By Scott Hanson
The Seattle Times
The Seattle XFL team got its name in August, and next week the Seattle Dragons will have players.
The XFL announced Monday the eight teams will each select 71 players during a two-day draft next Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 15 and 16).
Before the draft, each team will be assigned a quarterback. Then, during the draft, teams will take 10 players from four different pools (skill players, offensive line, defensive front seven and defensive backfield). Finally, the last 31 players will be selected in an open draft, with teams able to pick players at any position.
“I was meeting with the coaches yesterday, and they are working hard to set our draft board,” said Dragons president Ryan Gustafson. “It’s an incredibly exciting time because we will have players with the Dragons in just a couple of weeks. The type of players we are going to get are going to be high-quality players and they are going to be excited about playing in Seattle.”
The Dragons pick seventh in the first round in the skills-position draft, second in the offensive-line phase, third in the defensive front-seven segment, sixth in the defensive-backs phase and third in the open draft. It is a “snake draft,” meaning the orders are reversed each round (the team that picks first one round, picks last the next round).
The drafts for skill-position players, offensive linemen and defensive front seven will take place on the first day. The defensive-backs draft and the open draft will take place on the final day.
There will be 1,000 players in the draft pool, with the league saying in a release it would begin releasing the names Monday and that all names would be released by Friday.
The first group of players was released Monday afternoon. Among those on the list are former Washington Huskies linebacker Azeem Victor and defensive end Chase DeMoor from Central Washington.
Teams will conduct the drafts at their local headquarters and, according to the XFL, “will have 90 seconds to make a selection and declare their picks through a video conference with the XFL home office in Stamford, Connecticut.”
