You see it all the time in pro sports, particularly football. The most successful teams experience the inevitable pitfalls of their prosperity.
The latest example of such is the Detroit Lions. The team’s transformation from moribund to thriving has consequences. In the last two years, Detroit has won 27 games, the most by any NFL team. As a result, other NFL teams are picking off apples from their golden tree.
The Lions have lost their offensive and defensive coordinator to head coaching jobs. All totaled, Dan Campbell’s 2024 staff, which helped produce a 15-win regular season, has seen eight coaches poached. Detroit’s front office remains intact for now but there’s no doubt that the Lions will also lose players during free agency who’ve seen their statuses enhanced, as a result of the franchise’s renaisance.
In this respect, there’s not much difference between the Detroit Lions and The United Football League. Both stand to lose their best through success. It’s an unavoidable outcome but also a sign of growth.
On paper, the UFL is a league comprised of eight individual teams. However, in reality, the league itself, is a singular entity. Consider it, one big franchise.
The most prominent spring pro football league in the United States has seen several of its best contributors in 2024 move on to the NFL and NCAA football programs.
From coaches like St. Louis Battlehawks offensive coordinator Bruce Gradkowski, who landed his first NFL job with the Detroit Lions, to executives like Birmingham Stallions general manager Zachary Potter, who has accepted the GM role at Sacramento State, a position that is evolving in college football.
Then there’s players such as UFL MVP quarterback Adrian Martinez, who spent the entire 2024 season as a continuing member of the New York Jets. On top of that, there’s former Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates, who transferred his newfound stardom in the UFL to the NFL last season with Detroit.
None of this would have happened without the existence of the USFL, XFL, and UFL, the last few years.
A league like the UFL losing some of its best is a byproduct of its quality and shows its value in the football ecosystem. The proof-positive evidence also benefits the league by enticing those who were otherwise dismissive or reluctant to try their hand in a non-NFL league.
During Super Bowl week, League VP of Football Ops Daryl Moose Johnston, in several interviews during Radio Row, openly discussed how current Memphis Showboats head coach Ken Whisenhunt turned down overtures the last few years to coach in the Spring. The success of the UFL and it’s continuing signs of viability has swayed people like Whisenhunt to reconsider and join the league.
More and more established veteran coaches have and will be joining the UFL in the future. But it’s also up and coming coaches who are seeing the benefits of participating in the league.
Look no further than newly christened New York Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. The 42-year old assistant has ascended up the NFL ranks after assuming his first role as a play caller on the pro level with the D.C. Defenders in 2020 under Pep Hamilton.
The success of spring pro football as a pipeline extends to the executive side as well. During the NFL’s annual winter hiring cycle. One name that came up for several General Manager openings was Cincinatti Bengals top personnel whiz Trey Brown. The 39-year-old executive and former player, took a stab at running his own teams in the Spring after being a scout and personnel director with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.
Brown took the plunge in the AAF, as executive VP of Football Ops with the Birmingham Iron, and then in the XFL, as the St. Louis Battlehawks Director of Player Personnel. Brown’s experience in the two leagues, as a one man show, helped him assume his jack of all trades position in a Bengals front office, that has the smallest supporting football ops staff in the NFL.
Brown, who reached the second stage of GM interviews this off-season is destined to assume a grand role as NFL team architect in the near future. His success and rise as a new age do-it-all exec using technology was greatly aided by his time spent in the AAF and XFL. It’s provided a template for others to follow.
On the player side, in the past, Agents have been less likely to reccomend a league like the UFL for their clients. For perspective players, the step to Spring Football has been perceived as a last resort option.
In previous years, USFL, XFL and now UFL team GM’s, coaches and the league’s football operations department have worked feverishly, cold calling agents to make a recruiting pitch. But the tide is turning in that aspect as well. More and more agents are now calling the UFL to convince the league to sign their players. The more successful examples of pro careers being revived or launched will begat more demand to play in the UFL. Thus strengthening the quality of league play.
In sports, the ancient adage is that there are only winners and losers. But perhaps, Gloria Clemente played by Rosie Perez, in the 1992 classic, ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ was on to something when she proclaimed that “Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from which one extracts what one needs”. Because sometimes when you lose, you really win.
The UFL’s short term losses are a part of a natural cycle that can play to their advantage and provide long-term victories.
2 Comments
by Ken Granito
Great to have you back Mike! I missed the consistently good articles and you sticking strictly to a baseline reporting style until there is something to get excited about. That means you report what is real and report fanatically when something big happens. Basically you keep it real….. even if you do prefer the Guardians over the Generals. This article is another job well done. As a Panthers fan as there are no Generals, we were fortunate enough to get Marcus Simms back although we did lose Nate Brooks a true differentiator in the UFL. That stated when you look at the talent, we formerly had, the players most definitely on a “last resorts” type basis, the league coached them up giving them an opportunity in the NFL. As we have many more gains than losses, I would say we are ahead in the talent game as compared with where we were 3 years ago. I still find the UFL with its issues as they look for talented running backs and quarterbacks as well as tight ends. As I feel the quarterback situation is actually by far and away the best it has ever been. I am looking for a #2 quarterback for DC and I think the most probable at this time is Case Cookus a very capable #2. I am surprised at the long list of Josh Rosen’s that are free agent quarterbacks. Yes I did use Josh Rosen in that manner. He made ton’s of money in the NFL and really doesn’t want to play football so he never chased any of the alt leagues. Add on Nathan Peterman, Nate Sudfeld, Jacob Eason, Jake Luton as quarterbacks who MAY NEVER PLAY FOOTBALL AGAIN and they don’t care. I cannot believe that not one from that group signed with the UFL. I guess they weigh the opportunity of getting hurt or performing poorly and this being tantamount to sitting another season on the sidelines or unemployed. There is a reason why Josh Johnson is respected. It’s because when he had the chance to play he took it and he found something. Some little thing he was missing while he was sitting for his 1st ten teams. It’s ok. these guys will sit at home, some will get signed like Chris Oladakun and Ian Book, but they won’t play. It was like when Clayton Thorson was 3rd string and got overlooked to play after injuries to the top two as they signed a more experienced QB. He hated it SO much he took the next chance and signed with the USFL. Maybe not the best example to read here, but to me, e is a REAL football player and before his injury, he threw for a league lead 10 passes at the time of his injury. Unfortunately the Gamblers were not the class of the league, but he made a difference to all the players that were on that team and I remember him four years later, so for me i have respect for Clayton Thorson. Yes the league gets better and when they have 10 teams more opportunities, let’s just hope as Taylor Swift says….hope “the players want to play”.
by Ken Granito
* Clayton Thorson had a league high 10 TD passes. I had skipped “TD” so that was quite an accomplishment.