UFL Fantasy-Get To Know The Players

With the countdown underway for the 2024 inaugural season of the United Football League, it’s time to start planning your UFL Fantasy team. Who are the key players to draft? Which teams have the best chance of making the playoffs? How will having only eight teams and an abbreviated 10-game season affect my Fantasy league?

UFL Fantasy-Get To Know The Players

How Players Are Chosen

Knowing which teams have assembled the best roster for making the playoffs could be a major component in determining your own Fantasy team strategy. When evaluating players for UFL Fantasy, it helps to understand how the current rosters were designed.

After the USFL and XFL merger, the eight teams that survived to make up the UFL were each allowed to protect 42 players from their previous team. Then, on January 5, 2024, the teams participated in a dispersal draft of orphaned players from their prior league who were not selected. Subsequent dispersal drafts were held without any designated league restrictions and teams could choose from the remaining player personnel. Teams could select up to 20 additional players in the dispersal drafts and invite as many as 75 players to training camp.

With training camp set to begin February 24th in Arlington, Texas, the coaches will evaluate their players and arrive at the 42-man active roster to open the season. 

Key Veteran Players

Veteran players with previous XFL and USFL experience should have an advantage in training camp. Since the spring football leagues are another possible gateway to the NFL, players are determined to showcase their skills and make the team roster. Just as NFL scouts recruited high-caliber players such as Brandon Aubrey and A.J. McCarron to fill NFL injury gaps during the season, Fantasy managers who already know the stand-out players will have a better chance for a successful draft. Here are just a few of the players to keep an eye on this season.

The Birmingham Stallions have solid playoff experience and possess one of the strongest rosters heading into the season, but the team lost two of the star players that led to their back-to-back Championship USFL seasons. After the Dallas Cowboys signed Brandon Aubrey early in the 2023 season, he proved to be one of the best kickers in the NFL. The Stallions will also be without their former MVP Quarterback, Alex McGough, who signed a reserve/future contract with the Green Bay Packers in January of this year.

Instead, the team will rely on the talents of quarterback, Adrian Martinez, who led the Kansas State Wildcats to a Big 12 title in 2022 after passing for more than 2,800 yards, plus 500 rushing yards, and 27 touchdowns.

The champion St. Louis Battlehawks are returning with their MVP Quarterback A.J. McCarron under center. During the 2023 season, McCarron passed for 2,150 yards and scored 24 touchdowns. After being recalled to the Cincinnati Bengals as a backup to Jake Browning late in the NFL season, McCarron is resuming his winning career as a starter for the Battlehawks.

The Arlington Renegades are also returning with their talented veteran quarterback, Luis Perez, who finished last season with 1,636 passing yards. To complement Perez’s arm strength, the Renegades have added NFL veteran wide receiver, Diontay Burnett.  

The DC Defenders will be counting on the skillset of the XFL’s rushing leader, Abram Smith, who ran for 791 yards and seven touchdowns in 10 games. A graduate of Baylor, Smith broke a school record when he rushed for 1,601 yards.

Other Notable Players 

The Houston Roughnecks are expected to open their season with the 2023 USFL Offensive Player of the Year, running back, Mark Thompson, and wide receiver, Justin Hall. Despite playing only eight games last season, Thompson managed to amass an impressive 653 yards and set a single-season record with 14 rushing touchdowns.  

If you already miss playing Fantasy football, instead of waiting until next September to play NFL Fantasy, why not fill the time with the fun and excitement of the UFL? You might just discover the next UFL, or even potential NFL, superstar on the way to winning your league championship.  

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