The XFL announced Friday that they’ve signed three quarterbacks including Josh Johnson (Los Angeles Wildcats), Chase Litton (Seattle Dragons) and Taylor Heinicke (St. Louis Battlehawks) to contracts.
While most players are selected through the draft, the XFL has distributed 11 quarterbacks to teams to ensure parity.
Some of the other notable quarterbacks in the XFL include Landry Jones (Dallas Renegades), Cardale Jones (D.C. Defenders) and Matt McGloin (New York Guardians).
The XFL will pay certain quarterbacks up to $500,000 annually, which allows them to compete with players on NFL practice squads. Although, the standard base salary for players at all other positions is $27,000 for 10 games.
The league announced this week that training camps will open in the Houston area for three weeks in January for their eight franchises with the first weekend scheduled for games is Feb. 8-9, 2020.
Johnson and Heinicke worked out for the Titans in recent weeks.
Johnson, 33, is a former fifth-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2012. Since then, Johnson has played for a number of teams including the 49ers, Browns, Bengals, Chargers, Jets, Colts, Bills, Ravens, Giants, Texans and Raiders.
Johnson was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football before signing on with the Redskins last December. He signed with the Lions during training camp this year but was released in September.
In 2018, Johnson appeared in four games for the Redskins and completed 57.1 percent of his passes for 590 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown.
Heinicke, 26, wound up signing on with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion back in 2015. He managed to make the 53-man roster during his rookie season but wasn’t active for a single game.
The Vikings elected to waive Heinicke with an injury designation coming out of the preseason in 2017 before eventually cutting him loose with an injury settlement.
Heinicke had brief stints on the Patriots and Texans before being claimed by the Panthers last year. Carolina released him coming out of the preseason this year.
In 2018, Heinicke appeared in six games and completed 61.4 of his pass attempts for 320 yards and one touchdown and three interceptions.
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