Former Chargers QB Cardale Jones expected to make first XFL start soon

The DC Defenders are not a comic book super-team. They are in fact the XFL in Washington, D.C., which opens its reboot season next Saturday, February 8. Among those you should see playing, and perhaps starring as one of the first eight starting quarterbacks this year, is former Chargers and Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones.

Though little seems publicly known at this point about how things are progressing with XFL teams because the NFL news cycle is, well, focused on the NFL, Jones seems the frontrunner to lead the Defenders next Saturday against the Seattle Dragons.

DC’s head coach and GM is Pep Hamilton, Andrew Luck’s offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts from 2013-2015, as well as holding that same job for Luck at Stanford from 2010-2011. Hamilton most recently went back to working for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan as their QBs coach, so you can expect he’s given significant attention to Jones. The only other QB on the roster is the 6’7, 245 lb Tyree Jackson, who went undrafted out of Buffalo last year.

Some other notables on DC include RB Donnell Pumphrey, WR Eli Rogers, WR Malachi Dupre, S Matt Elam, G Dorian Johnson, LB Scooby Wright.

The Seattle Dragons are led by former Seahawks quarterback and Washington pro franchise head coach Jim Zorn. Their quarterbacks include B.J. Daniels, who played a bit of quarterback for the Seahawks, Texans, and Giants before a full-time transition to wide receiver, and Brandon Silvers, who went undrafted out of Troy.

Bob Stoops, June Jones, Marc Trestman, Winston Moss, Kevin Gilbride, and Jonathan Hayes round out the other head coach/GMs in the XFL this season.

Josh Johnson is quarterback for the LA team, Matt McGloin is in New York, and Taylor Heinicke, St. Louis. There’s also Landry Jones in Dallas, Connor Cook for Houston, and Aaron Murray with the Tampa Bay team.