The UFL 2025 season kicks off three weeks from today when the St. Louis Battlehawks square off against the Houston Roughnecks on Friday night, March 28th, at TDECU Stadium.
The United Football League has many new faces and some familiar names returning this season. However, some league standouts—players who have made their mark in spring pro football for multiple seasons — surprisingly remain unsigned as of press time.
A lot can change between now and the start of the 2025 season, and as is always the case in football, injuries will occur that create roster openings. For example, the recent departure of San Antonio running back Hassan Hall in training camp opened the door for one of the league’s most exciting playmakers, Anthony McFarland, to return to the Brahmas.
Change is inevitable from year to year, and age often plays a significant role. In the last year, the UFL lost some of its best players to retirement, including linebacker Scooby Wright, wide receiver/returner Darrius Shepherd, and tight end Cody Latimer.
Pro Football is a young man’s game, understandably so. Not surprisingly, the average age of a UFL player is 25; in the NFL, it’s 26. But there is always value on the field and off in veteran players.
With that in mind, here are a few established unsigned spring league vets who would make excellent additions to a UFL team this coming season.
Top Unsigned Veteran UFL Free Agents For The 2025 Season
Quarterback: A.J. McCarron
You see this happen all the time in the NFL: a proven veteran starting quarterback goes into a season unsigned, and the only realistic course of reentry is if a team incurs a significant injury or two at the position.
Joe Flacco came off the couch two years ago to save Cleveland’s season. Last year, Ryan Tannehill was consistently mentioned for potential job openings but ultimately never landed a spot anywhere.
Will A.J. McCarron’s outcome in 2025 be that of Flacco’s or Tannehill’s? At 34 years old, this could be the end of the road for him. The former Alabama standout seems to be edging toward retirement after an unceremonious exit from St. Louis. McCarron and his wife, Katherine Webb, run a real estate company, and the talk is that he is looking to enter the podcast world.
But what if the opportunity to go out on his terms presents itself? Last year, during an appearance on the McCready and Siskey Podcast, McCarron said he was not done playing in the UFL and wanted to “come back with a vengeance” in 2025.
It’s unlikely that McCarron would consider returning to the UFL as a backup, much like former starters like Case Cookus, who recently signed on to be third string with the Birmingham Stallions. Perhaps no door will open for McCarron, and even if it does, he may not want to re-enter the fray, but the possibility remains.
Defensive Linemen: Toby Johnson
For all the talk about the value of leagues like the UFL in providing a springboard to or back into the NFL. By default, these leagues have provided the opportunity, against all odds, to carve out fully fledged playing careers.
That’s precisely what the self-made Toby Johnson has done in his journey: from being a community college player to landing a spot with the prestigious Georgia Bulldogs and then making his way onto six different NFL teams as an undrafted free agent.
But it wasn’t until the reincarnation of prominent spring pro football in the XFL at the turn of the decade that Johnson fully displayed his talents as a major contributor.
That’s what Johnson has done in XFL 2020 with the New York Guardians, as a two-time All-USFL player with the New Jersey Generals, and last season with the Houston Roughnecks, where he was the third-highest graded interior defensive lineman by Pro Football Focus, earning an 85.5 overall grade.
In between the last five years, after COVID shut down the XFL in 2020, Johnson took his talents to the indoor game in 2021, winning a championship with the Mass Pirates as a first-team All-Indoor Football League player. The detour to the IFL and his success demonstrated Johnson’s love for football and adaptability.
At 33 years of age, the 6’3, 320-pound Johnson showed last season that he had plenty left in the tank in a challenging campaign for the 2024 Houston Roughnecks. He should be on a UFL team as a veteran leader.
Running Back: Mark Thompson
In football, falls from grace are a common occurrence. In an instant, you can go from being a world beater to no one beating your door down, as in the case of 2023 USFL Offensive Player of the Year Mark Thompson.
At one point, Thompson, the polarizing former Florida Gator, was arguably the most dynamic skill player in the Spring. Top UFL executive Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston singled him out in multiple media appearances as the USFL’s best pound-for-pound player. In 2022 and 2023, Thompson lived up to the hype. The 240-pound slasher was a problem for defenses on the field.
Off the field, problems followed Thompson, much as they had in college. However, what ultimately led to his current position without a team was an uneven performance for Houston last season, where he averaged 3.4 yards per carry. Thompson missed time in 2024 with a knee sprain and was nowhere near the player he was in 2023, when he rushed for 14 touchdowns and nearly 700 yards in eight games.
If his head’s on straight, and a UFL team is willing to gamble on him. The now 30-year old Thompson could get a shot to recapture his star form from when he was a Gambler.
Edge Rusher: Davin Bellamy
As was proven in the Philadelphia Eagles SuperBowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs when they sacked Patrick Mahomes six times, you can never have enough pass rushers. 30-year-old edge-rushing veteran Davin Bellamy remains unsigned despite being one of spring pro football’s best pass rushers.
An All-USFL standout for the New Orleans Breakers and an All-XFL player for the D.C. Defenders, Bellamy is coming off an up-and-down season in the UFL last year, where he only registered 1.5 sacks, being used in a rotational system.
The former Georgia Bulldog, who has made his way into the broadcasting realm, has much to prove after last season. Maybe he will get one last shot to do it.
Kicker: Luis Aguilar
Perhaps no player in the Spring has seen his star fade faster than former Philadelphia Stars kicker Luis Aguilar.
Two years ago, the former Northern Arizona standout tied the pro football record with eight field goals in one game, including a game-winning 55-yard field goal at the gun in a Stars victory over the New Jersey Generals during the 2023 USFL season. It was a fantastic performance by Aguilar, who booted three field goals over fifty yards in the contest in a perfect eight for eight outing.
In a league featuring future NFL All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey, Aguilar was named first-team All-USFL in 2023 after connecting on 25 of 29 field goals. Aguilar would end up a member of the Houston Roughnecks after the Stars were disbanded for the UFL merger. But the Roughnecks would hand the kicking reins to J.J. Molson before last season started.
Aguilar, soon to be 27, tied a pro football record but is currently without a professional job. Hopefully, like the other veterans on this list, he gets another shot to shine, like he did in the Spring as a Star.
Other Key Unsigned Veterans: Quarterback Josh Love, Running Back Darius Victor, Linebacker Reggie Northrup, Kicker Taylor Russolino, Offensive Lineman Mark Kaskey, Fullback Mason Stokke
1 Comment
by Ken Granito
I have commented on this before. I realize there are only 400 players in the league, at least once the regular season begins. That stated I wonder how much of these players remain free agents due to some type of collusion. The teams have their own GMs and coaches, but the league is an ownership group owns every team. I just wonder what impact that has toward signing veteran players. I can think of many more players that at the end of last season did not look like they were done yet are not on teams and that is in addition to the player you wrote about.