Audi Field to Host Washington DC Defenders XFL Team in 2020

[Ron78]

Update 1/27/20:  The DC Defenders have finalized their final 52-man roster.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/xfl-rosters-2020-here-are-the-52-man-rosters-for-all-eight-teams/gdlifutwxnsv1x41iejvex9h1

 

D.C. Defenders roster

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	College
1	Thompkins, DeAndre	WR	5'11"	187	Penn State
2	Rausa, Ty	K	5'9"	189	Boise State
3	Jackson, Tyree	QB	6'7"	250	Buffalo
4	Rogers, Eli	WR	5'11"	176	Louisville
7	Niswander, Hunter	P	6'5"	230	Northwestern
9	Rowell, Jalen	WR	6'4"		Air Force
10	Cobbs, Simmie	WR	6'3"	220	Indiana
12	Jones, Cardale	QB	6'5"	264	Ohio State
15	Ross, Rashad	WR	6'0"	180	Arizona State
16	Palka, Tyler	WR	6'0"	197	Gannon
19	Dupre, Malachi	WR	6'4"	195	LSU
20	Merritt, Carlos	S	6'0"	190	Campbell
21	Grant, Doran	CB	5'10"	195	Ohio State
22	Elam, Matt	S	5'10"	205	Florida
23	Myrick, Jalen	CB	5'10"	201	Minnesota
24	Pumphrey, Donnel	RB	5'8"	178	San Diego State
25	Lawrence, Desmond	CB	5'11"	187	North Carolina
26	Pressley, Jhurell	RB	5'10"	209	New Mexico
28	Campbell, Elijah	CB	5'11"	192	Northern Iowa
29	Kinnel, Tyree	S	5'11"	210	Michigan
30	Sylve, Bradley	CB	6'0"	172	Alabama
31	Brossette, Nick	RB	5'11"	210	LSU
32	Abdullah, Khalid	RB	5'9"	226	James Madison
38	Thomas, Shamarko	S	5'9"	205	Syracuse
42	Khoury, Brian	DE	6'3"	238	Carnegie Mellon
51	Johnson, Dorian	OG	6'5"	291	Pittsburgh
52	Celestin, Jonathan	LB	6'0"	227	Minnesota
53	Thurman, Jameer	LB	6'0"	223	Indiana State
54	Massaquoi, Jonathan	LB	6'2"	265	Troy
55	Williams, Antwione	LB	6'3"	245	Georgia Southern
56	Freeman, KeShun	DE	6'2"	259	Georgia Tech
58	Wright, Scooby	LB	6'0"	228	Arizona
59	Tarpley, A.J.	LB	6'2"	225	Stanford
64	Toth, Jon	OC	6'5"	298	Kentucky
69	Boozer, Cole	OT	6'5"	306	Temple
72	Tuley-Tillman, Logan	OT	6'6"	308	Texas-El Paso
74	Cook, Rishard	OG	6'3"	364	UAB
75	Brown, Chris	OG	6'4"	315	Southern California
77	O'Hagan, James	OC	6'2"	299	Buffalo
78	Bunche, Malcolm	OT	6'6"	326	UCLA
79	Wesley, De'Ondre	OT	6'6"	320	Brigham Young
80	Ernsberger, Donnie	TE	6'3"	241	Western Michigan
85	Hayward, Derrick	TE	6'5"	260	Maryland
86	Lee, Khari	TE	6'4"	255	Bowie State
90	Anau, Siupeli	DT	6'2"	286	Northern Arizona
91	Barnes, Tavaris	DE	6'4"	267	Clemson
92	Qualls, Elijah	DT	6'1"	337	Washington
93	Sprinkle, Tracy	DT	6'2"	287	Ohio State
94	Vakameilalo, Kalani	DT	6'3"	322	Oregon State
95	Bigelow, Kenny	DT	6'3"	308	West Virginia
96	Bromley, Jay	DT	6'3"	297	Syracuse
99	Montgomery, Sam	DE	6'3"	248	LSU

 

Update 1/14/20:  The first XFL promotional commercial aired during the NFL playoffs.

 

 

 

Update 1/7/20: XFL official rule changes have been announced.

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28438441/xfl-rule-changes-focus-faster-pace-more-excitement

 

Quote

• A kickoff designed to discourage touchbacks and increase the likelihood of a return: The ball will be kicked off from the 30-yard line, but the coverage and blocking teams will line up at the receiving team's 35- and 30-yard lines, respectively. Only the kicker and returner can move until the ball is caught, or three seconds after it hits the ground. A touchback will be spotted at the 35-yard line. Kicks out of bounds will go to the 45-yard line.

• Players can't leave the line of scrimmage on punts until after the kick. Any kicks that go into the end zone or out of bounds will be marked at the 35-yard line or wherever the ball went out of bounds, whichever is better for the receiving team. The idea is to discourage fair catches and "coffin corner" kicks, while providing more incentive to go for it on fourth down.

• Three options after scoring a touchdown: a 1-point play from the 2-yard line, a 2-point play from the 3-yard line or a 3-point play from the 10-yard line. There is no option to kick an extra point.

• A shootout-style overtime: Each team will get five single-play possessions from the 5-yard line. If the game is still tied at that point, the rotating possessions will continue until there is a winner. The XFL hopes that overtimes will be rare, in part because of the multiple options for points after touchdowns.

• A rule that allows two forward passes on one play, providing the first doesn't go past the line of scrimmage. The purpose is to encourage creative trick plays without the risk of losing possession of a lateral or backward pass, which is a live ball if it hits the ground.

• A requirement for only one foot to be in bounds for possession. XFL director of football operations Sam Schwartzstein said the change is easier to officiate quickly. It also is better for player safety, Schwartzstein said, because players take more unbraced falls while trying to place both feet in bounds.

• A total of nine officials on the field, one of whom will be dedicated solely to spotting the ball to minimize downtime between plays. XFL head of officiating Dean Blandino said most XFL officials have experience at the Division I college level. Blandino, the former NFL officiating chief, has been consulting with the XFL for more than a year. He performed a similar function for the Alliance of American Football (AAF) last spring.

• A video official who can intervene on significant non-reviewable plays when involving player safety, or on any calls inside of five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. There will also be booth-initiated reviews of traditionally reviewable plays using Hawk-Eye technology that ingests video directly from the broadcast truck.

• Allowing offensive linemen to be up to 2 yards downfield when a pass is thrown, with the hope of minimizing flags on run-pass option plays.

• A series of tweaks that the XFL hopes will cap game times at 2 hours, 45 minutes. (NFL games typically run about 3:06.) The tweaks include a running game clock that won't stop after incomplete passes or when players go out of bounds, except inside of two minutes in each half. Additionally, there will be a 10-minute halftime, two timeouts per team per half and no coin tosses. The home team will always make the choice to kick, receive or defer to start the game. The visitors will make that choice to start overtime.

 

 

 

Update 12/3/19: Uniforms have been released.

 

 

Update 10/22/19: The full game schedule has been released.

 

UPDATE 10/15/19: Results of first day of XFL draft - 

 

UPDATE:  Team names/branding will be announced on Wednesday, August 21st at 12:30 PM.

 

Audi Field will be hosting a team in the rebooted XFL in 2020.  Will you have any interest in this team?

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/30/xfl-relaunch-include-washington-franchise-audi-field/

 

Quote

The XFL plans to include a franchise in Washington when it relaunches in 2020, according to a person familiar with the process. The new professional football team will play its home games at Audi Field, sharing the stadium with D.C. United for at least part of the year.

 

https://www.facebook.com/DCAreaXFLFans/

Edited January 27, 2020 by Ron78

[TradeTheBeal!]

I demand RG3!!

[Renegade7]

I'll goto at least one, why not?

[Ron78]

14 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

I demand RG3!!

Baltimore still has him locked up.  Thankfully...

Edited November 30, 2018 by Ron78

[Springfield]

Ill probably attend as many football games at Audi Field as I do futbol.  That’s none.

[hail2skins]

The way things are going, the DC XFL-ers will be outdrawing the Redskins in their inaugural season 😎

[Momma There Goes That Man]

What is Audi field? 

[hail2skins]

Just now, Momma There Goes That Man said:

What is Audi field? 

Place where the pro soccer team plays. Just opened this summer, not too far from Nats Park. 

[Ron78]

2 minutes ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

What is Audi field? 

Are you local?

 

https://www.audifielddc.com/

[@DCGoldPants]

I went to Audi Field for 2 United games this year. It's a nice spot. First game was Rooney's 1st goal. 2nd was towards the end of the year when they were really hot. 

 

The fans for the United are hardcore. 

 

Anyway, XFL. Whatever. If they can make it work as a league good for them. Might be worth seeing something there eventually. 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

6 hours ago, Ron78 said:

Are you local?

 

https://www.audifielddc.com/

 

No Lynchburg va. I had never heard of it before 

[ixcuincle]

I went to one Audi Field game and that was the playoff game. 

 

It's a good arena. It holds around 20000. 

 

Will be curious to see how this franchise does. There's already a AFL team here. They won the title last summer.

Edited December 1, 2018 by ixcuincle

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Already an XFL thread.....

 

 

 

 

[Ron78]

5 hours ago, ixcuincle said:

I went to one Audi Field game and that was the playoff game. 

 

It's a good arena. It holds around 20000. 

 

Will be curious to see how this franchise does. There's already a AFL team here. They won the title last summer.

r

Audi field is a pretty nice stadium.  There is no tailgating allowed there though, so I would have preferred they did a few renovations at RFK and played there.  Plenty of wide open parking there.  

 

The AFL Wasington, DC team is pitiful.  I think they won only 3 games in the regular season.  Because there were only 4 teams in the AFL last season, all teams were in the playoffs and somehow DC pulled it off.  

4 hours ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

Already an XFL thread.....

 

 

 

 

This isn't a general XFL thread.  It's Washington, DC specific XFL thread.  Yours also does not have a poll to gauge interest in the DC team.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Ron78

[TK]

Here’s the 8 cities that are getting XFL teams:

 

Dallas
Houston
Los Angeles
New York
St. Louis
Seattle
Tampa Bay
Washington, DC

[TheGoodBits]

At the rate attendance is dropping for Skins games they might be able to play those at Audi Field too. 

[Ron78]

1 minute ago, skinsfan_1215 said:

At the rate attendance is dropping for Skins games they might be able to play those at Audi Field too. 

 

It's not worth it to travel up into the suburbs of Maryland to get jobbed by Dan Snyder year after year.  The talent pool will obviously not be the same in the XFL but games will be cheaper and more convenient to get to.  It wasn't a bad market choice for the XFL.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

2 hours ago, Ron78 said:

This isn't a general XFL thread.  It's Washington, DC specific XFL thread.  Yours also does not have a poll to gauge interest in the DC team.

 

Do you really need a stand alone thread for one XFL team?  

[PokerPacker]

54 minutes ago, Ron78 said:

 

It's not worth it to travel up into the suburbs of Maryland to get jobbed by Dan Snyder year after year.  The talent pool will obviously not be the same in the XFL but games will be cheaper and more convenient to get to.  It wasn't a bad market choice for the XFL.

Will be interesting to see what happens with acquiring young talent.  If a guy can make more in the XFL than they can with the NFL's rookie wage scale, that might start to bring more talent there.  And if the XFL will allow guys to enter the league without forcing them to go through however many years of NCAA indentured servitude, they could potentially steal talent before it's even available to the NFL.  If they can leverage those two factors, interesting things could happen.  If nothing else, it could force the NFL to change.

[Ron78]

9 minutes ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

 

Do you really need a stand alone thread for one XFL team?  

 

It serves a different purpose.  I think your thread has run its course.

6 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

Will be interesting to see what happens with acquiring young talent.  If a guy can make more in the XFL than they can with the NFL's rookie wage scale, that might start to bring more talent there.  And if the XFL will allow guys to enter the league without forcing them to go through however many years of NCAA indentured servitude, they could potentially steal talent before it's even available to the NFL.  If they can leverage those two factors, interesting things could happen.  If nothing else, it could force the NFL to change.

 

The XFL already set a three tiered pay scale for its players (I can't remember exactly what it was).  I am sure they would go "outside of the box" for name NFL free agents that are available and negotiate better paying contracts, but a conservative pay scale is a good idea.  They shouldn't be paying players more than they are actually worth.  The USFL did that to undercut the NFL, and they bankrupted themselves big time.  There are roughly five thousand NCAA football players that graduate every year.  Most of them will never be NFL caliber, but some do slip through the cracks.  I bet the quality of play will be better than what people are expecting.

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Ron78

[ixcuincle]

1 hour ago, TK said:

Here’s the 8 cities that are getting XFL teams:

 

Dallas
Houston
Los Angeles
New York
St. Louis
Seattle
Tampa Bay
Washington, DC

 

**** Dallas

[Dan T.]

2 hours ago, Ron78 said:

r

Audi field is a pretty nice stadium.  There is no tailgating allowed there though, so I would have preferred they did a few renovations at RFK and played there.  Plenty of wide open parking there.  

 

 

I've biked past Audi Field a couple times, on non-game days.  There seems to be a party area outside the stadium on the south side. I guess that area is the alternative to tailgating.

 

From the outside, the stadium looks pretty nice.  The stands look close to the action.  I've mentioned going there to see the United, more to check out the stadium than to watch soccer.  

[Ron78]

1 minute ago, ixcuincle said:

 

**** Dallas

I had hoped they would duplicate the NFC East rivalries by having DC, NY, Dallas, and Philly teams.  They have 3 out of 4.

2 minutes ago, Dan T. said:

 

I've biked past Audi Field a couple times, on non-game days.  There seems to be a party area outside the stadium on the south side. I guess that area is the alternative to tailgating.

 

From the outside, the stadium looks pretty nice.  The stands look close to the action.  I've mentioned going there to see the United, more to check out the stadium than to watch soccer.  

I saw a United game there.  It is a really nice stadium.  Nothing can replace tailgating though.  I would rather be drinking my own beer and cooking my own food with friends and family then buying the high-priced **** there.

[Ron78]

Looks like the Washington, DC franchise has its head coach.

 

https://xfl2k.com/news/breaking-pep-hamilton-to-become-the-head-coach-gm-of-the-xfls-dc-franchise/?fbclid=IwAR3LyKcwUVtApljc9Ak2FpZRCt07NTRcyx5Ri_Osnxtn0qh7wGJM2oxAiIw

 

 

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

4 hours ago, Ron78 said:

Looks like the Washington, DC franchise has its head coach.

 

https://xfl2k.com/news/breaking-pep-hamilton-to-become-the-head-coach-gm-of-the-xfls-dc-franchise/?fbclid=IwAR3LyKcwUVtApljc9Ak2FpZRCt07NTRcyx5Ri_Osnxtn0qh7wGJM2oxAiIw

 

 

 

XFL doesn't stand a chance now that the AAF has deals with CBS, TNT and the NFL Network.  I'll give it a shot, but I don't expect this to go more than two seasons.  Mainly because Vince's ego might make him take the financial loss to go more than one season this time.