XFAlpha Podcast Notes - XFL, NFL, WWE Releases, and Best States

Just in time for the NFL Draft, we have an episode where we break down what we are hoping for our favorite teams, the Vikings and Bears respectively, do with their early picks in the draft. We also give our thoughts on Donald Parham's fit with the Chargers.

As for non-football, we get into where the recent wrestlers from WWE would fit best as well as finally figuring out what Jonah thinks about all 50 states, because I needed to figure out his hate. Still, we start positive with the top five, and by pick five, the man was clearly just blindly reaching for states that he didn't totally hate.

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XFAlpha Podcast - Week 4 Review

Either Jonah and I are in a huge fight or we couldn't get our schedules to line up. You decide. But I'm going solo this week with a review of week four and previewing everything you need to know about week five. My notes and download information are below.

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Defenders vs. VIPERS

Jacques Patrick was a guy I had mentioned as somebody to watch out for, and I’m hoping his performance this week gives him a more significant workload over De’Veon Smith, even though both backs had over 100 yards. 

A lot of fun misdirection in the run game that took advantage of an overzealous defensive line. Imagine how dangerous that would be with a mobile quarterback like the recently retired, Quinton Flowers.

Nothing has changed with Cornelius. He’s still not great, not terrible, but not exciting enough to make the Vipers a contender.

Cardale Jones has not lost a home game in a decade. Let’s not forget that.

I think the Vipers defense is playing better, but the offensive line for the Defenders is a serious liability.

On the defensive side, Rahim Moore and Matt Elam are both showing enough to get another look in the NFL, and I have also been impressed with Tracy Sprinkle who has been able to cause some havoc on the defensive line.

Roughnecks vs. RENEGADES

PJ Walker is not messing around, continues to show that he really is the best quarterback in this league.

Cam Phillips was shut down, but Nick Holley had the chance to shine. I would still be buying on Phillips and doubting any Holley buzz at this point.

Parham is a stud, that ain’t changing. 

Landry Jones is messing around as he just loves to complete passes, no matter what jersey they happen to be wearing. 

Unfortunately, it now appears they are down to Philip Nelson, and the Renegades need to find a new quarterback, either trading for Quinton Flowers, Tyree Jackson, or Johnny Manziel. God, even reuniting Hal Mumme with Tim Couch has got to be better than this.

Wildcats vs. GUARDIANS

Traveling across the country is tough, especially without your best offensive weapon in Nelson Spruce. They didn’t play great, but I think if Spruce is healthy, they probably win this game.

Tre McBride stepped up big time again this week, but their running situation is pretty uninspiring right now.

I do think the Guardians are bad, but they played well enough to get this win over a flat Wildcats team. They are 2-2, tied for the fourth seed, and I have absolutely zero faith that they will make the playoffs.

Dragons vs. BATTLEHAWKS

Quarterbacks are so damn important so it was good to see BJ Daniels get a chance with the Dragons as it seemed to give that team some fire.

The Dragons defense had ten tackles for loss in this game.

I still love my boy De’mornay Pierson-El. 

I’ve been a Jordan Ta’amu skeptic where Jonah has been a hater, but it’s time to just let him be. He’s not the best quarterback in the league, but he’s in the top half of starting quarterbacks, and that makes the Battlehawks title contenders.

I also don’t think this game was as close as the score made it seem as the Battlehawks ran 73 offensive plays and the Dragons ran 42. 

WEEK 5 PICKS

ROUGHNECKS over Dragons - Dragons cover 13.5

RENEGADES over Guardians - Renegades cover -8

DEFENDERS over Battlehawks - Upset special as Battlehawks are favored by 3.5

WILDCATS over Vipers - Wildcats cover 1.5

DFS Picks

QB 

1. PJ Walker - HOU
2. BJ Daniels - SEA
3. Eric Dungey - DAL

RB 

1. Cameron Artis-Payne - DAL
2. Donnel Pumphrey - DC
3. Martez Carter - LA+

WR

1. Tre McBride - LA
1. Donald Parham - DAL
2. Mekale McKay - NY
1. Flynn Nagel - DAL
3. Nick Truesdell - TAM
1. Keith Mumphrey - STL

DEF

1. Dallas
2. LA
3. DC

XFAlpha Podcast - Week 3 Review

We briefly touch on week two games, but I have some extra notes below. We do dive deep into the week three slate of games in this latest episode.

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Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks

James Butler continues to be a touchdown machine with one more this week.

Cam Phillips was a slightly more prominent touchdown machine catching all three of PJ Walker’s touchdowns.

De’mornay Pierson-El and L’Dainian Washington are a pretty damn potent 1-2 combination as receivers and might be my favorite combo in the entire league.

Jordan Ta’amu’s stats look better than the performance again, but I have to give him credit that he has still been better than I expected and deserves to keep starting.

Renegades vs. Wildcats

Nelson Spruce is still a stud, not much else for LA since I’m not inspired by Josh Johnson

Fumbles killed them in this game.

Landry Jones is a huge upgrade, but he may be the slowest player in professional football history. Hell, he may just be the slowest human being in history.

Donald Parham was a guy I was very excited about heading into the season and it seems like Landry Jones liked him too as he was targeted 11 times, only came up with 5 catches, but I think he could have big production moving forward this season. Sean Price ain’t bad either outside of the fumble.

Also, I thought Cameron Artis-Payne was a fairly exciting back for this league so I was a little confused when he didn’t get a lot of play in week one, but he made up for it big time in week two. He’s the real deal, but Lance Dunbar is going to take over on third downs and the pass catching duties, so together they might be the best backfield but still might not be as valuable in fantasy due to the split in duties.

The defensive line for the Renegades is interesting. Gerald Rivers got a sack in this game, and Gelen Robinson, son of The Big Dog had two quarterback hits at defensive tackle. 

Overall, I still think this team is dangerous.

Vipers vs. Dragons

I’m a bigger fan of Taylor Cornelius than most after watching him at the East-West Shrine Game practices, but it’s Quinton Flowers time. I know he had the bad interception on the screen pass, but this team needs the dual threat quarterback to help them generate offense.

This is especially true since the Vipers seem committed to running the ball and have now been effective doing it for the first two weeks of the season. De’Veon Smith was the lead back last week, but Jacques Patrick took more carries this week, and he’s a guy out of Florida State that I could see getting a shot in the NFL as a big back.

How in the fuck can you kick a 20 yard field goal when you are down by 5 in the 4th quarter? Like, at this point, in WEEK TWO, Trestman is just trying to piss me off.

Also, Jalen Collins might be bad. Another long TD given up by him.

The Dragons won this game on defense as I’m starting to think Brandon Silvers is the worst starting quarterback in the league. 

4 sacks and three intercptions were the biggest stories this week. 

Guardians vs. Defenders

Man, the Guardians are super bad too. I think McGloin is better than he showed this week, but that offense is not going to inspire much confidence. And the defense doesn’t seem too impressive either.

For the Defenders, I still love what I’m seeing from Cardale. 

I wasn’t sure about trading away Bradley Sylve, a corner I was super high on, but Anthony Johnson seems worth it as he had 1.5 sacks in his first game with the team.

Weekly Picks

UPSET SPECIAL: Vipers (home) over Roughnecks

Renegades over Dragons (home)

Battlehawks (home) over Guardians

Defenders over Wildcats (home)

Roughnecks vs. Vipers

Cam Phillips is going to the NFL. He just consistently gets open and made some contested catches as well. Strong hands, and he’s destroying the XFL this year.

James Butler is a very good running back, and that’s not just my Hawkeye bias. He averaged over 10 yards per carry, but they only gave him seven carreis. 

DeMarquis Gates is a guy to watch out for. He led the Roughnecks in tackles and had the game clinching interception. 

Taylor Cornelius is the better passer, but Quinton Flowers is the more dangerous player. It’s going to look great at times and awful at others, but it’s time to hand the reigns over to him, especially since the Tampa crowd LOVES Flowers. A lot of Cornelius struggles were caused by miscommunication with his receivers. 

Renegades vs. Dragons

Battle of scrappy white receivers early on with Austin Proehl and Flynn Nagel getting the first scores for their respective teams.

I still think Seattle is the worst team in the league.

I was big on Landry Jones and Donald Parham before the game, and they both delivered as Jones had three touchdowns, with 

Parham caught two of those touchdowns and getting over 100 yards as a tight end. I think he’s already adding a decent amount of separation between him and the rest of the tight ends in the league.

Cameron Artis-Payne looked good again this week with 110 scrimmage yards.

Hau’oli Kikaha got a sack for the Renegades.

Guardians vs. Battlehawks

The Guardians are so boring that I have nothing to say. 

Jonah’s boy Christine Michael is getting outshined by former Redskin Matt Jones. I would expect this to continue.

We said it before the year, and this Battlehawks defense is living up to the hype as they are making opponents’ lives miserable. My boy Kenny Robinson had a great interception so defensive player of the year is not out of the question. 

If I could trade Tyree Jackson to any team, it would be the Battlehawks. Ta’amu has been fine, but I would love to see the outside weapons be allowed to shine with a cannon-armed QB like Tyree.

Defenders vs. Wildcats

Cardale lost a start; my whole word is shaken to the core. I don’t know what to believe in. But unless you hold Cardale accountable for four interceptions, there is no way this loss can be blamed on him. 

Tre McBride and Nelson Spruce are quite the dynamic duo, and Josh Johnson looks like a legitimate XFL QB. 

Martez Carter is a little guy with big production, three touchdowns and may have fully passed Elijah Hood on the depth chart.

I kind of thought there were four good teams and four bad teams, but I feel like the Wildcats might join the Defenders, Renegades, Battlehawks, and Roughnecks and create a fifth good team. 

PICKS

Wildcats over GUARDIANS

BATTLEHAWKS over Dragons

RENEGADES over Roughnecks

Defenders over VIPERS

XFAlpha Podcast Notes - Episode 6

In Episode 5, Jonah and I finally give some personal information about ourselves so you can get a deeper understanding into our football bonafides. More importantly, we hit up the tight ends. This position isn't the sexiest out there, but there are some high upside guys that I'm looking forward to. As always, my notes are below.

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1. Dallas Renegades
1. Sean Price - Tight End at South Florida that scored 5 TDs his senior year in 2015. 
2. Donald Parham - Bounced around some minicamps after not getting drafted in 2019 out of Stetson. He tore it up for Stetson with 85 catches, 1300 yards, and 13 touchdowns in only nine games. 
3. Romello Brooker - Had a solid senior season for Houston with seven TDs in 2018. 
2. Seattle Dragons
1. Jace Amaro - Put up ridiculous numbers for a tight end during his final year at Texas Tech with over 100 catches, 1300 yards, and 7 TDs. He tested out fairly well at the combine and became a second round pick by the Jets. In 2014, he had a good rookie year with 38 catches. Unfortunately, he tore his labrum in 2015 and was waived by the Jets in 2016 before playing a little with the Titans. He didn’t make the Titans roster in 2017 and didn’t make the Chiefs roster in 2018. He did not get a chance in 2019, and a guy with that pedigree will get as many chances as possible, so he’s likely cooked, but he’s definitely the biggest tight end name in the league. 
2. Evan Rodriguez - Graduated from Temple in 2011 where he had a good enough senior year to be drafted by the Bears in the fourth round. He had four receptions in 2012 but never got another catch as he hung in the NFL for another two years. Has a fairly decent rap sheet including allegedly beating up a woman, so even at 31 years old, not really a feel good story. 
3. Cam Clear - Had nine total catches during his career at Texas A+M. Somehow got invited to the combine where he showed that he was very heavy at 277 pounds and nothing else. 
4. Connor Hamlett - Had a good career at Oregon State. But he made it to the pros and all he did was score touchdowns. Literally. He caught one ball as a Brown for a 17 yard touchdown from Charlie Whitehurst, so he is used to catching balls from XFL level talent. 
5. Colin Jeter - Possibly Derek Jeter’s cousin. Caught 23 passes during his LSU career, but he graduated in 2016 which makes him a young buck compared to a lot of his teammates at tight end. 
6. Ben Johnson - Had 30 catches during his senior year at Kansas in 2017. Caught 14 balls on 17 targets in the Alliance and was second in tight end touchdowns, with 2 which got him a shot with the Chargers but he was cut on the final day. Although he was selected last, I think this is my favorite to be Seattle’s starting tight end. 
3. Tampa Vipers
1. Nick Truesdell - Had some big issues in college as he got kicked off the Cincinnati team for stealing from the bookstore, transferred to Grand Rapids and immediately tore his ACL and quit football. But he’s made a comeback. Led all tight ends in receptions in the Alliance with 24 and even more impressively, he did it on just 27 targets. Big issue here is he’s already 29 years old so he’ll start the season older than Gronk was when he played his final game in the NFL. He’s definitely got less wear and tear than Gronk, but he’s probably on the downslope for athleticism. 
2. Cole Wick - Not super productive at Incarnate Word, but ay 6’7” 255, there’s a lot to like about that frame. Got some NFL time with the Lions in 2016 and the Niners in 2018. Was a late cut by the Titans this year. 
3. DeAndre Goolsby - An okay tight end from Florida.
4. Colin Thompson - Didn’t do anything at Temple and graduated in 2016. 
4. Los Angeles Wildcats
1. Brandon Barnes - Has bounced around NFL rosters since 2017 but never been on an active roster.
2. Scott Orndoff - Had a good senior year for the Pitt Panthers in 2016 with nearly 600 yards receiving. Not much of an athlete but has bounced around rosters and is actually currently on the Eagles practice squad. 
3. Cordon Moog - Played at Baylor, played Rugby at Baylor.
4. Johnny Stanton - Nebraska and UNLV backup quarterback trying to become a tight end.
5. DC Defenders
1. Khari Lee - He only put up okay numbers at Bowie State. He was signed by the Texans, then the Bears traded a sixth round pick for him because that’s just what the Bears do. He had one catch for the Bears in 2015, bounced around some more, and got another catch for the Bills in 2018 which gives him some of the most recent NFL experience. 
2. Orson Charles - Georgia tight end who had 45 catches and nearly 600 yards during his senior year in 2011. But I’m not here to talk about that. 35 BENCH PRESS REPS - HELL YEAH - 99th percentile. Who would you rather fight Orson Charles or 8 Tyrann Mathieus? The answer is the Mathieus, because eight of them would still fall three short of Orson’s bench press numbers. He ended up getting drafted in the fourth round by the Bengals. He has been on an active roster every year since outside of 2015 and this current year, but he never topped his eight catches his rookie season. If they made a football as heavy as a medicine ball, he’d be the best tight end in the league. 
3. Adrien Robinson - Wasn’t productive at Cincinnati, but he was productive at the combine as he was in the 90th percentile of tight ends for broad jump, vertical jump and 40 time. The Giants selected him in the fourth round off of that potential, in which he had zero catches his first two years but did get 5 receptions in 2014. Unfortunately, Robinson appears to be an athlete that never really learned the position. 
4. Dimitrios Tsesmetzis - Played at Western Connecticut State.
6. New York Guardians
1. EJ Bibbs - Originally committed to the University of Iowa to attend Tight End U, but couldn’t make the grades, went to Community College, and had to settle for a career at Iowa State. Had a productive two years for the Cyclones, even scoring eight touchdowns his final year. He still went undrafted but signed with the Browns after the draft. He played in seven games for the Browns in 2015 and made one reception. He was cut by the Redskins before the 2017 season and has not been on an NFL roster since. 
2. Keith Towbridge - Played college ball at Louisville and tied for third in receptions in the Alliance. 
3. Jake Powell - He was only able to start five games his senior year for Monmouth. More impressively, he helped the Yankees win the World Series every year from 1936-1939, although that may be a different Jake Powell. 
4. Jake Sutherland - Was just fine at Morehead State. 
7. St. Louis Battlehawks
1. Wes Saxton - Had a great Junior year in 2013 but fell off for his senior year. He showed some strong physical skills at the combine which led to him getting signed by the Jets as a free agent. He played one game with the Jets but recorded no stats, and he has bounced around the league since. He was tied for third in tight end receptions in the Alliance.
2. Connor Davis - Played more offensive line than tight end for Stony Brook. Also might have played more defensive line than tight end in college. 
3. Cole Hunt - Didn’t do much at Rice or TCU in college. 
8. Houston Roughnecks
1. N/A