Today the XFL Draft kicked off at 10am EST taday. Needless to say there were a lot of surprises throughout the day. The St. Louis BattleHawks picked Tyler Gauthier with the 46th overall pick in the OL phase of the Draft. This brought confusion to some fans as Gauthier had recently signed to the Patriots practice squad.

After the draft concluded Coach Hayes was asked how this would impact his pick, and if the team would be able to select another player. Hayes responded that Gauthier is still designated to the BattleHawks and will become available to the team at the conclusion of the Patriots season, or if he is cut. The only thing that would prevent Gauthier from joining the BattleHawks is if he signs a future deal with the Patriots.

This is great and unexpected news from the team. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more. Hayes was also asked if he was surprised that people like Trent Richardson haven’t been drafted yet. He mentioned that there’s still one day left in the draft and teams are going to pick up a lot of guys in that open phase. This seems to confirm that Trent Richardson is still in the draft pool.

Coach Hayes was also asked on if it was different drafting a full team rather then starting with players. He went on to say that fundamentally, no. The goal of drafting is to fill the gaps no matter how large they are. The homework is still the same, the end result is still wins on the field.

On if the team feels more “real” now that they have players Hayes responded, “Yes, without a doubt”. He went on to say “We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully it’s not a freight train.”

Overall today was a great day for the BattleHawks and the XFL in general.