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Two former Lion quarterbacks will make USFL debuts Sunday

By Darwin (Deni) Martin

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: Jordan Ta'Amu #10 of the St. Louis Battlehawks looks to pass against the DC Defenders during the first half of the XFL game at Audi Field on March 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: Jordan Ta'Amu #10 of the St. Louis Battlehawks looks to pass against the DC Defenders during the first half of the XFL game at Audi Field on March 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Two former Lions–Jordan Ta’amu and Kyle Sloter –will be starting quarterbacks as the new rendition of the USFL starts this weekend.

The new rendition of the USFL kicked off Saturday night, with the New Jersey Generals taking on the Birmingham Stallions. On Sunday, two former Detroit Lions signal callers (in a loose definition of the term “former”) will make their USFL debuts.

Jordan Ta’amu was the No. 2 pick overall in the USFL draft. He was the second-best quarterback in the XFL when before that league’s season was cut short by the COVID pandemic in 2020.  He had five touchdown passes and 1,050 passing yards in five games for the St. Louis BattleHawks.

The former Ole Miss quarterback landed on the  Lions practice squad after the XFL season ended in the spring of 2020.  He signed a one-year contract with Kansas City last year, but was cut by the Chiefs after failing to unseat veteran Chad Henne as the backup quarterback. Ta’amu will be starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Bandits when they face the Pittsburgh Maulers in the final game of the USFL’s opening weekend at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.

Kyle Sloter has spent time with six NFL teams, including the Lions, since 2017. He was on the Lions roster for the final few games of the 2019 season after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. He will start under center for the New Orleans Breakers when they play the Philadelphia Stars at 4 p.m. ET Sunday.

After a 37-year absence, the USFL is back with eight teams playing a 10-game regular season schedule from April to June.  The league will have two divisions of four teams each. Here is the league alignment with the names of the teams and their head coaches.  All eight teams will play their games in Birmingham, Alabama at Protective Stadium or Legion Field. Games will air either on NBC or Fox (the inaugural game was on both)  or one of their respective networks (FS1, USA, etc.).

Here’s a look the divisions, with the head coach for each team.

North Division

  • Michigan Panthers (Jeff Fisher)
  • New Jersey Generals (Mike Riley)
  • Philadelphia Stars (Bart Andrus)
  • Pittsburgh Maulers (Kirby Wilson)

South Division

  • Birmingham Stallions ( Skip Holtz)
  • Houston Gamblers  (Kevin Sumlin)
  • New Orleans Breakers (Larry Fedora)
  • Tampa Bay Bandits (Todd Haley)

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