On some level, the intrigue factor surrounding the Alliance of American Football was already there.

A new professional football league made up of eight teams — including the Memphis Express — that will play four games per weekend, starting the Saturday after the Super Bowl, for 10 weeks.

A league run by Charlie Ebersol, whose father, Dick, is a former president and chairman of NBC Sports, and Bill Polian, an NFL Hall of Famer who served as general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts.

A league seeking to revolutionize how the game is consumed by offering "high-quality professional football fueled by a dynamic alliance between players, fans and the game."

High-profile names such as Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Jared Allen and Justin Tuck each have roles in the AAF, adding credibility to the league that features head coaches such as Mike Singletary (Express), Steve Spurrier (Orlando Apollos) and Brad Childress (Atlanta Legends).

But, on Tuesday, things got a lot more interesting for most teams when the league held its inaugural four-round pick-or-protect quarterback draft. Perhaps no team walked away from the draft in better shape than Memphis.

The Express elected to protect Troy Cook, who had already been allocated to them, with their first-round choice. They followed that up by selecting Christian Hackenberg, a former Penn State star who has bounced around the NFL a bit after being drafted in the second round by the New York Jets in 2016. Memphis added former Troy standout Brandon Silvers in the third round, and closed things out by picking Zach Mettenberger, the former Tennessee Titans starting quarterback who had previously been allocated to the Express.

Memphis Express schedule: AAF inaugural season includes five home games

Memphis General Manager Will Lewis left the draft feeling optimistic but will maintain tempered expectations until the team holds its three-day minicamp, set for Dec. 7-11 in the Bluff City.

“You want to feel good about it moving forward,” he said. “Obviously, time will tell. A lot of those real decisions won’t get made until you get on the field. Going in, though, you like the idea you’ve created competition at some key spots.

“We’ll see who steps up from there at quarterback once we get into camp.”

Following minicamp, the Express will head to San Antonio for the leaguewide, three-week long training camp, which begins Jan. 2. Earlier this month, the AAF’s quarterbacks worked out in front of the league’s coaches and general managers at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

It was there that Singletary and David Lee, the Express’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, formulated their plan for this week’s draft.

“We were really looking for the best situation that really fit us,” Singletary said. “We thought Troy was the guy within the first few picks that would have the chance to give us the arm, the smarts and everything we need in order to win and operate our offense.”

The lone quarterback allocated to Memphis it lost in the draft was former Arkansas star Austin Allen, who was drafted by the Salt Lake Stallions in the third round.

Lewis has high hopes for next week’s minicamp.

“That’s really the first opportunity to get everybody together,” he said. “Coaches will introduce their scheme. Players will digest it, see how it’s going to work with them. We’ll figure out who can absorb the playbook and handle the installation.

“For the first time, we’ll take a real good look at our roster.”

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