There were four winning quarterbacks on the inaugural debut of the new XFL. One can imagine the Chicago Bears were impressed to varying degrees with each of them. It’s no secret the team is hoping to overhaul their QB position. Not just with the intent of finding competition for Mitch Trubisky. They also need to think about better depth. While light on front-line talent, this new league showed they might have some interesting backups. Ironically, the most intriguing for Chicago was one of the losers in Week 1.
Most fans probably don’t know the name Brandon Silvers. A native of Florida, he attended the University of Troy for four years. All of which he was their starting quarterback. During that time, he threw for 10,677 yards with 71 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He led his team to two bowl games in 2016 and 2017, winning both. He also helped to engineer a monumental upset of powerhouse LSU.
Surprisingly this success didn’t draw much attention from the NFL. He made a rookie minicamp in New Orleans but failed to make the team. Rather than continue that course, he chose to take his chances in the upstart AAF where he became a backup to Christian Hackenberg and Johnny Manziel. After they struggled, he would up starting two games, throwing for 799 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions.
This earned him a contract from the New York Jets but they soon waived him. Again Silvers decided to avoid the NFL and headed off for the XFL. His first impression? Strong.
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Chicago Bears would like a lot of what Silvers does
Most will look at the box score and say Silvers had a mixed afternoon against the DC Defenders. He threw for 217 yards with three touchdowns but two interceptions including a pick-six. However, this is misleading. The pick-six came when Silvers’ receiver fell down, allowing the ball to go right to the defender. There were also a number of cases where some excellent passes that showed surprising accuracy were flat out dropped. This included what would’ve been his fourth touchdown.
Silvers displayed poised in the face of some heavy rushes and was willing to take the hits while delivering the ball. It also helps he’s been coached up by Jim Zorn and Mike Riley. Two former NFL head coaches. Zorn himself is a former NFL quarterback himself. So Silvers is getting a ton of knowledge about playing the position at a high level.
He’s 6’3, has an adequate arm and throws some pretty passes. He also did a lot of winning in college. Nobody is saying this guy is the next Tommy Maddox or anything but he has more ability than NFL teams have noticed to this point. If the Bears want a backup who would like the type of system they run, Silvers is a guy they should call when the XFL season concludes in April.
