2020 XFL Quarterback Comps From The NFL

Antonio Losada evaluates the final performance of XFL quarterbacks by comparing them to other QBs to feature in the NFL this past season.

As you know, the XFL had to suspend play after just five weeks. In order to prepare fantasy owners for XFL 2021, I have decided to find some comps for XFL players now that both leagues are over. To recap things, I'll be doing something not-so-scientific and using per-16-games averages pro-rated stats for both XFL and NFL players in order to find those comps. I am running the statlines of XFL players and NFL players through an algorithm that generates the comps, so they won't be perfect. I'll be cherry-picking those that make the most sense.

While this is not meant to be pinpoint exact and find the perfect comparables between leagues, it will at least give you an idea of who was who in the XFL and who you can relate XFL players with if you're more versed on NFL rosters, which is the case with most football fans around these places.

Don't miss the running back and receiver comps articles as part of our XFL season recap series.

QB Phillip Walker (Houston Roughnecks)

Comparables: Dak Prescott (34% similarity), Jameis Winston (31%), Kyler Murray (29%)

Walker finished the 2020 season as the best XFL player overall, let alone at the quarterback position. Walker completed 119 of his 185 attempts while racking up a league-leading 1,338 yards and throwing for 15 touchdowns against just four interceptions. He also found success on the ground, rushing for 99 yards in just 24 attempts including one for a score.

Although inflated by his five games played and probably unsustainable on a longer run, Walker's 28.1 PPG led the XFL and his closest NFL comps aren't so different when it comes to their player profiles. The chart above is plotted on a per-game basis and it makes clear how close every one of the four quarterbacks found by the algorithm was in all statistical categories. Only the yards per game varied a bit more between them, but looking at that category on a league-split the comparables make more sense as Walker led the XFL while both Prescott and Winston finished third and first in the NFL.

QB Josh Johnson (LA Wildcats)

Comparables: Kyle Allen (41% similarity), Kyler Murray (39%), Philip Rivers (35%)

Although Josh Johnson averaged 25.7 PPG on the season in just four games, even playing at that level for five weeks wouldn't have allowed him to catch QB1 P.J. Walker. Such was the latter's dominance in the XFL. No matter what, Johnson proved to be one of the best team leaders of the league and that aligns the most with the Philip Rivers comparison from the NFL. Both quarterbacks finished with virtually the same amount of rushing yards (30 and 29) and had very similar numbers when it came to the passing game (34/20/275 per game for Johnson, 37/24/288 for Rivers).

Kyle Allen and Kyle Murray fall on the opposite side of the experience-scale, but both of them were also pretty close to Johnson in the passing categories. The youngsters fell a little short in passing yardage compared to 33-yeard-old Johnson, but even with that, they were on the upper half of the league on the per-game basis.

QB Jordan Ta'amu (St. Louis BattleHawks)

Comparables: Case Keenum (37% similarity), Lamar Jackson (35%), Baker Mayfield (32%)

Finally, I needed to highlight the quarterback who led the most run-heavy team of the whole XFL, the St. Louis BattleHawks. Ta'Amu was second in passing yards in his SEC days only behind Tua Tagovailoa in his senior season but never made it to an NFL field after signing and getting dumped by Houston. He found a place in the XFL, though, and became the no. 1 rushing-quarterback in the league. Thus, the Lamar Jackson comp. Obviously, there is no comparable player to Jackson--nor in the NFL or the XFL--but Ta'Amu was the closest thing to the reigning NFL MVP due to his exploits on the ground.

Ta'Amu was also third in passing yards in the XFL and one of only three players to cross the 1,000-yard mark while throwing five touchdowns against a couple of interceptions. Although Case Keenum might fall a little short comparing one-by-one, the truth is Ta'Amu's numbers were very close to those of Mayfield and Jackson on every category on both real- and fantasy-football terms.

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