Last week we reported that the USFL draft is set to take place in the last week of February. Since then we’ve seen a lot of players come out on social media to say that they are involved in the draft pool. Well, it seems there’s a little more to the story.
Earlier today Mike Florio posted a piece on ProFootballTalk announcing that the USFL would be having a “player selection meeting” on February 22-23. In which he states that a memo was sent to NFLPA contract advisors earlier today which outlines the timeline.
It also mentions that for a player to be eligible for selection, a contract must be signed before hand.
A Tuesday memo sent to all NFL Players Association contract advisors explains that a “player selection meeting” will happen on February 22-23. To be eligible for selection, players must sign a contract with the league before then.
We did some investigating of our own and a source close to the league was able to forward the memo that was sent to the NFLPA contract advisors. See below:
The United States Football League (“USFL”) is a new professional football league that will launch in April of 2022. Training camps for the 2022 season will begin on Monday, March 21st. Eight teams will take part in a ten-week regular season that concludes on Sunday, June 19th followed by two weeks of playoffs.
All games will be aired on Fox, NBC, or their respective affiliates.
Each team will carry a 38-man active roster and 7-man practice squad. Players will be employees of the USFL and receive base compensation as well as be eligible for win bonuses.
To be eligible to sign with the USFL, an individual must have graduated from high school in 2020 or an earlier year.
A player selection meeting will be held February 22-23, 2022. To be eligible for selection, players are required to sign a contract with the league beforehand. For consideration, visit (web site omitted) where you will be asked to provide relevant information including full name, birthdate, college, links to game film and, if applicable, NFL active roster or practice squad experience.
The USFL is a new professional football league, and it is not associated or affiliated with the USFL of the 1980s or its owners.
In the memo, we also learn that the USFL is targeting a 38-man roster for each team. Looking back at the XFL, they sat at 45; but this in in line with what we saw from The Spring League in 2020 and 2021.
As we reported earlier this year, this article also confirms that players will receive a base salary, with an additional win bonus structure in place. As for the what the compensation will be, there’s still no details on that front.
The USFL will be accepting players that have graduated high school in 2020 or earlier, allowing the league to bring players after only two years of college.
We were expecting training camp to start in early March, but it looks like the league is targeting March 21st to begin. This will lead us right into the USFL season, kicking off April, 2022. At the time of publication, it’s expected that the league will start it’s season April 15th, but we’ll need to wait for official word before we can confirm.
We’re looking forward to the relaunch of the USFL in 2022, and we’ll bringing you all the latest news as it comes in.
What are you looking forward to the most in the new USFL? Let us know down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
