THREE FORMER ROUGHRIDERS TAKEN IN ALLIANCE LEAGUE DRAFT
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| Daniels, Williams, Sims |
The Alliance of American Football begins its inaugural season in 74 days, and on Tuesday night the league held its first-ever Protect or Pick Quarterback Draft.
Three former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterbacks were selected. None of them spent significant time with the Riders, nor made an impact on the field.
Draft rules
Dozens of players have already signed to the league’s eight franchises, but quarterbacks are assigned in the draft. Any quarterback already signed to the Alliance is eligible to be selected in the draft, which uses a “Protect or Pick” format. All signed quarterbacks are also allocated to the team located closest to their college or last NFL or CFL team before the draft.
Round 1
San Diego Fleet: Josh Johnson (protected)
Atlanta Legends: Aaron Murray (protected)
Memphis Express: Troy Cook (protected)
San Antonio Commanders: Dustin Vaughan (protected)
Birmingham Iron: Luis Perez
Arizona Hotshots: Trevor Knight
Orlando Apollos: Garrett Gilbert
Salt Lake Stallions: Josh Woodrum
Round 2
San Diego Fleet: Mike Bercovici
Birmingham Iron: Blake Sims
Arizona Hotshots: John Wolford
Orlando Apollos: Stephen Morris
Atlanta Legends: Matt Simms
Salt Lake Stallions: B.J. Daniels
Memphis Express: Christian Hackenberg
San Antonio Commanders: Marquise Williams
Round 3
San Antonio Commanders: Logan Woodside
Memphis Express: Brandon Silvers
Salt Lake Stallions: Austin Allen
Atlanta Legends: Peter Pujals
Orlando Apollos: Austin Appleby
Arizona Hotshots: Quinn McQueary
Birmingham Iron: Scott Tolzien
San Diego Fleet: Philip Nelson
Round 4
San Antonio Commanders: Dalton Sturm
Memphis Express: Zach Mettenberger
Salt Lake Stallions: Matt Linehan
Atlanta Legends: Justin Holman
Orlando Apollos: Kevin Anderson
Arizona Hotshots: Jack Heneghan
Birmingham Iron: Alek Torgersen
San Diego Fleet: Alex Ross
HEAD COACHES
Atlanta Legends: Brad Childress (Michael Vick is the offensive coordinator)
Arizona Hotshots: Rick Neuheisel
Birmingham Iron: Tim Lewis
Memphis Express: Mike Singletary
Orlando Apollos: Steve Spurrier
Salt Lake Stallions: Dennis Erickson
San Antonio Commanders: Mike Riley
San Diego Fleet: Mike Martz
CBS will air the league’s debut game on Feb. 9, 2019, one week after Super Bowl LIII on CBS. The network will also carry the Alliance of American Football’s championship game on the final weekend of April 2019. One regular-season Alliance game will air exclusively on CBS Sports Network each week as well. You can view the entire AAF schedule here.
The league will have eight teams in Atlanta, Orlando, San Diego, San Antonio, Memphis, Birmingham, Salt Lake City and Phoenix. Each team will have 50 players each and will be built primarily through a regionally based draft. To differentiate the Alliance of American Football from its competitors, there will be no TV timeouts and 60 percent fewer commercials. Other differences will include no kickoffs and instead of onside kicks, the trailing team will receive the ball on their own 35-yard line facing fourth down and 10. There will also be a 30-second play clock and mandatory two-point conversion attempts after touchdowns.
