Memphis Express could see early shakeup at QB
The Alliance of American Football is shaking things up before the league's inaugural season ever kicks off.
The AAF will hold a "Protect or Pick" quarterback draft on Nov. 27, the league announced Wednesday. The draft will begin at 7 p.m. and be televised on CBS Sports Network.
In conjunction, Memphis Express president Kosha Irby announced via Twitter the team will host a viewing party before adding specific details for it will be released at a later time.
The format for the Protect or Pick quarterback draft is a bit tricky. The process begins with each team deciding whether it wants to protect one quarterback already on its roster. If a team elects to protect, that player becomes its first selection of the draft.
If they decide to pick, they wait until every other team has made their decisions. The teams that elected not to protect a player make their selection, in the order of the draft, from the remaining pool of all available quarterbacks regardless of region. The Alliance quarterback draft will be comprised of four rounds. The San Diego Fleet have the first pick, followed by the Birmingham Iron, Arizona Hotshots, Orlando Apollos, Atlanta Legends, Salt Lake Stallions, Memphis Express and San Antonio Commanders.
The Express have eight quarterbacks on its roster: Zach Mettenberger (LSU), Matt Simms (Tennessee), Jesse Hosket (Southeast Missouri State), Alex Ross (Coastal Carolina), Austin Allen (Arkansas), Tyler Ferguson (Penn State), Alejandro Bennifield (Chattanooga) and Troy Cook (UT Martin)
Quarterbacks are allocated based on where they competed in college. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance footprint, he is allocated based on his last NFL/CFL team. If a player’s college is outside The Alliance allocation footprint and he did not play in the NFL or CFL, then he is unallocated.
The Alliance will hold a quarterback skills camp Nov. 12-14 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, where player personnel groups from each team will be present to further evaluate signed quarterbacks ahead of the draft.