This Saturday, the USFL will conclude its second season with the Birmingham Stallions and Pittsburgh Maulers playing for the USFL Championship. While we wait to see who will be crowned champion, it’s not too early to look ahead to the 2024 season.
The action on the field was good, especially the kickoff returns. I’m happy to see the USFL is keeping the kickoffs as part of the game. The on-field product should not change.
As for the players, it’s time for them to get serious to become an alternative league and not a feeder league to the NFL. Year in and year out, the NFL takes the best players from the USFL, CFL, and XFL. The rosters are constantly changing and it’s time for the league to do the same.
In years past, we’ve seen players from the NFL venture into other leagues and go on to have great careers there. Tony Graziani was a career backup and third-string quarterback in the NFL. In 2001, he signed with the Los Angeles Avengers, and not only did he become the face of the franchise, but the whole league.
Ricky Ray is another player who had a great career after leaving the NFL. Ray went to the CFL in 2002 and joined the Edmonton Eskimos and had great success. However, he left the CFL after the 2003 season to try out for a roster spot with the New York Jets.
He became a third-string quarterback for the New York Jets. After not getting an opportunity to play, Ray asked and was granted his release after the 2004 season. Then, he returned to the CFL by signing with the Edmonton Eskimos for the second time.
From there, he went on to become a two-time Grey Cup champion with the Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts, a three-time CFL All-Star, three-time CFL East All-Star, and a CFL West All-Star. He was recently inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame.
In recent years, we’ve seen guys like PJ Walker, Garrett Gilbert, Ben DeNucci, and other players from other positions leave the NFL to play in leagues like the XFL, AAF, CFL, and USFL.
The CFL is working hard to try and keep good players from leaving for the NFL. They struck a deal with CBS Sports Network to air most of their regular season games and are earning close to a million dollars. The USFL, while owned by FOX Sports, should try to get more sponsors which will create more revenue and keep the good players from leaving.
Once the NFL season concludes, I would love to see the USFL go after backups, third-stringers, and practice squad guys from the NFL to join their league.
However, they have to want to be here. Do not sign players who are intending to use the league to get another shot in the NFL. I get that the NFL is a billion-dollar business and players make more money being a backup. The USFL is also a business and the goal is to find the best players available that will help the league grow.
These players have played football their whole lives and want to have their moment. If they can find some of those players who are willing to come to the league and make an impact, the on-field product will improve.
In addition to the players, some coaches are also looking for an opportunity. The USFL is rapidly changing. This year, four new coaches came into the league that were recently in the NFL. They are John DeFilippo (New Orleans), Ray Horton (Pittsburgh), Curtis Johnson (Houston), and Mike Nolan (Michigan).
Three of those coaches went to the playoffs with one of them playing for a championship. There are coaches in the NFL right now that will never have the opportunity to become head coaches. This would be the perfect time to reach out.
Guys like Duce Staley, Eric Bieniemy, Pep Hamilton, and others are waiting to be head coaches. Pep Hamilton was a head coach for the D.C. Defenders (XFL) in 2020 before moving to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and later the Houston Texans.
Hamilton would make a great coach in the USFL. The league can also promote guys from the other USFL teams like New Jersey Generals Offensive Coordinator Steven Smith and New Orleans Breakers Offensive Coordinator Doug Martin.
Next, let’s address the Draft. This year, the USFL held a collegiate draft. While 80 players were drafted. The bad news was less than ten of them played for their teams. This is something that has to change. The league cannot draft players for their rights and it’s not a good look.
Instead, next season, the USFL should set a deadline after the NFL combine concludes for college football players to enter the USFL Draft. At that point, the players will know where they will stand on the NFL draft board. If they choose to enter the USFL Draft before the deadline ends, then they can get drafted. Once the deadline passes, they can’t enter the draft. Any extra players that exceed the roster limit in the USFL can sign as undrafted free agents.
Before I talk about expansion. The USFL needs to focus on putting Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Houston in their home markets. They cannot continue to use the hub model going into 2024. Last year, I wrote a piece on where those teams should play.
Recently, the league announced that season ticket deposits are now on sale for Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Canton was one of the four hub models as the New Jersey Generals and Pittsburgh Maulers called home. In addition, Canton is hosting the USFL Championship Game for the second year in a row.
If the USFL can get the four teams to their home markets, then we talk about expansion. If the league decides to expand, it should be two. Canton is a great place for a USFL team. They are part of football history. After all, the Canton Bulldogs won five league championships in ten years in the Ohio League and later the American Professional Football Association which became what is known today as the NFL. From 1921-23, the Bulldogs played 25 games without being defeated which remains an NFL record.
I would love to see a new incarnation of the Bulldogs to be part of the USFL. The fans who’ve come out to watch the Generals and Maulers deserve to have a team to call their own. They know that the Generals and Maulers are moving to their home markets and giving Canton their own team is a win for the league. Canton would play in the North Division. The North Division should be renamed the Northern Conference with the winner winning the North Division.
The other team that should be brought back and placed in the South Division is the Tampa Bay Bandits. The Bandits went on a temporary hiatus in 2023 and the team was relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, to become the Memphis Showboats.
Bringing Tampa Bay back would give the league ten teams and the Bandits would be close to the other southern teams. The South Division should be renamed the Southern Conference with the winner winning the South Division.
If the league does bring Canton in as an expansion team and revives Tampa Bay, they go one or two ways with the playoff format. One, keep it the way it is with the top two teams from each division getting into the playoffs. The other option is the winners of each division get a bye into the finals while the two and three seeds would play each other in the semifinals. There would be a total of six teams that would qualify for the playoffs. The playoff format is similar to the CFL.
This year, the USFL held the divisional championships in Canton and Birmingham. I would like to see this continue next year with whoever wins their divisions. As for the championship game, the USFL should start to move it around. I would like to see Birmingham host it next season and Memphis in 2025. In the future, Houston and New Orleans should also host the championship game.
I like where this league is headed. What I loved about this season was the acknowledgment of the original USFL by showing classic highlights of the old games. I hope they keep up with that as a way to introduce new fans to the league.
In addition, they brought some of the people who were part of the original USFL like Larry Csonka, who was the general manager of the Jacksonville Bulls, and Doug Flutie, who played for the New Jersey Generals. I hope they also continue to do this by letting them talk about what the USFL was like back in the day while showing the highlights. If the USFL made some of these moves, I think the league is in a good place and will continue to thrive for years to come.
