Many of the UFL’s top players are returning for the 2025 season, which kicks off on Friday, March 28th. This is a definite plus for a league stabilizing its identity in the football landscape. But there’s added intrigue in the new arrivals participating in the UFL this coming season.
Who will be this year’s Jake Bates, Jalen Redmond, or Adrian Martinez? All of whom are NFL regulars a year after playing in the United Football League. The proof-positive success of these players has shown prospective league participants that the UFL is a viable path to start, continue, and advance your playing career.
The UFL in 2025 will feature several recognizable names trying their hand at Spring Pro Football for the first time. However, one new face will receive considerable attention and could ultimately impact the league’s future in more ways than one.
Kellen Mond, Quarterback, San Antonio Brahmas
College football stars can fade fast in the National Football League. One minute, you are thrilling crowds with electrifying performances; the next, no one will turn the lights back on for you.
The UFL is turning the spotlight back on former Texas A&M star quarterback and NFL draft pick Kellen Mond.
Kellen Mond checks off all the boxes you seek in a non-NFL football league player.
He has the name value to attract attention as a former third-round NFL Draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. That alone brings intrigue and a potentially beautiful redemption arc, a strong trait in the stories that fuel leagues like the UFL.
In addition, Mond is only 25 years old and has the upside to prove his worth. The jury is still out on his prospects as a pro quarterback. However, many have already rendered their verdict despite Mond’s limited opportunity to acquit himself in the pros.
Since starting 44 games in college, Mond has played only ten NFL preseason games. He has been on the roster of four different NFL teams and has attempted just three regular-season passes. In very short order, Mond went from highly touted to quickly forgotten, falling into the “whatever happened to that guy category.”
This all came after he starred at Texas A&M and was named Senior Bowl MVP in the leadup to the 2021 NFL Draft.
Three years after the dual-threat quarterback showcased himself to all 32 NFL teams as a standout prospect at the Combine, Mond was back in Indianapolis as a free agent, throwing passes in an attempt to get an NFL team’s attention again. It was a humbling turn of events for a player who once had believers in his boast that he was the best quarterback in the SEC.
Turning Around San Antonio
Beyond Mond’s potential national interest as a career revival story in the UFL, he can also add value to the league by boosting local interest in San Antonio.
Once upon a time, San Antonio was what St. Louis is today in Spring Pro Football.
Six years ago in the AAF, the original Commanders football team took the city by storm, routinely averaging 27,000 fans per game. Then GM and current UFL VP of Football Ops Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston saw that success firsthand.
When the XFL re-relaunched in 2023, it seemed like a surefire no-brainer to give birth to another San Antonio pro football team at the Alamodome.
Flash forward to today, and the Brahmas have disappointed at the box office the last two years. Last season, the team averaged 11,888 fans in attendance. The decline in interest is undoubtedly tied to the fact that San Antonio was burned by the AAF in 2019.
Four years after the fall of the AAF, what also didn’t help matters in the market’s return was that after 24,245 fans showed up for the Brahmas debut, erroneous reports immediately surfaced that the league was in crisis mode and firing executives. The league’s PR team debunked the story, but the damage was already done. Multiple outlets had picked up on the initial story, making the public perceive that San Antonio’s latest entry in pro football was dead on arrival.
In year three of the Brahmas brand, the arrival of San Antonio native Kellen Mond could help give the UFL the boost it needs in ticket sales and the natural player-to-city connection the league lacks in its markets.
If Mond is a success, beyond bolstering the Brahmas brand, the entire league will benefit—not just in the short term but also in the long term—when attracting other similar players, primarily at the position that matters most for any football team or league: Quarterback.
Mond reviving a dying career and returning to the NFL would serve as a recruitment pitch for all quarterbacks sailing in the same boat as him: fringe NFL signal-callers with no meaningful playing time in sight.
There’s no guarantee that Kellen Mond will accept and meet the challenge of becoming a star pro quarterback in the UFL. Despite his name value and draft pedigree, he must earn the trust of his teammates, head coach Wade Phillips, offensive coordinator A.J. Smith, and the entire San Antonio staff.
But at least in the UFL, he will get a genuine chance to prove himself. Something that eluded him in the NFL.
