Some made sense. Some were head-scratching. Some were but a blip on the radar. As UFL general managers attempted to improve their teams’ rosters before and during the 2025 season, several trades were made between teams. With the benefit of hindsight, here is a look at every trade consummated and how they turned out for each team.
October 24: Showboats traded LB Jordan Ferguson to the Brahmas for QB Quinten Dormady
The first trade of the off-season was a big one involving, potentially, a starting quarterback. San Antonio leaned on Dormady at times in 2024 to right the ship, and he proved able in that role. About a month after Ken Whisenhunt was named the new Memphis head coach and Jim Monos the new general manager, they traded for Dormady, clearly seeking an upgrade on the team’s quarterbacks from the prior season. However, Dormady proved not to be the answer as he was released early in training camp, once again attracting controversy with claims his release had to do with his union activities; at the time, tension was rising between players and management over contract negotiations.
Ferguson, arguably the top Showboat defender in 2024, seemed like a hefty price to pay for a quarterback who was not necessarily guaranteed to start in 2025. In the end, though, Dormady made it further in camp than did Ferguson, who the Brahmas placed on the reserve/retired list on February 14. While Memphis was able to cobble together some decent starts from its QB room, the Brahmas dearly missed the pass rush that Ferguson could’ve provided.
November 4: Stallions traded CB Jayden Price to the Renegades for DE Jeremiah Martin
This was an odd one, and revealed a quirk of the off-season signing rules. A few days after signing Price, who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024, the Stallions traded him to the Renegades. Why didn’t the Renegades just sign him initially? And why did the Renegades trade Martin on the same day they signed him? According to Pro Football Newsroom’s James Larsen, each UFL team could only claim players from one of four designated NFL franchises, at least for a portion of the off-season. So if the Renegades wanted Price, and the NFL team he was on was not one of the four they were allotted, they would’ve had to do a claim-and-trade, as they did here.
Arlington was the clear winner of this trade, as Price worked his way into the starting lineup and excelled not only on defense but also on special teams as the team’s primary kick and punt returner. In December, Martin was signed to the practice squad of the Green Bay Packers and then at the close of the season, agreed to a reserve/futures contract with them. He was waived/injured in late May and is now a free agent, so the Stallions retain his rights should he choose to enter the UFL next year.
November 5: Defenders traded QB Jalan McClendon to the Roughnecks for CB Kiondre Thomas
Houston was readying itself for a quarterback camp battle in 2025 coming off a disastrous 1-9 season in 2024. Nolan Henderson had already been re-signed, and the team followed that up by acquiring D.C. backup Jalan McClendon. The Defenders squeezed a starting CB out of the deal in Thomas, showing just how much D.C. valued McClendon – and how desperate Houston was to add another capable quarterback.
No price is too high to pay if you end up finding your starter at the position, though, and that’s apparently what happened with Houston here, though they took a circuitous route to get there. McClendon opened the season as QB3 for the Roughnecks, who eventually turned to him as the starter at the midway point of the season. He was able to hang on to the job and lead Houston to a four-win improvement in 2025. Knowing they have their starter under center for 2026 will ease a lot of off-season grief for the Roughnecks.
On the other side, though Thomas was one of only three Houston players to earn an NFL contract following the 2024 season (with the Carolina Panthers), he played mostly a backup role for the Defenders. Even so, he played over 30 snaps per game on defense, primarily as the slot corner. It worked out for both players: After several years in spring football, McClendon finally has a hold on a starting job, and Thomas won a ring in D.C.
November 14: Brahmas traded CB Bryce Thompson to the Defenders for DE Jalen Harris
A little more than a week after acquiring corner help, D.C. general manager Von Hutchins was back at it, snagging Bryce Thompson from San Antonio. Thompson started nine regular season games and both playoff and championship games for the Defenders. Like D.C.’s defense, Thompson’s performance was up and down throughout the season. Harris, who was cut by the Washington Commanders at the end of training camp last year, survived with San Antonio until their final cuts in March. Despite their need for edge help, he was not brought back during the season. The Brahmas may have thought they had more DB depth than they ended up showing on the field in trading Thompson here.
April 7: Roughnecks traded OT Cam Carter to the Panthers for WR Marcus Simms
Every once in a while, spring football produces a trade that leads to some head-scratching from outsiders. This trade produced that reaction from many circles of UFL fandom. I tried my best to analyze this trade at the time it went down. ABC even had Panthers general manager Steve Kazor speak about the trade prior to that next week’s Michigan game, and he pointed out how difficult it is to find offensive line depth at any level of pro football. In other words, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add to his line, even if he had to trade a key offensive player for a backup.
Simms was Michigan’s top receiver in 2024 and through the first two weeks, played nearly 50 snaps per game. So it’s not as if his playing time or production had decreased. The Panthers traded from a position of strength here, as the receiver corps didn’t miss much of a beat without Simms. Players like Jaylon Moore and Siaosi Mariner saw their on-field duties increase after Simms was traded. It was thought that Simms would add some playmaking to Houston’s team; instead, he languished on the bench for much of the season, playing just 52 snaps in five games.
Carter started in week one for Houston but played only 14 snaps, and was active but did not play on offense in week two. In Michigan, Carter worked behind the scenes to acclimate himself to the new scheme before finally playing from scrimmage in week six. From then on, Carter rotated in at right tackle with starter Chim Okorafor, outperforming him in the two post-season games according to Pro Football Focus. He may have played well enough to challenge Okorafor for the starting job next season in camp. What looked like a lopsided deal in favor of Houston may end up working out just fine for Michigan.
April 21: Renegades traded OT Kellen Diesch to the Showboats for G J.D. DiRenzo
The eternal search for offensive line help continued with this swap of reserves. Diesch has been with six NFL teams since entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He signed with Arlington in late January. He only saw the field for three offensive snaps prior to the trade and had become a weekly inactive. In Memphis, Diesch rotated in at tackle for the final six games. DiRenzo started week one at right tackle for Memphis but was then relegated to backup at left tackle, where he saw a healthy amount of snaps the next three weeks. In Arlington, DiRenzo primarily manned the interior, including three starts when center Jake Johanning went down and the line needed to be shuffled. A bit of a “push” here in terms of who won, with Arlington getting the slight nod due to DiRenzo’s starts in powder blue.
April 29: Renegades traded LB Storey Jackson to the Brahmas for DE Ikenna Enechukwu
Arlington general manager Rick Mueller continued to try to improve the team as it chased a playoff berth mid-season. Storey Jackson was a key special teams player for the Renegades in 2024, parlaying that into a NFL contract with the Falcons last year. Returning to Arlington for a second season in 2025, Jackson was again expected to perform as a special teams maven. However, he was a victim of improved depth across the league, and after playing on the third unit in week one, was a weekly inactive for the next four games. In San Antonio, a team looking for defensive help, Jackson was able to participate on D as well as on teams.
Enechukwu played sparingly in San Antonio and was bolted to the bench in Arlington before being unleashed in the last two games of the year. He played a total of 36 snaps across those two contests. This was a depth for depth move, though for San Antonio, it seemed to be more about finding players that could contribute, even in a reserve role, as they had run through several linebackers trying to find players that could slot in behind (or alongside) Jordan Williams and Tavante Beckett at the second level. They may have found that player in Jackson for 2026.
May 5: Showboats traded WR Dee Anderson to the Brahmas for CB Darius Phillips
San Antonio’s quarterback play was shoddy throughout the season, but their receivers did not help as they accumulated the second-most drops in the league per PFF. Dee Anderson was brought aboard late in the season to add some size (6’5″) and a solid pair of hands to the receiver room. He didn’t have much of an impact, catching just four passes in four games, though one was a touchdown. If he returns in 2026, he could end up being one of the top three or four receivers on the team.
Phillips was a four-game starter in San Antonio, but his star quickly faded. After being inactive for week seven, Memphis released Phillips just seven days after trading for him. This certainly has the smell of a situation where something happened behind the scenes that we’re not privy to. It turned out to be a low bar, but San Antonio won this one. Two of Memphis’s high-profile trades, acquiring Dormady and a potential starting CB in Phillips, both fell flat, both for somewhat mysterious reasons.
