The New AAF Spring Football League Held Its First QB Draft (Check Out These Names), Unveiled Team Uniforms

The new spring football league, The Alliance of American Football, held its first-ever “Protect or Pick” quarterback draft on Monday night. If you have no idea what that entailed, let’s get you up to speed right now.

According to The AAF, the “Protect or Pick” draft format begins with each team deciding if they want to protect one quarterback that has been allocated to them from their region. If a team elects to protect, they name the player they are protecting as their first selection in the draft. If they decide to pick, they wait until every other team has made their decision. Once each team makes their decision, the teams that elected to not protect a player make their selection, in the order of the draft, from the remaining pool of all available quarterbacks regardless of region. All selected quarterbacks must be under contract to The Alliance at the time of the draft. The Alliance quarterback draft will be comprised of four rounds.

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.

Lead analyst for the QB draft broadcast, a man who knows all about getting second chances, Kurt Warner, said, “The Alliance represents an amazing opportunity for these quarterbacks to begin, extend or revitalize their pro careers. They faced adversity and are out to prove themselves, now they have a shot to show what they can do. Having gone undrafted and overlooked, I can relate to their pursuit. I look forward to seeing how this unique draft unfolds and who rises to the top during the inaugural season of The Alliance.”

Got all that? No? Okay, cool. Now let’s get to some of the blasts from the past that were chosen in The AAF QB draft.

Josh Johnson — San Diego Fleet, first round (first overall)

Aaron Murray — Atlanta Legends, first round

Troy Cook — Memphis Express, first round
Dustin Vaughan — San Antonio Commanders, first round
Luis Perez — Birmingham Iron, first round
Trevor Knight — Arizona Hotshots, first round
Garrett Gilbert — Orlando Apollos, first round
John Woodrum — Salt Lake Stallions, first round

Mike Bercovici — San Diego Fleet, second round

Blake Sims — Birmingham Iron, second round
Matt Simms — Atlanta Legends, second round

B.J. Daniels — Salt Lake Stallions, second round

Christian Hackenberg — Memphis Express, second round

Scott Tolzien — Birmingham Iron, third round
Zach Mettenberger — Memphis Express, fourth round

Looks like we already have a quarterback controversy in Memphis.

Check out the entire list of QB’s taken here.

The AAF also unveiled their new uniforms. Thoughts?

Orlando Apollos (Coach: Steve Spurrier)

San Antonio Commanders (Coach: Mike Riley)

Memphis Express (Coach: Mike Singletary)

San Diego Fleet (Coach: Mike Martz)

Arizona Hotshots (Coach: Rick Neuheisel)

Birmingham Iron (Coach: Tim Lewis)

Atlanta Legends (CoachL: Brad Childress)

Salt Lake Stallions (Coach: Dennis Erickson)

The Alliance of American Football kicks off with its first game on Saturday, February 9, 2019.