The United Football League is set to kick off its 10-week regular season this weekend, with games now coming to Friday nights on Fox Sports in addition to weekend matchups to be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1.
The 2025 season will culminate in the championship game to be played June 14.
Daryl Johnston, the former Cowboys fullback who won three Super Bowl rings as part of the Dallas dynasty of the 1990s, returns as the spring league's executive vice president of football operations and once again promises fans a high caliber of action, with games providing a possible pathway for players looking to make it to the NFL.
“One of the biggest things for us is being able to give these guys an opportunity to change the narrative of how they’re viewed by an NFL scouting department,” Johnston said, per the Dallas Morning News. "The opportunity that we provide is just so much more beneficial than being in that traditional NFL offseason right now.”
Many UFLers have been there already. Here's a look at some of the familiar names from the league's eight teams who have already worn the star- even if briefly- as they've chased their pro football dreams... and continue to do so.
Arlington Renegades
The Renegades are literally the Cowboys' neighbors, playing their home games at Choctaw Stadium, the former home of MLB's Rangers situated just a block away from AT&T Stadium. The team, coached by Bob Stoops, won the XFL championship in 2023.
Players on this year's roster with Cowboys connections include wide receiver Deontay Burnett, defensive end Durrell Johnson, and wide receiver David Durden. According to The Athletic, Durden was the most overlooked player in the draft coming out of West Florida in 2023.
Birmingham Stallions
The Stallions have won three league titles running, two in the USFL and again last year as the UFL's inaugural champs. Brandon Aubrey was Birmingham's kicker in 2022 and 2023 before being signed by the Cowboys.
Former Cowboys suiting up for the team this year include offensive lineman Armani Taylor-Prioleau, who was in Dallas for part of two seasons and went by Alex when he appeared in one game in 2022. Bradlee Anae was a fifth-round draft pick of the Cowboys in 2020. A defensive end out of Utah, he appeared in 11 games over two seasons and has since spent time with the Jets and Falcons.
DC Defenders
Cornerback Kelvin Joseph showed enough potential coming out of Kentucky in 2021 to be the 44th overall pick in that year's draft. The second-rounder played in 26 games and started three for the Cowboys over his first two seasons before being traded away just before the 2023 season.
Joseph was famously "a person of interest" in a fatal shooting that took place in Dallas in April of 2022. That tragedy resulted in the arrest of two of Joseph's hometown friends. Questions about Joseph's character have followed him since- from Dallas to Miami, Seattle, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Minnesota- before he most recently signed with the UFL's Defenders late last month.
Houston Roughnecks
The Roughnecks will kick off the UFL's 2025 season with a Friday night matchup against St. Louis. Houston sported a 1-9 record last season, worst in the league.
Among their personnel for the coming season is wide receiver T.J. Vasher, the former Texas Tech Red Raider who signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He spent that season rehabbing a knee injury originally suffered in college and was waived just prior to the 2023 NFL season.
Memphis Showboats
The Showboats head into the 2025 season with a last-minute change at the top, as first-year head coach Ken Whisenhunt has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons just days before the season opener.
Alec Lindstrom figures to be a mainstay on the Memphis offensive line. Going undrafted out of Boston College in 2022, he spent time on both the practice squad and the active roster for the Cowboys that year but never got into a game. He played last season for the Showboats and then had short stints with both the Rams and Jets during the 2024 schedule. Alec's brother Chris has been with the Falcons since 2019.
Michigan Panthers
Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan will serve as head coach of the Michigan Panthers for the third year. Last season, they finished 7-3 and lost in the conference finals to Birmingham.
Among Nolan's fellow ex-Cowboys are wide receiver Malik Turner, defensive tackle Walter Palmore, and defensive end Ron'Dell Carter. Carter started his pro football journey with Dallas in 2020, going undrafted out of James Madison. He was waived during final roster cuts and added to the practice squad before the Colts snatched him up midseason. After five games on their inactive list, he was waived again and brought back to Dallas, where he made three late-season appearances. He has since been with Arizona, Houston, Pittsburgh, and New England.
San Antonio Brahmas
The Brahmas will defend their 7-3 finish from a season ago with a brutal schedule that has them starting with four straight road games (thanks to scheduling conflicts at The Alamodome) and features a late-season "home" game played at their opponent's stadium.
Wide receiver Racey McMath will suit up for San Antonio this season, but the most visible Cowboys connection is head coach Wade Phillips, now in his second year. Phillips helmed the Cowboys from 2007 until 2010, when he was fired midseason and replaced by Jason Garrett. Phillips went just 34-22 in his Dallas head coach tenure but later went on to be named NFL Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015, the same year he won a Super Bowl as Denver's defensive coordinator. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has stated that one of his few regrets is the way he handled the dismissal of Phillips in Dallas.
St. Louis Battlehawks
Football fans in St. Louis have rallied around the Battlehawks since 2020, following the Rams' departure five years earlier. This season, they'll be coached by former NFL tight end (and onetime Rams player) Anthony Becht.
Among the Dallas alums on the Battlehawks roster are defensive tackle Austin Faoliu, defensive tackle Phil Hoskins, and linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. It will be Harvey's second straight UFL campaign with St. Louis; he was the spring league's leader in tackles last season. He then spent 2024's training camp with the Cowboys but was waived just before Week 1.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Wade Phillips, Kelvin Joseph among former Cowboys on UFL teams in 2025
