jsmith6919
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In the past week, almost 1,200 professional football players lost their jobs as 32 NFL teams carrying 90 players apiece cut their rosters to the league's regular-season limit of 53. About a quarter of those players have been brought back into the league as members of practice squads in the past couple of days.
The rest, including almost 40 with connections to the state of Alabama, are left to wonder about their football futures. Should they keep working out and hope to get a call when the NFL's inevitable injuries start? Try to catch on with the Canadian Football League, already halfway through its season and with limited opportunities for Americans? Turn their attention to the Arena Football League? Give up and get real job?
Another alternative is on the horizon -- the Fall Experimental Football League.
Another outdoor football league on an end-around to the gridiron graveyard occupied by the World League of American Football, the USFL and the XFL? The FXFL's founder and commissioner Brian Woods says not at all.
The FXFL doesn't want to compete with the NFL. It wants to align with it as something of a minor league, developing players, coaches and referees.
"Given the current Division I landscape in football and the collective bargaining agreement the NFL has with the union," Woods told The Associated Press, "there is more than ever a need for another platform out there -- a platform like for basketball and baseball players. Pro football has nothing. The NFL has the practice squad, but it does not develop players because they don't get into games. You don't develop if you aren't getting on the field."
The FXFL has teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Miami and Omaha for its first season. (No team for Birmingham yet to follow the legacy of the Fire, Stallions and Thunderbolts.) The league plans to hold a draft, then start practice on Sept. 24. Each team is scheduled to play six mid-week games between Oct. 8 and Nov. 12.
The FXFL will use the NFL rulebook and require its coaches to mirror contemporary NFL offensive and defensive schemes and techniques to prepare its players for the transition to the NFL.
Each team will carry 40 players, and the FXFL is targeting those just released from NFL training camps for its first season.
"We think there is a lot of value in what we'll offer," Woods told espn.com. "These undrafted rookie free agents that get cut ... a lot of them are talented and have the ability to play in the NFL. They need a year or two of playing at a lower level to develop, or maybe they just need to stay in football shape for when the NFL needs them. We think there is a real need for that."
Players will earn $1,000 to $1,250 per week. Players on NFL practice squads earn a minimum of $6,300 weekly.
"They can expect that everything about this league is developmental, even pay scales," Woods said.
The home stadiums for the first year will be Harvard Stadium for Boston, TD Ameritrade Park (home of the College World Series) for Omaha, FIU Stadium for Miami's Florida Blacktips and MCU Park for Brooklyn. MCU Park is the home of a minor league baseball team, the Brooklyn Cyclones, who have partnered with the FXFL.
"The Brooklyn team is kind of how I envision us going forward long term," Woods told espn.com. "We partner with a minor league baseball team and utilize their existing marketing and infrastructure. They handle day-to-day business, and we handle football operations."
The partnership the FXFL is most interested in isn't with minor league baseball, though, but with the NFL.
"Our long-term goal is to establish a partnership with the NFL," Woods told the AP, "and we feel we can do that on many platforms. It would give them a way to work with younger players that they don't currently have. We can help them train prospective NFL officials. In the NBA, every referee entering the league comes from NBA Developmental League. We can be a testing ground for proposed rules, too."
_________________________________
per Rotoworld-
Tajh Boyd has signed with the Florida Blacktips of the Fall Experimental Football League.
A sixth-round pick of the Jets, Boyd couldn't beat out Matt Simms for the No. 3 quarterback job and was released during final cuts. He'll look to continue his career after failing to get any practice squad offers. Boyd could eventually resurface on a reserve/futures contract. Sep 20 - 9:19 PM
Source: Newark Star-Ledger
The rest, including almost 40 with connections to the state of Alabama, are left to wonder about their football futures. Should they keep working out and hope to get a call when the NFL's inevitable injuries start? Try to catch on with the Canadian Football League, already halfway through its season and with limited opportunities for Americans? Turn their attention to the Arena Football League? Give up and get real job?
Another alternative is on the horizon -- the Fall Experimental Football League.
Another outdoor football league on an end-around to the gridiron graveyard occupied by the World League of American Football, the USFL and the XFL? The FXFL's founder and commissioner Brian Woods says not at all.
The FXFL doesn't want to compete with the NFL. It wants to align with it as something of a minor league, developing players, coaches and referees.
"Given the current Division I landscape in football and the collective bargaining agreement the NFL has with the union," Woods told The Associated Press, "there is more than ever a need for another platform out there -- a platform like for basketball and baseball players. Pro football has nothing. The NFL has the practice squad, but it does not develop players because they don't get into games. You don't develop if you aren't getting on the field."
The FXFL has teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Miami and Omaha for its first season. (No team for Birmingham yet to follow the legacy of the Fire, Stallions and Thunderbolts.) The league plans to hold a draft, then start practice on Sept. 24. Each team is scheduled to play six mid-week games between Oct. 8 and Nov. 12.
The FXFL will use the NFL rulebook and require its coaches to mirror contemporary NFL offensive and defensive schemes and techniques to prepare its players for the transition to the NFL.
Each team will carry 40 players, and the FXFL is targeting those just released from NFL training camps for its first season.
"We think there is a lot of value in what we'll offer," Woods told espn.com. "These undrafted rookie free agents that get cut ... a lot of them are talented and have the ability to play in the NFL. They need a year or two of playing at a lower level to develop, or maybe they just need to stay in football shape for when the NFL needs them. We think there is a real need for that."
Players will earn $1,000 to $1,250 per week. Players on NFL practice squads earn a minimum of $6,300 weekly.
"They can expect that everything about this league is developmental, even pay scales," Woods said.
The home stadiums for the first year will be Harvard Stadium for Boston, TD Ameritrade Park (home of the College World Series) for Omaha, FIU Stadium for Miami's Florida Blacktips and MCU Park for Brooklyn. MCU Park is the home of a minor league baseball team, the Brooklyn Cyclones, who have partnered with the FXFL.
"The Brooklyn team is kind of how I envision us going forward long term," Woods told espn.com. "We partner with a minor league baseball team and utilize their existing marketing and infrastructure. They handle day-to-day business, and we handle football operations."
The partnership the FXFL is most interested in isn't with minor league baseball, though, but with the NFL.
"Our long-term goal is to establish a partnership with the NFL," Woods told the AP, "and we feel we can do that on many platforms. It would give them a way to work with younger players that they don't currently have. We can help them train prospective NFL officials. In the NBA, every referee entering the league comes from NBA Developmental League. We can be a testing ground for proposed rules, too."
_________________________________
per Rotoworld-
Tajh Boyd has signed with the Florida Blacktips of the Fall Experimental Football League.
A sixth-round pick of the Jets, Boyd couldn't beat out Matt Simms for the No. 3 quarterback job and was released during final cuts. He'll look to continue his career after failing to get any practice squad offers. Boyd could eventually resurface on a reserve/futures contract. Sep 20 - 9:19 PM
Source: Newark Star-Ledger
