The team here at the XFL News Hub took their crack at an office fantasy league. Eight managers, twelve rounds, and ten-weeks of competition between some of the most intense online journalists the XFL has ever seen. You have some owners that have followed the league since its inception in 2018, some were big fans of the Alliance of American Football from last Spring, and others, or probably just me, haven’t done anything but NFL Fantasy and will certainty struggle their way through every round.

The Draft Order: Randomly generated, by the way.

Team Lombardo – Brian Lombardo

Ross and Spruce 2020 – Matthew Shapiro

Team Nagashima – Matt Nagashima

America’s Team – Zak Shrum

X-Men – Konnor Fulk

Walker Texas Roughneck – Mike Mitchell

Carolina Reapers 2021 – Adam Pelletier

Team Perry – Mark Perry

This is also an interesting way to get to know and follow some of the highly talented writers the site has to offer. So go ahead and click on their names to see their Twitter accounts where they’ll have even more XFL news and analysis in 140-characters or less.

The (Real) Draft

It was a traditional snake draft so since I had the first overall pick, I did not select again until 16. The positional breakdown went as followed: 1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 DEF, 1 K. Flex could be a RB/WR/TE, similar to NFL fantasy. Here’s how the draft played out:

Round One

Christine Michael, RB Rashad Ross, WR Sammie Coates, WR Jazz Ferguson, WR Cameron Artis-Payne, RB Jhurell Pressley, RB Kenneth Farrow, RB Cardale Jones, QB

Takeaways: In our league where you only get ONE starting running back slot, it was important to go out and get your guy. Four running backs went, and the first quarterback in Cardale Jones who should be a force with the DC Defenders. Besides that, some of the big name receivers were taken, but there is still plenty of value all over the board.

QB Cardale Jones of the DC Defenders (via Twitter @XFLDefenders)

Round Two

Lance Dunbar, RB De’Veon Smith, RB Mekale McKay, WR Landry Jones, QB Floyd Allen, WR Elijah Hood, RB Nelson Spruce, WR Simmie Cobbs, WR

QB Landry Jones

Takeaways: More of the same here, teams that didn’t go running back went running back. Only two teams went WR/WR. Also the second quarterback came off the board in Landry Jones, who many expect to have a real shot at winning XFL MVP.

Round Three

Nick Truesdell, TE Tim Cook, RB Matt McGloin, QB Eli Rodgers, WR Reece Horn, WR Phillip Walker, QB De’Mournay Pierson-El, WR Brandon Barnes, TE

Takeaways: The first tight end came off the board, and for good reason. Truesdell is easily the top TE in the league and was treated as such in the draft. After Truesdell the fantasy upside in available tight ends falls off, but there is still TE’s with targets to be had.

Round Four

Donnel Pumphrey, RB Jeff Badet, WR Kahlil Lewis, WR De’Angelo Henderson, RB Donald Parham, TE Matt Jones, RB Josh Johnson, QB Keith Mumphrey, WR

QB Josh Johnson

Takeaways: There was some real value out there in the fourth round, Pumphrey and Badet are big gets for their respective teams. And you see now five teams have drafted quarterbacks, only three without.

Round Five

Aaron Murray, QB Tre McBride, WR Evan Rodriguez, TE DC Defense Khari Lee, TE Trey Williams, RB Jordan Ta’Amu, QB DeAndre Thompkins, WR

Takeaways: The first defense comes off the board in round five, which is definitely early for drafting. But two other teams select QBs, making rounds four and five hotbeds for a run on quarterbacks.

Round Six

Seantavius Jones, WR Dallas Defense Ja’Quan Gardner, RB Adonis Jennings, WR Sam Mobley, WR Jordan Smallwood, WR Austin MacGinnis, K Darius Victor, RB

Takeaways: This round was mostly teams building on their depth. The first kicker came off the board, again that’s early for drafting.

Round Seven

Jalen Tolliver, WR Joshua Crockett, WR Andre Williams, RB Sergio Castillo, K Kasen Williams, WR Connor Cook, QB EJ Bibbs, TE Marquis Young, RB

Takeaways Another kicker, a second-QB and some more depth. If you selected a quarterback you don’t feel massively talented in, it could be a good time to get a second one, especially one that has the chance to become the starter on his team.

Round Eight

Jerrod Heard, WR Flynn Nagel, WR Cam Phillips, WR Brandon Silvers. QB Romello Brooker, TE Houston Defense Connor Davis, TE Dontez Byrd, WR

Takeaways: Some of the players picked in this round have good potential. I think Brandon Silvers and Dontez Byrd could do good things for the Seattle Dragons offense. Another defense comes off the board, making a total of three, so a run could be coming.

Round Nine

Quinton Flowers, QB Chad Kanoff, QB Freddie Martino, WR Carl Whitley, WR L’Damian Washington, WR Wes Saxton, TE Adrien Robinson, TE DeAngelo Yancey, WR

Takeaways: Flowers is an extremely intriguing pick in round nine. Since I drafted him, I probably could have waited another round, but I got him to handcuff my QB situation with Murray in Tampa Bay. Beside that, more WR3 and TE2 options coming off the board.

QB Quinton Flowers of the Tampa Bay Vipers (via Twitter @XFLVipers)

Round Ten

Alonzo Moore, WR Justin Stockton, RB Keenan Reynolds, WR New York Defense James Quick, WR Nick Novak, K Los Angeles Defense Daniel Williams, WR

Takeaways: Another kicker and two defense, meaning most of the good options at those positions are off the board. Daniels Williams from Tampa Bay was named starter in week one, so there is still value out there in double-digit rounds.

Round Eleven

Tampa Bay Defense Jacques Patrick, RB Taylor Heinicke, QB Austin Walter, RB Matthew McCrane, K Taylor Russolino, K Andrew Franks, K Brandon Reilly, WR

Takeaways: Teams mostly filled their last need between kicker and defense. Beside that some stabs at finding late round value in some skill positions.

Round Twelve

Darnell Holland, RB St. Louis Defense Seattle Defense Sean Price, TE Deion Holliman, WR Jalen Rowell, WR Jordan Smallwood, WR James Butler, RB

Takeaways: More of the same, filling your last needs. Mr. Irrelevant was my pick, and I’ll be honest it was on auto-pick leaving me without a kicker. My first move was picking up DC’s kicker and dropping Butler.

So what did the owners think of their draft, and their first crack at XFL Fantasy?

Team Lombardo: I’ll give you my take first: The XFL is going to be a learning curve for football fans. This isn’t the NFL and this isn’t NFL Fantasy. There isn’t twelve-to-fifteen good options at running back and quarterback. There’s even less at tight end. If XFL fantasy is going to succeed it will need a dedicated platform, the one we drafted on, AltFantasySports, isn’t that yet. But all-in-all a fun experience and hopefully an interesting year.

Walker Texas Roughnecks, Mike Mitchell: A season-long fantasy football league for a first-year league can be challenging. Credit to AltFantasySports for making the option available. The site however, feels like a first year fantasy site. Something that may have been around two decades ago. This was my second draft on the site. This time amongst my fellow group of writers at XFL News Hub. My draft went pretty well. With the ability to only start two RB’s in this league. I was happy to land Jhurell Pressley at sixth overall. As I have mentioned in interviews with XFL Chalk Talk and others. I am all in on the Houston passing game. I handcuffed Phillip Walker with Connor Cook and drafted two Roughneck receivers in Kahlil Lewis and Cam Phillips. The key to any XFL fantasy draft will be getting star players who can produce at a high level on a weekly basis. I think Mekale McKay is a lock to do so at receiver. Jaquan Gardner is one of my sleeper picks. He’s in a crowded backfield in Seattle but he’s someone that I wanted on my bench because of his upside. WR is the deepest position in these drafts and you can land gems late in the process. I really like Keenan Reynolds as a flex option because of his versatility.

Ross and Spruce 2020, Matthew Shapiro: Well I auto picked and my team isn’t very good. Fortunately, I added some players to my queue before hand so I have a couple good players. Looks like I’m going to make some magical trades happen. The site did auto pick someone who got cut in January. But should be a fun season and can’t wait to compete!

America’s Team, Zak Shrum: I only got to draft 2 players and then I had to auto draft. It wasn’t the best site for fantasy. Very frustrating ending up with a Dallas heavy roster. But I am excited to make some moves and make a run at a championship!

Closing Remarks

Of course, doing a fantasy draft for a league that hasn’t played a game before with players that even most hardcore football fans haven’t heard much about. The league will need to build it’s own stars with a model similar to that of college football, team’s have their coaches and identities but retool constantly seeing their top players moving on to higher levels. I will personally be pulling for XFL Fantasy to take off because it can be the driving force behind league-wide ratings, and if the league succeeds so will XFL News Hub and trust me, neither of us want to go six months without professional football ever again.

Also check out AltFantasySports.com for XFL Fantasy like XNH did.