pretty decent amount of information in just under an hour I feel pretty good about my picks I feel pretty good about the analysis of everything what else you thinking before we go into week

One I’m just excited you know we’re here uh you know there’s a lot of players that I’ve I’m really excited to see teams like Birmingham teams like um San Antonio they’re they’re teams that I’m just I’ve been intrigued with seeing for a few months now and now we know okay

You know a couple more days and and we’ll be there so I’m just really excited this this is going to be interesting um One Way or Another and hopefully we kind of see some positive momentum early in the league uh year and you know not not just with players but

Also you know League wide too for sure yeah and um something I wanted to put and I should have put in the beginning of the show but I’m going to address it to you first off thank you everyone for tuning in and whatnot especially with the technical difficulty earlier second

Thing I want to point in there is how many players get a usfl or NFL opportunity after this year what’s your over under o that’s something interesting off top of my head um I’m going to put the over under at like 63 okay I think I I think it’s going to

Be around what the XFL did maybe maybe a little bit higher maybe like 67 or 68 but in that range where you know there’s not as many players getting opportunities so I don’t think we’re going to touch the like 111 we got last year um but it’s going to be Hefty I

Think we’re going to get a good amount of uh of of signings but I just don’t think we’re going to get to that number yeah I mean yeah we’ll we’ll see what happens I think the number is 73 I like 73 for some some reason um I I go at 73

As my high water mark I’ll ask this question again next week if we go live or if we do a re pre-recording for our week one review slash week two preview and whatnot um other than that Nick thank you for coming on thank you for working with me appreciate everyone

Tuning in I know we kind of jacked that up on whatnot um that was 100% my fault um but yeah let’s let’s do it man week one finally here 2024 I think we got the first of three years to figure this out man I think

This is the year one I think we reseted to be honest with you I hope we did I hope you’re right yeah but you guys man yeah thanks thank you everyone for tuning in leave in the comments how many people you think are going to make

It to the uh from the UFL to the NFL like I said I got I got 73 Nick Nicks got around that 60 you know high 60 Mark and whatnot make sure you like And subscribe and we’ll see you next week thank you guys