Reasons to Root for Each XFL Team - XFL News - XFL Weekly Podcast

foreigner to another week of

weekly

XFL where we sit down to chat and discuss some

weekly

XFL uh I'm Kyle Korjewski accompanied by my good friend Zach Cole Zach How are you today? What's up man? I'm doing well, I can't complain. It's uh uh another cold day in January. We are finally moving forward into the NFL season. We have one game left and it's getting real. You know the XFL is right around the corner. I don't want to overlook that. Super Bowl game, but I'm really excited about what's coming next, so I'm looking forward to it, yeah, I mean we're going to have the Super Bowl and then six days later we're going to start the XFL season, yeah, it's exciting, it's all here . place, uh, and football is alive and well and will continue to be throughout the spring, which is just exciting, uh.

So today we're going to chat about basically every

team

in the XFL, which ones you can support. I guess the spoiler is you. You can

root

for all of them or any of them, um, but let's break it down

team

by team, uh, maybe some

reasons

why you should

root

for which team, um, and then before we get into that, I just want to say that . We're on YouTube and in

podcast

format, so whatever you're currently watching or listening to, make sure you tune into the other one if you get a chance, make sure you subscribe to all that fun stuff, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter at XFL underline weekly um and then we're on our

podcast

ing platforms like just XFL weekly uh hopefully you can find us there and on YouTube we have access to the weekly um and this is episode three and Zach let's get into it um.

I guess we'll go alphabetically, okay, just because that's how fun things are, uh, alphabetically, uh, and we'll start with the Arlington Renegade, uh, moving from Dallas to Arlington, um, which isn't much of a trip, uh, just mostly. A little name change, but I think the only key thing here is that Bob Stoops returns as their head coach, which I think is a key point for this team, coming back from their 2020 season, but he's an Oklahoma coach. who trains Legend. um making his return to football, yeah, it's um, I think seeing Bob Stoops come back is really cool, especially because he was so legendary in college football for so long.

I mean, he ran that Oklahoma program when you think about the glory years of um, I don't know Adrian Peterson when he was at Oklahoma and just a few of those high-level recruits that he had gotten there, so he definitely knows what he's doing. in terms of coaching and uh I think he can bring a lot of life to this Arlington team and it actually caught me off guard that you threw him at me there because I was looking at where they were playing and they're actually playing at Globe Life Stadium, which is, I think, the old Texas Rangers Field, the baseball team, which is cool, so they were the home of the Rangers for season 26, so it's cool to see the stadium being repurposed for something else. um so yeah now it was formerly Globe Life Park now it's been scrapped as a stadium so yeah that adds a little bit more or uh to the reason to root for the uh the Renegades here but yeah there's some of these here, uh some. of these do. they have their own capital to build their own stadiums, but it's understandable, but yes, the Renegades play on a transitional football field, which is interesting, yes, and we just took a look at their roster, obviously, we won't go Name by name here. but I see a couple of names, I see Jeremy Cox and Kenneth Farrow, who were briefly NFL players for a while.

The name Jordan Smallwood also rings a bell. I think he was pretty solid in his time. in Oklahoma um and honestly I haven't taken a look at the defense yet so I'll get back to you on that in a second okay you know? Speaking of defense, actually what I did see is that the defense can actually be one of the most stacked on the team, or in the division or in the league, and that alone I think they have a lot of depth, okay, I've Been seeing a lot of reports that just came in. From the opening open practices, there are a lot of guys on this team that will see playing time and it's not because they're all bad and they're going to rotate in and out, I think it's just because Everything's great, there's a lot of playmakers, um, They kind of spread this spread across this, uh, defensive roster, um, so there's going to be a lot of rotations, but that's just because depending on what play you call, they're going to go. to be rotating in, out, in and out, some of those different defensive players, interesting, well, I'll give them a couple names.

I didn't really see anything until I got to the general range of the defensive backs. and I see Will Hill is here, he comes from Florida, he was in the NFL corner for quite a while, he's one of those guys that just wants to play until he dies, I think he's like a million years old, crayvon LeBlanc being from Pennsylvania. I got to watch a lot of Eagles games, played for the Eagles for a while, and then you know maybe the most important thing on this team, Kyle, is the new home of Mr. Marquette King, yes, punter Fina himself, as well maybe.

That's why I'm rooting for the Renegades here, I'm one of the best bettors to ever play, uh, making it to the XFL. My favorite thing about Marquette King was that he was always a fantastic pitcher in Madden, so he was the perfect one. punter to have on your team, uh, if you were a go or a fake punter, um, he was amazing and was always the best transition from uh, punter to kicker, if you wanted to make those field goals with this one, yeah, that big one. power, yes, that's exactly it. So Marquette King, my own personal Madden legend, is returning to the , I know. uh um you were initially a fan of the DC Defender so tell me what you're interested in oh well from the beginning uh QB uh Jordan TAMU um absolutely thrilled that he's on the team because not only was he probably the best quarterback. for the why would that trend stop him um I think he was like the biggest signing for the as the unanimous MVP of the XFL uh that one wasn't named MVP of the . um before we taped the shows and everything I took a look at this team and they have three very high quality quarterbacks on the team yeah they have Eric Dungey who was a pretty big quarterback on Sarah Houston in his time there, um, and they I have Diera King, who was actually a highly recruited quarterback and jumped from Houston to uh ended up in Miami, that's where I graduated and of course they have I love you TAMU, however, we want to say, who, as you mentioned, was the former XFL almost MVP, so they have a lot of talent at the quarterback position here, especially oh yeah, I think they have by far the best depth at quarterback, um, which is an interesting position to have depth, yeah, sure, but I mean, anyway.

They just have trade bait for every other team, uh, in the XFL, that's true. I also see here that they have Rockwell Armstead at running back, uh, former Jacksonville Jaguar, so you know when you think about the XFL and its entirety. that's a pretty big name for a guy who was with an NFL team for quite a while, other than that I don't really see any other names that really stand out to me other than what might be the best name in the entire league uh to request Tisdale um I really really like that name so I think that's where we're going to put a fork in the list breakdown foreigner not a bad stop uh another thing.

I'd like to point out that it's the infamous DC Defender beer snake and if you've seen the 2020 exophone it's that amazing, amazing collection of fans that just stack up all their glasses of the beers they've been drinking throughout the game and just upload sections and sections, uh and it's a beautiful sight to see, but moving on to our next team, we have the Houston Roughnecks, a returning team with the new logo, there are some returning squads, uh, DC is back, uh, everyone. three of these happen um Roughnecks are back new logo uh back in Houston and I think, honestly, the Roughnecks have the absolute best helmet in the entire XFL.

I love the division of blue, red and white and the fact that they are all worn on the helmet and I don't know if you've seen their jerseys or their uniforms, but they have blue or black spots on the numbers, to give it a kind of splatter of oil. kind of look uh and it's really cool so that's the highlight for me and something else to note is the Roughnecks were the only undefeated team in the XFL back in 2020 I think it was 5-0 and all other equipment. he was sitting on three and two or two and three or some combination of that, but Roughnecks took him out, yeah, I would say the Roughnecks probably weren't going to jump to the undefeated team, of course, but I would say they were probably my favorites. team uh in the early version of the I think I'm also going to miss PJ Walker, who is now one of the quarterbacks for my beloved Carolina Panthers, but he was just electric when he played for the uh. for the Roughnecks the first time and it actually ended up earning him a job in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, so it was great to see and I think the last point I'll talk about Real quick with the Roughnecks, their head coach is Wade Phillips, right? who is it?

You know, an NFL legend, head coach, defensive legend, yeah, yeah, so I mean, he's, you know, that's a big sticking point for them. It's probably, I would say I don't know the betting odds or anything, but I would say early favorites, so you know, having a coach who knows how to coach is a big step, absolutely yes, someone with prior experience in the professional arena. level uh, I think he's a head coach, his experience as a head coach wasn't perfect, but as a defensive coordinator it was, I think so, one of the best defensive coordinators of all time, at least up there, so yeah head coach that's awesome uh and I hope they go undefeated again I think that would be pretty cool especially with those uniforms definitely definitely definitely okay.

Next we have the Orlando Guardians, who correct me if I am a new team this year. Sorry, I should do it. I know they moved, they moved from New York, they were the New York Guardians, eh, I've been open to moving to Orlando, but I'm sticking with the gorilla logo, which is interesting because I don't think King Kong ever went there . to Orlando um and I think they're interesting because I think they're called Guardians as a reference to the Gargoyles or the guardians of the like, the tallest buildings, yeah, the high-rise buildings. That's where they got their name and now they're in Orlando and I don't see the connection, but anyway still, let me ask you, Kyle, did you miss that whole movie when King Kong went to Disney World?

What I did completely flew over my head. I hope now that I remember it I do remember him going up to Cinderella's castle, yes, yes, he was the one who shot off the fireworks at the same time, oh yes, okay, okay. Those were warning. fireworks weren't that's yeah exactly you weren't celebratory fireworks exactly exactly everything is coming together uh no, not to stray too far from the point we're talking about here um, uh, the Orlando Guardians have some interesting names on the list, first let me talk briefly about the quarterback, you have DeAndre Francois, who was a struggling quarterback from Florida State, but absolutely talented, super super talented, there were some domestic assault issues and things like that and videos came out, so it ended uh ending up at Hampton um junior college I'm not sure which one um but he's definitely super talented and uh Paxton Lynch is also a former Orlando Guardian NFL quarterback so two really really decent quarterbacks there in his room.

QB there and I also kind of took note of a couple of different wide receivers, Cody Latimer, who was an NFL wide receiver for a while, and who's my other one, Eli Rogers, who was with the Pittsburgh Steelers for a while, both They know former NFL players. and then just to add to the list of uh, the big name, I think they have a couple of good entries here they have Diaphrony McGriff, who is a tight end from Florida State and they also haveXavion Savion for chron. I think I said it right, he's an offensive lineman from Southern Illinois, so, two. really cool football names, yeah, Alzheimer's, someone said, uh, Kyle, you know, no, we have the ability to share, share a screen real quick here, oh, do it, if you can, am I throwing something out?

Okay, let me, let me. below is the list here i just need to show you some of the photos or actually just one photo um it's defensive LEM and Nick co uh clearly wasn't there the day they were taking photos of the list everyone else seems a little bit on the pro side, it's number 34, it's in the defensive line category, let's see, oh, okay, there it is, yeah, I think that's really it, that's a great picture in my opinion, so I just want to shout it out real quick , Yeah come on. let me get a good close up on that uh looks like he just woke up oh gotta find him I lost it uh yeah looks like he just woke up um man isn't that creepy now I'll tell you what Dante looks like when we accidentally wake him up from a nap jump to a recording of the first seed, shout Dante, shout Dante, uh, here we go, look at that backwards Snapback, very professional, thank you Mr.

Co. I will always be supporting you um okay, let's jump to the San Antonio brahmas um I'll be honest, Zach, there were some things that I couldn't find for this team and that was a lot to root for um, so if you're in the San Antonio brahmas, uh, you have, you have a good team, um, personally, I couldn't find much to add. to these points, other than they are called brahmas, um, and we learned some. For weeks now Brahma is an animal that is a very large looking cow and I also knew that The Rock has a tattoo of Brahma, it's like the inspiration to approve the name of the brahmas, but yes, the brahmas, they are a Brahma, uh , I think they're very much in the Texas region, um, and their head coach, uh, rookie head coach, but a familiar name, Heinz Ward, um, that's awesome, um, I think that's great, get a great guy to share some experience with. this locker room um and I honestly think he's a very good very good leader uh and he could do something with the team yeah, I don't really have much else to add other than I think Brahma's name relates to like the Texas Longhorns, um, it relates to maybe the Houston Texans logo, it's all connected in that kind of deal with the kingdom of Texas, um, but yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with this Kyle.

There really isn't much crazy stuff to talk about here. It seems like it has to be Pittsburgh fans' favorite XFL team, uh, with the black and yellow and with Heinz Ward as coach, so I guess that's all I'll do. contributing to this conversation here makes sense to me, so let's move on to the next team, the Seattle Sea Dragons, who I will go on record as saying have the best logo and color scheme, uh, degree the green and orange, uh, I think which is incredibly cool and probably my second pick for best helmet in the XFL.

They have a really cool helmet. I had it somewhere. I don't know if I'll be able to share the screen, but they have a really cool helmet. like a half um like a middle line on their hooves like a helmet stripe basically yeah, there it is, yeah, it's like they have orange helmets and they have a pattern almost like a snakeskin uh, a big middle line that's amazing and it's looks really cool. um I'll probably add it to like the screen on the side so if you're watching this you'll see that um but it's a really cool helmet uh and they have the same kind of design for your tastes. shoulder sleeves um, that's a good one, uh, but yeah, cool logo, cool color scheme, and honestly the best quarterback for receiver, uh, protect the receiver mix in the NFL, great endorsement, uh Ben Denucci, known for his time backing up Dak Prescott in Dallas, absolutely and, uh, fantasy legend.

Josh Gordon never stops playing football and I am very happy that he has a home in Seattle. I love watching this man play, whether it's for any NFL team. And now, especially in the XFL, I'm excited to see it. he plays again, yeah, I think the sea dragons here are a really great team and I think they're going to catch a lot of people's attention early on, um, you mentioned, uh, with Ben denucci being there. Tick ​​Tock legend Ben denucci uh with his infamous song and everything about how great batting uniforms are. I love the design of the uniforms.

I love the logo, the dragon and the shape of an S. Everything about them is just fantastic and I hope their play on the field can be backed up. uh, how do you know how nice everything else looks? The last point I'll mention is that they play at Lumen Field, uh, the Seattle Seahawks' home stadium, so, you know, if they can fill it up, they can get the police moving and it could be a real home field advantage. , so be careful with him. Seattle loves its football, talk about a city that loves its football. Battle of St.

Louis. Battle of St. Louis. Hawks, there's football in St. Louis and man oh man, that's the city that craves it all. football uh, I think the Hawks battle in 2020 had the highest attendance record, uh, because me and I have seen pictures of the tailgates and St. Louis loves their football, um and it shows, that's huge if you want to be a part and I think this is the best team for newcomers to join and follow and watch, just because there's already a huge fan base for them, and they'll probably hear the phrase calling is the law, that He is friendly. of his battle cry, call it, um, so 'cause the law that's k-a-w ain't like call, call me, um, call is the law, that's the battle, Hawks, um, but yeah, St.

Louis football , let me give you a couple of people that I chose from the list. here Kyle AJ McCarron is there, he's one of their quarterbacks, yes he is, from his time with the Bengals, from his time of national fame, for having a hot girlfriend, shout out to AJ McCarron, another name I see This is Hakeem Butler. who Kyle could have sworn up and down that he was going to be the next Calvin Johnson uh I drafted him in every one of my Dynasty leagues. I was so excited and he never had success so I'm hoping maybe he can get some traction here in the XFL um outside of that, I don't really realize or really recognize any of these names at the tight end position, but his coach is actually like a tight end whisperer. so to speak, it's crazy to say this for a high school, but he was the tight ends coach at IMG Academy for six years and then he coached somewhere else as a tight ends coach, uh, a couple of different times and it was actually a tight end at West.

University of Virginia when he played at um in the '90s, so you know he's got some, he definitely has some history as a tight end, as a Whisperer tight end, and as a tight end, so I just hope I'm I guess maybe one of these wings. closes will be a guy to keep an eye on all season long as one of the top options so that's all I have for the battle with the Hawks here yeah and then move on to our final team here the Vegas Vipers um oh I have what to see something wasn't the LA Vipers uh I think they were yeah oh no they weren't uh it was like what The Wild Cats um oh they the Vipers moved from somewhere I'm totally the Vipers were uh oh, they were the Tampa Vipers Bay, yeah, that's what the Tampa Bay Vipers are, that putrid Mountain Dew green color and yeah, well, they're back, uh, but they've done a big rebrand, they've gone to a whole new point. different side of the country playing in Las Vegas they're beautiful like black, white and red uh it's their color scheme um and something that actually happened yesterday uh while we were recording this is that they cut their current starting quarterback um and I think this is very funny because he likes his PR team and he tried to make it clear that it was a mutual split um but then the Vipers came out later that day saying no we cut them because he's bad like him they cut him um so I think it's true, it's true, I think it takes guts to cut your starting quarterback uh and then instantly sign a household name in Brett Hundley um so now he's starting to court or potential starting quarterback, the most It's probably because they have the balls to cut Brian Scott, uh, just because they weren't, they weren't satisfied with his game, yeah, I always liked Brett Hundley, I thought he might be better than you know, so, so, people.

I really gave him credit for that, but maybe I guess this is his chance to prove him right, absolutely yes, I mean, we saw him play a few games behind Aaron Rodgers, every time he got hurt and now he has his own chance. and I always like it when former NFL quarterbacks get that opportunity in these spring leagues where it's like you get a chance, but not the best one in the NFL, come on, take your best shot and Hundley is set up in position. for that opportunity to reload, on top of that, I also see other guys working well as NFL players, uh, vixby Easley is on this team, the former Atlanta Falcons defensive end, who was pretty good for a while, um, yeah.

I also see Martavis Bryant being on this team who is an absolute burner for the Steelers for a while, obviously he'll be a couple years older now so we'll see what he has in the tank. and the other name I see here is Geronimo Allison, former Green Bay Packer, who is now a Las Vegas Viper, so we'll see, I don't know, they have some names here and maybe me. I'm just adding fuel to your quarterback fire, Kyle, but they listed Luis Perez twice on the quarterback list here, so maybe that gives him the edge. Oscar twice, that's a lot of love, a lot of love for whoever is running. the great NFL player I would say Super Bowl winner um played with the Packers played with the Niners played with the Ravens played Sorry, not the Packers, the Steelers, the Niners, the Ravens and the Raiders in his career, so another another guy who's I've been around the block a little bit, so I like him.

I think they'll be... I think the Vipers will be one of the best teams, yeah, I think they'll be one of the best. best teams I just got the odds on all of these teams to win from Draftking Sportsbook, where they have

each

of these teams winning or at least their odds and right now, the Vipers are fifth, they have the fifth best odds oh. wow, okay, I guess I should go down the list, the best odds to win the league, according to DraftKings, are the St Louis Battle Hawks, uh, okay, second to the Sea Dragons, third is the Renegades, okay, fourth of the brahmas, I know we didn't do it.

I have a lot to talk to them about, but they're fourth, fifth, the Vipers, sixth, it's the Defenders, seventh, it's the Orlando Guardians and then they're last or at least tied for last, or the Roughnecks, so Wow, I can't believe it. I hope they have the worst odds of winning the . close to one of these teams, like the location, they should be your team because then you can show up, show up to a game, they're pretty cheap games to attend, show up to a root game to have fun with football, uh and have fun, but if you're not close to rooting for the Defenders with me, or the Sea Dragons because they have a cool logo and uniform design, or the Roughnecks for their helmet, so that's it for me, Zach, you have anything. more to add here, nothing more than every game, it doesn't matter who you are a fan of because every team plays every team and maybe you will be lucky enough to get one of the home games this season, so cheer them on at level four, but definitely make an effort to r

each

out to your local weekly um and thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.