With the Arlington Renegades dealing with injuries on defense, they decided to bring back a linebacker from their training camp roster and swap at running back.
The team made the decision Wednesday to release running back Adrian Killins and sign linebacker Ryan Mueller and running back Leddie Brown to the roster. Arlington made the move after placing linebacker Otaro Alaka on the reserve list.
Killins was acquired in a trade with the Houston Roughnecks at the end of training camp as he filled in as the third running back on the roster. He recorded seven carries for three yards along with one catch for one yard in four games this season. The offense used Killins as a third down back and was mostly in passing situations. He struggled throughout the season to get much traction on his runs.
Mueller was a training camp casualty as he was not able to beat out a very competitive linebacker room in Arlington. He has experience in the XFL previously as he played for the New York Guardians back in 2020 recording 13 tackles, .5 sacks, and one interception returned for a touchdown. He also spent short stints in the NFL and CFL in his football career.
Brown was with the St. Louis Battlehawks in training camp before being released from the team prior to the season starting. He went undrafted in the NFL Draft last year, signing with the Los Angeles Chargers before being waived in the preseason. At West Virginia, he had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2020 and 2021.
Four defensive players on the Renegades have been placed on the reserve list with injuries with three in the secondary and Alaka at the linebacker position. In the team’s injury report this week, linebacker Edmond Robinson did not practice and has missed time already dealing with injuries. Mueller provides some much-needed depth behind Bunmi Rotimi, Will Clarke, and Willie Taylor at outside linebacker.
The running back position has seen its share of the rotation behind De’Veon Smith. Kenneth Farrow was cut at the end of training camp before being re-signed just a few weeks later. Keith Ford was cut after two games. Killins was the only running back besides Smith to be on the roster for all four games this season before being released. It’s unclear whether Brown will play this weekend, but the team hopes it’ll be the spark they need to help the worst rushing offense in the XFL.
