10 players who you might be surprised are playing in the AAF

The new Alliance of American Football league successfully launched on Feb. 9 and has blown away its television partners through the first two weeks of the season. On its debut night, the AAF posted a larger television audience than an NBA game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

It will be interesting to see if the AAF can continue to consistently draw fans and build a viewership in its first season. But clearly the first two weekends were a success.

For football fans who haven’t given the league a try, they might be surprised to see quite a few familiar names on the AAF rosters. Here are 10 of the most well-known players in the league:

Trent Richardson, Birmingham Iron

The former No. 3 overall pick of the Cleveland Browns, Richardson is the biggest name of the new AAF. In a blockbuster deal, the Browns traded the 28-year-old to the Indianapolis Colts for a first-round pick at the beginning of his second season.

That may have been the best decision the Browns made this decade before drafting Baker Mayfield. Richardson struggled mightily with the Colts, rushing for just 3.1 yards per attempt in 29 games. He didn’t play another NFL regular-season game after 2014.

In his AAF debut, Richardson’s yards per carry average wasn’t much better, as he ran for 58 yards on 23 carries, but he did score two touchdowns and added a two-point conversion.

Zach Mettenberger, Memphis Express 

Mettenberger was part of the same draft class that included Derek Carr, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater, and at one time, the four signal-callers were viewed as the next good crop of quarterbacks. My how times have changed.

A sixth-round draft pick, Mettenberger started 10 games for the Tennessee Titans and didn’t win a single one. He threw 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in the 10 losses.

Mettenberger was inactive for Week 1 in the AAF, but he may get his chance to play soon.

Christian Hackenberg, Memphis Express 

The former Titans quarterback could see time behind center because Hackenberg had a dismal AAF debut. The ex-Penn State signal-caller went 10 of 23 for 87 yards with an interception. Memphis benched him in favor of Brandon Silvers in the second half, but he fared no better.

The Jets drafted Hackenberg in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Amazingly, he never played in a regular-season NFL game. Considering the Jets dedicated a second-round pick to him and won just 10 games in two years while he was on the roster, it’s absolutely incredible Hackenberg wasn’t even good enough to earn one start.

The Oakland Raiders acquired Hackenberg last May but cut him in June. He spent part of the 2018 season on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad.

Nick Folk, Arizona Hotshots 

Known for a powerful leg, the 34-year-old kicker made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2007, but he struggled with accuracy during certain parts of his career. He made just 64.3 percent of his field goals in 2009 for the Dallas Cowboys, which led to his release.

Folk joined the Jets in 2010 and made 82.2 percent of his field goals in seven seasons. His best season came in 2013 when he went 33 of 36 (91.7 percent). Folk ended his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2017, but he missed five of 11 field goals, and the Buccaneers released him after Week 5.

Folk certainly had one of the longest NFL tenures of any player in the AAF.

Denard Robinson, Atlanta Legends 

The converted NFL running back rushed for more than 1,000 yards in his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was one of the best players on a young and inexperienced Jaguars offense in 2014 when Robinson made nine starts and rushed for 582 yards.

He remained on the roster even after the team drafted T.J. Yeldon, but dedicating a top selection to Leonard Fournette meant the end of Robinson’s career with the Jaguars, and he didn’t sign with any other team after 2016.

In college, Robinson played quarterback for Michigan, throwing for more than 6,000 yards and 49 touchdowns. He also rushed for nearly 4,500 yards in his career, posting three 1,000-yard seasons.

Nick Novak, Birmingham Iron 

Like Folk, Novak spent 11 seasons in the NFL as a kicker. Novak debuted in 2005 with the Arizona Cardinals, but he didn’t appear in a regular-season game during 2007, 2009 or 2010.

Novak kicked for five different teams but is probably most remembered as the Chargers kicker from 2011-14 and again in 2017. He made 84.6 percent of his kicks with the Chargers, but he went only 9 of 13 during his final season with the team, which led to his release.

Novak’s best season came in 2013 when he made 34 of 37 field-goal attempts. He made 82 percent of his field goals during his NFL career.

Zac Stacy, Memphis Express 

The 27-year-old arguably experienced the most successful NFL seasons of anyone in the AAF other than the kickers. Most probably forget that Stacy rushed for 973 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie for the then St. Louis Rams in 2013.

But then in 2014, the Rams added Tre Mason in the third round, and he replaced Stacy as the team’s featured back. Stacy ended his NFL career with the Jets, playing eight games with New York in 2015.

After his promising rookie season, Stacy ran for just 382 yards in his final 21 NFL games.

Matt Asiata, Salt Lake Stallions 

Fantasy owners will remember Asiata as one of their best options to replace Adrian Peterson, who missed 15 games during the 2014 season due to an indictment on child abuse charges. Asiata rushed for a career-high 570 yards that season for the Minnesota Vikings and caught 44 passes for 312 additional yards. He also scored 10 total touchdowns.

Asiata spent five seasons with the Vikings, rushing for 1,259 yards in 74 games, including 16 starts. With Peterson sidelined for a lot of 2016 as well because of injuries, Asiata rushed for 402 yards and six scores.

The 31-year-old spent the 2017 offseason on the Detroit Lions roster but didn’t make it through the final cuts. He hasn’t been on an NFL roster since then.

Aaron Murray, Atlanta Legends 

Selected 163rd overall in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, Murray never played in an official NFL game, but he set records as the quarterback at Georgia.

As a four-year starter for the Bulldogs, Murray threw for 13,166 yards and 121 touchdowns. In total, Murray was responsible for 137 touchdowns in his college career, which is second-most in SEC history behind only Tim Tebow.

Fittingly, Murray is playing in the AAF not far from where he set those college records, but he currently sits behind Matt Simms on the Legends depth chart.

Blake Sims, Birmingham Iron 

Sims started one season for Alabama, going 12-2 as a starter, but unlike other recent Crimson Tide quarterbacks, he didn’t lead the team to a national championship. Alabama suffered a surprising defeat against Ohio State in the first-ever College Football Playoff semifinals.

Sims then went undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft. He spent time on the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squads but never played in a game.

During his lone year as Alabama’s starter, Sims threw for 3,487 yards and 28 touchdowns. He played football in Canada and Australia before joining the AAF.