By Brian Gertler
With training camp just under a couple of weeks away, and 75-man camp rosters starting to take shape, it’s time to start thinking about what a potential starting lineup could look like going into the March 30th season debut in Detroit. Given the current signed and unsigned roster spots, here is a projection of what the 2024 Battlehawks starting offensive lineup could look like:
QB: AJ McCarron
Though nothing has been officially confirmed, it’s safe to say that hints have been dropped at McCarron’s return. On Tuesday, Coach Anthony Becht tweeted a meme with a caption “breaking news!”. The tweet was quickly deleted about 20 minutes later. At 6pm on Tuesday, the UFL released their daily transaction report that stated that Battlehawk’s QB Nick Tiano was waived from the team. Wednesday afternoon, McCarron was officially released from the Bengals roster. While speculation leads most to believe that a McCarron return is inevitable, it hasn’t come without a doubt. McCarron has voiced his concerns about the league’s union issues while also highlighting his frustration with how the merger negatively affected the XFL players’ side. The only QB on the Battlehawk roster is Manny Wilkins from Arizona State. Wilkins was a back up to Tiano and McCarron in the 2023 season and signed his UFL contract recently as a roster member from the dispersal draft. While there is still a small glimmer of hope that McCarron returns, we have to accept that Manny Wilkins is the QB1 until further notice.
RB: Wayne Gallmam
With the surprise loss of Max Borghi to his “retirement,” the Battlehawks found some relief at the running back position when they signed NFL veteran Wayne Gallman. At the ripe old age of 29, Gallman is aging out of a position that requires speed and explosiveness consistently. However, with the increasing popularity of the backfield-by-committee approach to the position, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gallman assigned to early-down and goal-line work while mixing in Mateo Durant and Kevon Latulas throughout drives.
WR: Jahcour Pearson, Hakeem Butler, and Darius Shepherd
Considered to have had the best wide receiver room in the XFL in 2023, the Battlehawks should be ecstatic about the addition of the former Seattle Sea Dragon Jahcour Pearson. It’s important to note that Pearson has yet to sign his UFL contract, but there has been little news to point to him not signing. Pearson led the XFL in targets, receptions, and receiving yards in 2023 while St. Louis’ Hakeem Butler was second in each of those categories. Butler also led the league in receiving touchdowns while Darius Shepherd tied for second. Simply put, the best just got better.
TE: Kemore Gamble
While the tight end position was rarely used in the 2023 Battlehawk’s spread-style offense, it would be a shame to not take advantage of rookie Kemore Gamble out of UCF. Gamble, who was drafted in the pre-merger XFL rookie draft in June 2023, is the only tight end on the roster from a power five conference. Gamble had a productive junior year at Florida with 414 yards and 4 touchdowns before transferring to UCF in 2022 to finish his collegiate career with a modest 7 receptions on the year. While Jake Sutherland is considered a fan favorite, his blocking skills were highlighted as his only strength due to the lack of tight end targets in the Battlehawk’s offensive scheme.
OL: Same as 2023 PLUS Abdul Beecham
In a rather interesting sequence of events, the Battlehawks retained every member of their starting offensive line except Jaryd Jones-Smith who signed a practice squad contract with the Washington Commanders last season. Except for maybe one or two rookies replacing some depth and Abdul Beecham (obtained in the dispersal draft from the Orlando Guardians) taking a starting guard position, I can see this line maintaining an almost identical starting lineup.