XFL SVP Of Player Personnel Doug Whaley Talks His Role In the XFL & Role Of The XFL

XFL’s Senior Vice President Of Player Personnel Doug Whaley was a recent guest on the Beyond The Helmet show. They talk about his time as General Manager of the Buffalo Bills, drafting players, and how he got his start in football. They also get into some XFL-related topics. They start talking XFL 25 minutes into the show.

Whaley talks about his role with the XFL is different from being a GM in the NFL.

“It’s different, and it’s a great… I love a new challenge, and the basis of the role is anything that touches the player and the player life cycle I will be overseeing…. the main part of it will be populating the player pool for each individual team to assess and evaluate for their draft…. Instead of looking at like a football GM… we have a 4-3 defense and we’re running a spread offense. Let’s find players for that…. Instead, I need to make sure that there are players in this player pool that can play 4-3 , or 3-4 outside linebackers or four, three Defensive Ends and just stocking it for every type of system that our teams may employ. So that’s the major difference.”

He also talks about how beyond picking players, his role goes further.

 “Let’s talk about a day in the life of a player from when he gets up to go to when he goes to bed. How is that? And let’s make sure we structure that so he can optimize his ability on the football field and not have to worry about a bunch of extraneous things that may affect him. So that okay…. Let’s talk about contracts. How can we structure these contracts so it’s most it’s most advantageous… Can we get the best guys out there that want to play in our League, but also know that if they play well, then they have options to go do something else… Those are the type of things that make this job very exciting and new and challenging.

Whaley then talks about the goal of the XFL.

“Our whole goal is if you’re a fan of football, you should love more football. And we’re just going to be a piece of the football ecosystem for players, coaches, administrators, video directors, anybody that is part of this football ecosystem. Here’s another outlet for you to live out your dream. And that’s what we’re trying to offer people.”

You can watch and listen to the full show here;