Tryouts
For the second week in a row, there were no tryouts reported involving spring football players.
Transactions
Only one transaction, and it wasn’t until Saturday. It was worth the wait for WR Brandon Smith (Defenders), though, as he was signed to the active roster of the New York Jets from their practice squad. He was elevated once this year prior to the promotion.
XFL
*Working his way back from a quad injury, S Elijah Campbell (Defenders) went from a did not practice on Wednesday, to a limited practice Thursday and finally a full practice Friday, ending up with no injury designation on Miami’s week eight injury report. Yet, Campbell was a gameday inactive. Taking his place on punt gunner and jammer duty was a combination of Storm Duck, Ethan Bonner, and practice squad elevation Kendall Sheffield. Notably, Duck and Sheffield both left the game with injuries. If they’re serious, Campbell could get his job back next week – if the Dolphins weren’t just being overly cautious with him coming back from injury this week.
*DT LaCale London (Battlehawks) was inactive in Atlanta’s loss to Miami.
*Atlanta surprisingly suffered a home blowout to Miami. In scoring 10 points, K Parker Romo (Brahmas) didn’t have much to do. He made a 45-yard field goal, perfectly splitting the uprights. He was also good on his only extra point try.
*Like his fellow XFL defensive tackle London, DT C.J. Brewer (Roughnecks) too was inactive for his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
*Handling the long snapping for Baltimore was LS Nick Moore (TB Vipers), who did so without incident.
*Snapping on four field goal attempts, an extra point and two punts was LS Scott Daly (NY Guardians) for Chicago, on the losing end of the battle of XFL long snappers against the Ravens and Moore.
*Practicing tackling is probably not high on the list of priorities for long snappers during training camp or the season. But LS Christian Kuntz (Renegades) had a near-perfect form tackle on Sunday night, stopping Romeo Doubs for a three-yard gain on a punt return. Kuntz was also involved later in the game when tempers flared between his Pittsburgh teammates and the Packers.
*Green Bay’s success offensively against Pittsburgh again limited work for P Daniel Whelan (Defenders). In total, he punted three times for 152 yards (50.7 gross average), with a net of 43.7, landing one punt inside the 20. He’s getting noticeably longer distance on his punts this year on a consistent basis.
*Washington QB Jayden Daniels was sidelined once again on Monday night, resulting in backup duties for QB Josh Johnson (Wildcats). Johnson was active behind Marcus Mariota, but did not play.
USFL
*Buffalo’s run game torched DE LaBryan Ray (Stars) and the Carlina Panthers on Sunday. Ray did not record any stats in playing only 19% of the snaps on defense.
*It was not a banner day for WR KaVontae Turpin (Generals) and the rest of Dallas’s offense against Denver. Turpin caught one pass for negative two yards on five targets. This was accomplished in playing 41% of the offensive snaps. On the brighter side, he returned three kickoffs for 86 yards (28.7 avg.).
*It was a light day for K Brandon Aubrey (Stallions) for Dallas, hitting a short 24-yard field goal and two extra points.
*Denver’s long snapper, LS Mitchell Fraboni (Maulers), had a quiet day.
*The counting stats for DE Jalen Redmond (Renegades) say he had two tackles – one solo and one assist – a QB hit and a tipped pass that ended up in the hands of Josh Metellus for an interception. Not bad, but Pro Football Focus added some other, more impressive, numbers. According to their calculations, Redmond led the Minnesota Vikings with nine pass-rush pressures and was far and away their highest-graded pass rusher on Thursday night, all while playing 86% of the team’s defensive snaps.
*Though he’s near the top of the long snapper tackle standings for 2025, Cleveland’s LS Rex Sunahara (Brahmas) was held without one against New England.
*Missing a 47-yarder wide left was K Andre Szmyt (Battlehawks) for Cleveland, his only field goal attempt of the day. He did connect on an extra point.
*In his first game as a member of the New York Jets’ 53-man roster, WR Brandon Smith (Defenders) played eight offensive snaps for the Jets, as well as one on special teams.
*One of the main highlights from UFL players in week eight was an interception by LB Dondrea Tillman (Stallions), his first career NFL pick. He made a diving snag of a Dak Prescott pass and showed off his moves as he got up and returned it 36 yards. Tillman added three tackles (one solo, two assist) for Denver. He played nearly half the snaps on defense (49%) in addition to 37% on special teams.
*Another game started by Mac Jones meant QB Adrian Martinez (Stallions) once again handled backup duties though, once again, he didn’t play.
*It appears as though K Lucas Havrisik (Renegades) and his two-game audition with the Green Bay Packers has come to an end. Kicker Brandon McManus returned on Sunday night to kick – though he missed two field goal attempts. Nevertheless, McManus is Green Bay’s kicker and while Havrisik was kept on the roster for this week as insurance, he’ll likely be let go this week, perhaps even by the time you read this. It wouldn’t be surprising if he resurfaced somewhere this year as an injury fill-in once again.
Byes: Detroit Lions K Jake Bates (Panthers), CB Nick Whiteside (Battlehawks), RB Jacob Saylors (Battlehawks)
