Skipper and Hester have both reportedly made the roster for the Sea Dragons in the XFL.

And I see today that the USFL Memphis Showboats have reportedly signed Jon'Vea Johnson.

Gradkowski's debut as an offensive coordinator with XFL/St Louis was a bit of a mixed bag. After gaining only 61 yards over the 1st 3 quarters, they somehow managed to score 2 TDs in the final 2 minutes along with a silly XFL 3-point conversion, to beat San Antonio 18-15.

(02-19-2023 06:02 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Gradkowski's debut as an offensive coordinator with XFL/St Louis was a bit of a mixed bag. After gaining only 61 yards over the 1st 3 quarters, they somehow managed to score 2 TDs in the final 2 minutes along with a silly XFL 3-point conversion, to beat San Antonio 18-15.

Since we are dealing with players who could not make 90 man roster of 32 NFL teams (plus very short training camp and no pre-season) play in XFL3 and USFL3 is going to be very rough at times

Steelers meet with Desjuan Johnson at Shrine Bowl.

https://steelersdepot.com/2023/02/steele...rine-bowl/

So, after seeing Shakif playing in Poland this year and knowing about Terrance Owens playing in Poland and Japan, I decided to poke around and look to see if any other Rockets are/have played in Europe.

Info is sketchy on the web, so I am likely missing many, but I did find that Juwan Haynes has been playing for the Graz Giants in Austria. He also apparently appeared on the dating show Temptation Island, as indicated by this article:
https://www.americanfootballinternationa...an-haynes/

Although not a Toledo Rocket, I see that former St Francis RB Lamar Carswell has played with several teams in Europe, the latest being the Straubing Spiders in Germany and is one of the top RBs on the continent.
https://www.americanfootballinternationa...g-spiders/

And the coaches. I knew that David Odenthal has been coaching in Germany for many years, but there are some other Toledo connections I found:
- Former Rocket assistant Dave Christensen is now coaching for the Wroclaw Panthers in Poland
https://www.americanfootballinternationa...ristensen/
- Former Rocket assistant and Toledo native Kirk Heidelberg recently retired for health reasons from coaching the Hamburg Sea Devils in Germany, but later signed up to help coach the Dutch national team. He apparently has coached in Europe for a very long time for a number of different clubs.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Heidelberg (in German).

So, I guess Candle has even more options if he ever wants to take his family on a tour across the pond. :)

Desjuan Johnson NFL Draft 2023 Prospect Interview
https://thedraftnetwork.com/desjuan-john...interview/

Another former Rocket coach is now in Europe, as the Vienna Vikings of the ELF have hired John Shannon as their OC.

Had no idea so many American coaches have flown across the pond to Europe. Wonder what they pay, compared to US jobs. Also, when were their Vikings in Vienna?

https://www.americanfootballinternationa...n-shannon/

(02-27-2023 11:08 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Another former Rocket coach is now in Europe, as the Vienna Vikings of the ELF have hired John Shannon as their OC.

Had no idea so many American coaches have flown across the pond to Europe. Wonder what they pay, compared to US jobs. Also, when were their Vikings in Vienna?

https://www.americanfootballinternationa...n-shannon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_29iUy0hM

Former Rocket assistant Lou Ayeni has reportedly been hired as the RB coach for the Denver Broncos. Hunt is a free agent. Wonder if there is a match there?

The Saints have reportedly signed Storm Norton to a 1-year contract.

(03-16-2023 06:45 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  The Saints have reportedly signed Storm Norton to a 1-year contract.

I wonder what the record is for different NFL camps invited to?