Tag: Connor Cook

Miss Football Already? Well the XFL Kicks Off This Weekend!

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Two long years since its announcement, Vince McMahon is finally set to unveil yet another football league to compete with complement the NFL. Unlike the AAF, which flamed out in spectacular fashion, the XFL at least has the benefit of not competing directly with the NFL by kicking off after the Super Bowl.

The first XFL commercial I’ve seen has been *extremely* generous in it’s description of the talent playing in the league. With a roster led by the likes of former Ohio State QB Cardale “We didn’t come here to play school” Jones

and Connor Cook, who’s best known for unceremoniously snatching the Big Ten Championship game MVP trophy.

Not exactly the stuff of fantasy football dreams so expectations need to be tempered.

I will say however, I am pretty excited for some of the rule tweaks the XFL will utilize. Most of the rulebook is the same just with a focus on speeding up the game. There are a few minor tweaks like moving back the kickoffs and eliminating extra point attempts, but the biggest rule tweak I’m most excited for is the double forward pass.

Yup, something that is not legal in any level of football and would even get you flagged in a pickup football game is about to, hopefully, become a staple in XFL playbooks. Just think of the possibilities if you’re a team running the RPO with the ability to then throw a double forward pass. My mouth is watering just thinking of the ridiculous plays we’ll see on SportsCenter Twitter.

I think the biggest selling point for the league is actually this: what the hell else are you doing on Saturday afternoon? The XFL schedule will play two games each on Saturday and Sunday for the next 10 weeks until the playoffs start, assuming the league has not gone out of business by that point. If nothing else this makes for great day drinking background noise at worst and an entertaining 90 minutes at best.

I’ll give it a shot.

The XFL Announces the First Pool of Players in the Draft and It is…Underwhelming

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This is…disappointing. Did I expect Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick to carry the XFL flag out of the tunnel?  No, but maybe a couple of names I actually recognized. They couldn’t even get a guy like Trent Richardson after he failed in the AAF? And where’s Johnny Manziel for christs sake? This league was built for him…which I also said about him and the CFL and the AAF….but thats besides the point.

Oh and the great Landry Jones doesn’t count because he already signed with the league and per its rules the XFL will be assigning a QB to each team. Vince McMahon has seen how many NFL teams are complete disasters because they can’t find a QB so he’s trying to micro-manage that problem and nip it in the bud.

Okay, so not a vast and deep pool of talent, but lets see what we got here. If you are a college football nerd then you’re on your own because this list is ranked on dudes I actually recognized and remember watching at some point.

1.) Connor Cook – Easily the biggest name in this entire draft pool. Cook was a pretty damn good QB at Michigan State and was once even looked at as a potential starter in the NFL when the Raiders drafted him in the 4th round in 2016. Hell he even started a playoff game after Derek Carr got injured, but he never really caught on and bounced around the league for a couple years and got released a few times. You may also remember Cook for looking like a total dickhead snatching the Big Ten Championship game MVP trophy from Archie Griffin.

 

2.) Roberto Aguayo – One of the best kickers in NCAA history turned the biggest bust of a kicker in NFL history. Aguayo was a stud at Florida State (most accurate kicker in ACC history and 3rd in NCAA history) before the guy went OFF THE RAILS in dumpster fire fashion playing for the Bucs. So much so that I worry about the guy a little bit, so hopefully he gets back on track in the XFL. The Bucs literally traded up into the 2nd round for Aguayo before he missed a boatload of kicks and was unceremoniously cut.

3.) Devin Lucien – If this name sounds familiar its because he was a 7th round draft pick of the Patriots in 2016 who became a pre-season darling before failing to make the team.

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4.) Sealver Siliga – Another former Patriot! Siliga played 3 seasons for the Patriots making 13 starts with 5.5 sacks and 95 tackles.

5.) Darron Thomas – Thomas played QB at Oregon so thats the one and only reason he caught my eye. Thomas was actually a pretty good QB for the Ducks in the post-Dennis Dixon pre-Marcus Mariota era. Thomas led Oregon to the National Championship game in 2011, which they lost to Cam Newton and Auburn. I remember that game vividly because Mattes and I watched it in a Chilis like the scrubs that we are. You probably unfamiliar with his work because Thomas left Oregon early to enter the NFL Draft and got neither drafted nor signed as a free agent before kicking around the Canadian Football League, Champions Professional Indoor Football League, Arena Football League, Major League Football (which I’ve never even heard of because it never actually played a game), Indoor Football League, and even played for the Worcester Pirates in the National Arena League last year!

6.) HANDSOME Tanielu – What a name. Only reason he made the list.

 

Woo! The XFL Draft is sneaking up and then the inaugural  latest XFL season kicks off in February, 2020. Catch the fever!