It had long been decided that the XFL was going to have a set roster of players that maintained game shape and were readily available to be added to any team’s active 52-man roster at a moment’s notice. Something that XFL CEO and Commissioner, Oliver Luck was familiar with during his time as President of NFL Europe from 1996-2000.
Late last week we learned the XFL was hiring Bart Andrus to coach this 40-man roster of players referred to as ‘Team 9’. Today, the league unveiled the full roster that will begin practicing in Dallas, Texas on February 3rd.
‘Team 9’ Roster:
Quarterback (4):
Joe Callahan, CJ Collins, Garrett Fugate, and Marcus McDade
Running Back (2):
Darnell Holland and Ray Lawry
Wide Receiver (6):
Davon Grayson, TreyDonte Hill, Taivon Jacobs, Dalton Ponchillia, Andrew Verboys, and Carl Whitley
Tight End (2):
Connor Davis and Pharoah McKever
Offensive Line (8):
Center: Ryan Anderson
Guard (2): Korren Kirven and Terronne Prescod
Tackle (5): Nick Callander, Gerhard de Beer, Brandon Haskin, Patrick Lawrence, and Rod Taylor
Defensive Tackle (4):
Daryle Banfield, Shane Bowman, Andrew Stelter, and Trenton Thompson
Defensive End (3):
Jesse Aniebonam, Martin Ifedi, and Alex Jenkins
Linebacker (2):
Markus Jones and Darnell Leslie
Defensive Back (8):
Bryce Cheek, Reggie Cole, Marwin Evans, Tyree Holder, Josh Jenkins, Derrick Jones, Jermaine Ponder, and Robenson Therezie
Commissioner Luck and Coach Andrus worked together in NFL Europe, Andrus won a championship as head coach of the Amsterdam Admirals in 2005. Luck even noted that the idea for ‘Team 9’ was manufactured completely from experiences from NFL Europe.
“In every football league, there is constant churn. I’m sure every one of these rosters is going to change by the time Week 1 rolls around. They’ll bring in new guys or someone pulls a hamstring, it’s just inevitable.”
XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck on ‘Team 9’ (via XFL.com)
During the unveiling, we learned ‘Team 9′ will not be including kickers, punters or long snappers but will have multiple players from every other positional group. In addition, the team will practice regularly and work with EXOS on strength and condition.
According to XFL.com, for the first two weeks of the season, teams are allowed to bring in Team 9 players but are not required to do so. After week two, it will become a requirement to pull players from Team 9 to fill roster vacancies. The league justifies that by then, all eight teams will have a familiarity with the 40 players on the roster.
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