Although the inaugural season of the United Football League has wrapped up, several of its best players will remain in the news.
In the coming days, some UFL players will likely sign contracts with NFL teams. Most of these agreements will simply offer them a chance at making a roster, but that’s the entire point of spring football anyway. These players want another shot.
Standout kicker Jake Bates has already signed with the Detroit Lions, and others figure to follow in his footsteps shortly.
Each UFL player highlighted here once had a place in the NFL, even if that was only in training camp or the preseason and they never appeared in a regular-season game.
Starting with the league MVP isn’t exactly a bold decision. Nevertheless, it’s a proper one.
Adrian Martinez is most recognizable from his four-year stint at Nebraska and his final season at Kansas State. He went undrafted in 2023, signed with the Detroit Lions and didn’t make it through final preseason cuts.
This spring, however, he propelled the Birmingham Stallions to a UFL title. Martinez threw for 1,749 yards while averaging a league-high 7.6 yards per attempt. He also tossed 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions during the 10-game regular season. He earned MVP honors in the championship game, too.
Martinez, who turned 24 in January, deserves an opportunity to compete for a backup role in the NFL.
Players are participating in a spring league for a reason. Hakeem Butler stood out in the UFL, but he has plenty to prove at the NFL level.
The Arizona Cardinals selected Butler with a fourth-round pick in 2019, but he missed that season because of a broken hand. Arizona released him prior to the 2020 campaign, which he largely spent on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad.
Fast-forward to 2023, and Butler offered a reminder of his talent with the St. Louis Battlehawks. He hauled in 51 passes for 599 yards and eight touchdowns. Butler parlayed that into a contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he didn’t make the final roster.
Hopefully for him, this season will be different. Butler is a near-certainty to land another NFL shot after gathering 45 receptions, a UFL-best 652 yards and five touchdowns for St. Louis.
Hakeem Butler brought home the UFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award, and Breeland Speaks landed Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaks has traveled an adventurous road since the Kansas City Chiefs used a second-round pick on him in 2018. He notched 24 tackles and appeared in all 16 games as a rookie, but an injury and violation of the league’s substance abuse policy sidelined him in 2019.
His journey ramped up from there.
Speaks spent time on practice squads with the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Cowboys again and Buffalo Bills. He played for the Michigan Panthers last spring in the USFL and signed with the San Francisco 49ers last August but got waived roughly two weeks later.
After totaling 32 stops with UFL-best totals of 13 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks, Speaks is presumably headed for another NFL training camp invite.
Carlos Davis isn’t a well-known player, but he emerged as one of the UFL’s best interior defenders with Birmingham.
Back in 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers used a seventh-round pick on the Nebraska product. Davis played in 12 games over three seasons with Pittsburgh, managing 12 tackles and one sack during his scattered time on the field.
Last year, the Atlanta Falcons kept a reasonably close eye on the defensive tackle. He played with them in the preseason and later joined their practice squad in December.
Maybe the third time will be the charm for Davis in Atlanta?
No matter if the Falcons are interested, Davis—who tallied 23 stops with seven sacks in the UFL season—should be signed to compete for a reserve role during the NFL preseason.
Jake Bates has signed with Detroit, but a second UFL kicker, Andre Szmyt, may also be an NFL-caliber specialist.
Szmyt drilled 19 of his 21 field-goal attempts for the Battlehawks during the regular season, including a 61-yarder. He performed well enough to already have had a workout with the Washington Commanders.
The 25-year-old is aiming to improve on his lone NFL experience to date. Undrafted out of Syracuse in 2023, he signed with the Chicago Bears last May but was released at the beginning of the preseason.
Given the nature of his position, Szmyt—along with Bates—is the most likely UFL player to secure an NFL starting job in 2024.