P.J. Walker and Cam Phillips keep putting up big numbers for the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. They’ve been the league’s best passing combination in the first three weeks of the season. Can they translate that success into NFL roster spots in September?
Houston is 3-0 in the XFL, and it’s been with Walker and Phillips leading the way. Walker has thrown for 748 yards and 10 touchdowns, with just one interception. He’s also run for 87 yards and a touchdown. Phillips has caught 20 passes for 324 yards and 7 TDs.
Neither has ideal physical traits. Walker is small (5-11, 214), and ran a 4.74 at his pro day back in 2017. He has above-average mobility for a college or XFL quarterback, but that’s not speed that would bother NFL defenses. His arm strength, however, seems to be fine. On the highlight reels, I see a couple of touchdowns from his days at Temple where to ball travels about 55 yards in the air.
At the NFL level, Phillips would be a possession receiver. For sure. He’s got ordinary size (6-0, 202), and he’s not a speed guy. He was wide open on what turned into an 84-yard play on Saturday, and he barely got away from a lesser defensive back for the touchdown. If he were to sneak onto an NFL roster, it would be as a 4th or 5th guy, rather than as somebody making any kind of an impact.
Phillips went undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2018 and has been with the Bills the last two preseasons, catching 5 passes for 30 yards. He got on their regular-season roster for a couple of weeks in 2018. I don’t expect him to be on a roster in 2020.
If Walker is able to land a roster spot, it most likely would be as a lesser backup or perhaps a third quarterback. When he played for four years at Temple, it was with Matt Rhule as his coach, so there’s a familiarity there. Maybe Carolina brings in Walker for a look this summer, giving him a chance to perhaps be its backup quarterback.
But if we’re playing the guessing game of yes or no, I expect Walker won’t be on a regular-season roster of an NFL team in 2020.
As kind of a poor man’s Russell Wilson, Walker was able to scramble his way into some big completions at Temple. He went 20-8 as a starter in his final two season. But he completed fewer than 59 percent of his passes in each of his final three seasons.
Walker has been with the Colts the last three summers, and with little impact. He’s completed 52 percent of his passes, with 5 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Since 2017, 38 quarterbacks have attempted at least 100 passes in preseason games. Only two have completed fewer of their passes and only three have lower passer ratings.
Walker is fun to watch in these XFL games, but I don’t expect that to translate much at all into the NFL.
| PRESEASON PASSING LEADERS (last 3 years) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Com | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rating |
| Kyle Sloter | 107 | 80 | 74.8% | 809 | 8 | 1 | 116.9 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 116 | 79 | 68.1% | 960 | 7 | 1 | 109.8 |
| Russell Wilson | 106 | 69 | 65.1% | 956 | 4 | 0 | 106.5 |
| Ryan Griffin | 176 | 115 | 65.3% | 1,319 | 8 | 2 | 98.2 |
| Jake Rudock | 189 | 129 | 68.3% | 1,171 | 9 | 2 | 96.2 |
| Taysom Hill | 108 | 76 | 70.4% | 808 | 5 | 3 | 95.8 |
| Jameis Winston | 139 | 93 | 66.9% | 1,035 | 4 | 1 | 95.5 |
| Nathan Peterman | 204 | 136 | 66.7% | 1,359 | 7 | 1 | 94.8 |
| Brett Hundley | 138 | 90 | 65.2% | 945 | 5 | 1 | 94.0 |
| Chad Kelly | 133 | 94 | 70.7% | 1,049 | 5 | 4 | 93.8 |
| C.J. Beathard | 127 | 77 | 60.6% | 1,027 | 6 | 3 | 92.2 |
| Tim Boyle | 110 | 60 | 54.5% | 650 | 9 | 2 | 91.9 |
| Case Keenum | 113 | 70 | 61.9% | 774 | 3 | 0 | 91.1 |
| Cody Kessler | 107 | 72 | 67.3% | 668 | 2 | 0 | 90.4 |
| Blaine Gabbert | 147 | 91 | 61.9% | 1,022 | 3 | 1 | 86.6 |
| Cooper Rush | 192 | 125 | 65.1% | 1,154 | 8 | 4 | 86.6 |
| Chase Daniel | 163 | 107 | 65.6% | 1,078 | 6 | 4 | 86.4 |
| Trevor Siemian | 118 | 78 | 66.1% | 698 | 4 | 2 | 86.1 |
| Garrett Gilbert | 148 | 88 | 59.5% | 905 | 5 | 1 | 85.6 |
| Geno Smith | 136 | 85 | 62.5% | 1,001 | 5 | 4 | 84.8 |
| Jeff Driskel | 106 | 65 | 61.3% | 748 | 3 | 2 | 84.2 |
| Tyler Bray | 210 | 130 | 61.9% | 1,463 | 5 | 4 | 82.7 |
| Kirk Cousins | 109 | 62 | 56.9% | 662 | 3 | 1 | 80.1 |
| Sean Mannion | 158 | 97 | 61.4% | 905 | 5 | 3 | 79.7 |
| Joshua Dobbs | 140 | 85 | 60.7% | 1,120 | 6 | 7 | 79.5 |
| Mike Glennon | 132 | 85 | 64.4% | 849 | 5 | 5 | 79.4 |
| DeShone Kizer | 154 | 82 | 53.2% | 1,084 | 6 | 4 | 77.9 |
| Paxton Lynch | 105 | 62 | 59.0% | 500 | 3 | 1 | 76.7 |
| Blake Bortles | 105 | 68 | 64.8% | 734 | 2 | 4 | 75.7 |
| Cardale Jones | 127 | 77 | 60.6% | 811 | 2 | 3 | 74.6 |
| David Fales | 143 | 74 | 51.7% | 1,012 | 6 | 5 | 74.1 |
| Matt Simms | 114 | 62 | 54.4% | 784 | 1 | 2 | 71.7 |
| Joe Webb | 175 | 100 | 57.1% | 1,109 | 5 | 7 | 69.0 |
| Mike White | 138 | 80 | 58.0% | 719 | 1 | 2 | 68.5 |
| P.J. Walker | 152 | 79 | 52.0% | 942 | 5 | 5 | 68.5 |
| Brandon Allen | 120 | 77 | 64.2% | 692 | 1 | 5 | 65.0 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 100 | 55 | 55.0% | 502 | 1 | 2 | 63.8 |
| Alex Tanney | 146 | 73 | 50.0% | 877 | 3 | 5 | 61.4 |
—Ian Allan