Former NFL player Daryl Johnston said the newly revived XFL football league will be a success. Johnston is already part of XFL as he currently serves as Director of Player Personnel for the Dallas XFL team.
XFL is a reimagination of the famous game of football designed to increase on-field action and entertainment for the fans. The league made its debut in 2001 and ran for only one season. The XFL is however set to make a comeback in 2020 with some slight modifications to the initial launch and Johnston believes the reboot will be more successful.
Speaking with Mark Henry and David LaGreca on SiriusXM’s Busted Open radio, the three-time Super Bowl winner said the fact that Vince McMahon (the founder of the company that owns XFL, Alpha’s entertainment) will not deviate from the fundamentals of football will be key to the league’s success. XFL, like classic football, will feature 11 players competing against another 11 and will be played on a 100-yard field with 10-yard end zones with the overall aim of scoring through touchdowns or field goals.
“I don’t think he’s going to deviate from the true foundational components of the game of football”[ he said of Vince McMahon.] “It’s not going to be gimmicky. It’s going to be good football.”
Johnston pointed out some issues with the NFL such as the replay system and said the XFL will be looking to solve those issues. The XFL plans to use tech and insight to improve the league as well as the player’s safety.
Johnston talked about the controversy in the NFC Championship game between Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints in which the referees did not call what appeared to be obvious pass interference on Los Angeles Rams late in the fourth quarter. The decision would later haunt the Saints as they lost the game in overtime.
“The other element is, there’s some things that aren’t quite right in the NFL. We talk about developmental league, and helping the guys out and making them better football players to have a better chance to play at an NFL level, but there’s also things we can do with just the game of football,” he said, before discussing last years controversial ending to the NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. “We’ve got to fix that replay system, we can’t allow a team to not go to the Super Bowl due to human error”
Johnston enjoyed a successful career in the NFL playing as a fullback for the Dallas Cowboys and is the first fullback ever selected for the Pro Bowl. He was the General Manager of San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The AAF was a professional football league founded in March last year and went bankrupt last month. Johnston joined the AAF this year and the league’s closure made his tenure in the AAF a brief one.
Johnston will now focus on building his XFL team and will join forces with head coach/general manager of the XFL Dallas Franchise Bob Stoops.
E. Fields
May 27, 2019 at 9:19 pm
I hope that Mr.Johnson be fair to all the players who applied and not just the ones he had in San Antonio. Make it fair to all. I have been in the corner for the XFL from day one but I want him to be fair to each and everyone of them not just his favorites from his old team because that is just not right. Be fair and true. AAF was not fair by treating those guys bad that tried out. They took their money and didn’t even look at them and you see what happen. Mr. Johnson don’t be fair again the same results might occur.