Resurrection of the USFL

After 37 years, the United States Football League (USFL) returns to life this weekend in Birmingham, Alabama.  The league returns with the Birmingham Stallions, Tampa Bay Bandits, Pittsburgh Maulers, New Jersey Generals, New Orleans Breakers, Houston Gamblers, Michigan Panthers and Philadelphia Stars playing all of their games in Birmingham.

I am not sure why they decided to play their entire return season in Birmingham instead of the various franchise cities, but sources say this is to test the market and save money to see if the USFL can be a viable market.

The "new" USFL is actually not affiliated with the league which play in the spring from 1983-1985.  There were some lawsuits filed from the old USFL to keep the new league from using the same teams; however, it seems the new league is moving ahead with the season which kicks off this weekend.

The Birmingham Stallions and New Jersey Generals will kick off the season on April 16th.  The game will be broadcast by Fox and NBC.  Each team will play a 10-game schedule with the playoffs and championship game to be held in Canton, Ohio, at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

The league will not compete with the NFL to fill their rosters as the former USFL did in the 80s.  The teams will be made up of players who were cut from NFL teams or undrafted from college.  Here are a few notable players who will be given another chance in the USFL:

Michigan Panthers

Paxton Lynch, QB: Lynch was a former first-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2016. He only appeared in five games in the NFL. He had 792 passing yards and four touchdown passes.

New Orleans Breakers

Taywan Taylor, WR: Taylor played for the Browns and the Tennessee Titans from 2017 to 2020. He had 53 catches for 697 yards and two touchdowns.

Chad Williams, WR: Williams was in the NFL for three seasons. He was with the Cardinals and Colts for a total of 17 games between 2017 and 2019. He had 20 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown.

Birmingham Stallions

Josh Shaw, CB: Shaw was a standout at USC before being a fourth-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well. He was with the Arizona Cardinals when he was suspended for gambling on NFL games in 2020. He was reinstated in 2021.

Scooby Wright III, LB: Wright was a seventh-round pick of the Browns in 2016. He made his debut with the Cardinals later that year. He played 13 games for Arizona and had seven tackles.

Here are the coaches for the USFL teams and their coaching resumes:

Birmingham Stallions:  Skip Holtz
College - UConn, South Carolina, East Carolina, South Florida, Louisiana Tech, Colorado State, Notre Dame, and Florida State
Houston Gamblers:  Kevin Sumlin
College - Arizona, Texas A&M, Houston, Oklahoma, Purdue, Minnesota, Wyoming
Michigan Panthers:  Jeff Fisher
NFL - Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams
New Jersey Generals:  Mike Riley
NFL - San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints
College - Oregon State, Nebraska, USC, Cal, Whitworth, Linfield, Northern Colorado
AAF - San Antonio
CFL - Winnipeg
WLAF - San Antonio
XFL - Seattle
New Orleans Breakers:  Larry Fedora
College - Austin, Baylor, Air Force, Middle Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma State, Southern Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas
Philadelphia Stars:  Bart Andrus
NFL - Tennessee Oilers/Titans, St. Louis Rams
College - Ottawa, Feather River, Rocky Mountain, BYU, Humboldt State, Montana State, Southern Utah
NFL Europe - Amsterdam
CFL - Toronto
UFL - Omaha
Pittsburgh Maulers:  Kirby Wilson
NFL - New England Patriots, Washington, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders
College: Pasadena City, Los Angeles Southwest, Southern Illinois, Wyoming, USC, Iowa State
Tampa Bay Bandits:  Todd Haley
NFL - Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, New York Jets  

There are also some interesting rules that the USFL will feature such as:

Teams will have three options to attempt a point(s) after touchdown:

• PAT kick from the 15-yard line
• Two-point conversion from the two-yard line
• Three-point conversion from the 10-yard line 

Overtime will consist of teams attempting three alternating two-point tries; whoever has the most points after the three tries will be the winner. If still tied after three attempts, overtime becomes sudden death and the next successful attempt ends the game. Coin toss will be called by the visiting team; whoever wins the toss can choose to go on offense or defense. One timeout can be called per try.

Two forward passes from behind the line of scrimmage are legal; this rule was originally introduced in the XFL in 2020. It will also mean that a pass batted back to the quarterback can be thrown again.

An offensive lineman may advance downfield on a forward pass play in which the pass does not cross the line of scrimmage.

Defensive pass interference will be penalized similar to college football (15-yard penalty or spot foul if within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage), but if it is determined the defensive player intentionally interfered with the receiver the penalty will be a spot foul similar to the NFL rule. No pass interference foul will be called if the ball fails to cross the line of scrimmage.

Each coach will be allowed one replay challenge per game; he will lose a timeout if he fails, but keep it if successful, in addition to one more challenge. All challenges and replay reviews will take place at Fox's facilities in Los Angeles. Replay challenges are automatic in last two minutes of half and overtime, besides scoring plays and turnovers, as in the NFL.

All kickoffs will be from the kicking team's 25-yard line. No kicking team member may line up any farther back than one yard, while the receiving team must have at least eight players in the setup zone between their 35 and 45.  If an untouched kick becomes dead, the ball belongs to the receiving team at that spot.

A kicking team may not recover or touch its own kickoff beyond 20 yards from the spot of the kick.

A trailing team can choose to execute either an onside kick under standard rules or, in lieu of a kickoff, attempt to gain 12 yards on a scrimmage play from the offense's 33-yard line, mirroring a similar rule used in the AAF in 2019 and Fan Controlled Football in 2021.

On punts, gunners may not line up outside the numbers and they cannot be double-team blocked until the ball is kicked.

The clock will stop for first downs after the two-minute warning in the second and fourth quarters, similar to the rule the previous incarnation of the league used.

There will be no chain crew. Instead, a microchip will be inserted into each football and will use a proprietary technology similar to the NFL's Next Gen Stats to pinpoint the location of the ball. 

So, the big question is:  will the USFL succeed where others - including their predecessor - failed?

The bottom line is how much money the league is willing to lose.  Fox Sports owns the league and has reportedly committed $150 million–$200 million over three years to its operations, with plans to attract an additional $250 million from investors.  In the most recent past, two other leagues have failed.  When the first USFL launched in 1983, it actually lasted for three seasons before owners, led by Donald Trump attempted to move the league to a fall schedule to compete directly with the NFL.  That ultimately doomed the first USFL.  

If they have learned from the failures of the past, this version of the USFL has a chance.  I have also thought that if a spring league could eventually align itself as a developmental league for the NFL that it could be the right fit.