Former ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins among XFL hopefuls at league's showcase
Around the time Manny Wilkins was going through drills Friday afternoon inside a place he knows well, Arizona State football's Dickey Dome practice bubble, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was fielding questions at the team practice facility about his $230.5 million contract extension that became official Thursday.
Murray's dream of NFL success and the vast riches that come with it had come true. Meanwhile, Wilkins was chasing his own football dream just a few miles away in another part of Tempe.
Wilkins, a former ASU starting quarterback who despite going undrafted tasted a little of the NFL while on the Green Bay Packers' practice squad in 2019, is hoping to be part of the draft pool for the second return of the XFL in 2023. That was the goal for the 100-plus players invited to take part in the spring football league's fourth of five player showcases Friday on the ASU campus.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Packers' drafting of quarterback Jordan Love led to Wilkins being released. Since then he's been focusing a lot on making music while keeping in shape.
"This last year, I would say, a year and a half, I've been really focused on getting my body back under me," Wilkins said as he prepared for Friday's workout. "I have a lot to offer to this game."
The original XFL was established by NBC in joint partnership with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment. It lasted one season in 2001, then returned in 2020 under a group led by businesswoman Dany Garcia, former WWE star-turned-A-list actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and investment firm RedBird Capital
COVID shut down league operations a few weeks into the 2020 return season, but owners have targeted February of 2023 for a return of the XFL. To that end, coaching staffs featuring some recognizable names in pro football have been put together and rosters need to be filled via a draft in the fall and potentially, players released from NFL training camps this summer.
The USFL making it through its entire season this year offered hope for the XFL to be successful upon its return. This Sunday, the league will announce the cities that will comprise its eight franchises, as well as the venues in which the teams will play.
Phoenix is not expected to be among the eight. Signs point to San Antonio — like Phoenix a former market for another spring league that did not last a season, the Alliance of American Football of 2019 — getting a team.
"This is the first time that I think the ownership has had this much passion and energy and resources to go into it, to do it the right way. And with DJ (Johnson), you always hear him talking about he didn't make it (in the NFL). So that drives him," said Marc Ross, the XFL's vice president of football operations. "Dany Garcia is the first woman owner of a sports league. And that's what drives her."
Head coaches include Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Rod Woodson, Super Bowl champions Hines Ward, Terrell Buckley and Reggie Barlow, 12-year NFL veteran Anthony Becht and longtime coaches Bob Stoops, Jim Haslett and Wade Phillips.
Woodson suggested the XFL could be a developmental league for the NFL.
"This is the only sport that doesn't have a feeder league from it to the NFL. It's needed. All these coaches who are coaching in the National Football League will tell you it is definitely needed, because there are players who aren't like a year away, maybe two years away, to being able to get to their best, to be at their best to probably get the opportunity to get back to the NFL," Woodson said.
"It's a really good opportunity for guys to not give up on their dreams and give up on something that they've worked towards their whole life," Wilkins said. "I think, for the majority of people these leagues, the USFL, the XFL, these leagues have given another opportunity and another chance for guys to just simply continue to play, man, and play this kid's game for one dollar or for a paycheck."
Nowadays, college football players, with the rise of name, image and likeness (NIL) income opportunities now available to them, can potentially make more money than from the salaries the XFL could offer. That's something Ross addressed.
"That's changed the game with colleges first and foremost, and they're really still trying to figure out what to do once they get to the professional level. Obviously, it'll be a different situation," Ross said. "For us, we'll just have to learn from how colleges deal with it. And if we're in competition for guys wanting to leave college, what we can offer them. But our foundation of what we can give players is pretty strong."
Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Pro football hopefuls get shot at XFL via ASU tryout showcase
