DC Defenders

The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha Acquico and plays its home games at Audi Field, which is a soccer-specific stadium owned and originally built by Major League Soccer's D.C. United. At 20,000 seats, Audi Field is the smallest stadium in the XFL.

DC Defenders
Established2018 (2018)
Based inWashington, D.C., U.S.
Home stadiumAudi Field
Head coachVacant
Team presidentErik Moses[1]
Owner(s)Alpha Acquico, LLC[2]
LeagueXFL
DivisionEast[3]
ColorsRed, white[4]
   
Websitexfl.com/teams/washington-dc

History
First ever XFL kickoff against the Seattle Dragons at Audi Field.

Washington, D.C. joined Seattle, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Dallas as the XFL's inaugural cities. All teams have 40-man active rosters and play a 10-week season. Vince McMahon said "the game will feature simplified rules for a faster pace of the game that should complete in under three hours", and draws from former college and NFL players.[5]

On February 21, 2019, the team hired Pep Hamilton, who most recently was an assistant with the Michigan Wolverines football team, as their first head coach. Hamilton is an alumnus of Howard University and was familiar to XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck through Hamilton's work with Luck's son, a former NFL Quarterback, Andrew.[6] Hamilton was later hired by the Los Angeles Chargers and the Houston Texans as quarterbacks coach, leaving the position vacant, likely until the league relaunches operations later in 2021 in preparation for 2022.

On February 8, 2020, the Defenders won the first game in modern XFL history, defeating the Seattle Dragons by a score of 31-19.[7]

On February 15, 2020, the Defenders beat the New York Guardians by a score of 27-0, which is the first shutout in the modern XFL history.

Market overview

The Baltimore-Washington Metroplex has a history of several teams in alternative professional football. The USFL had the Washington Federals (a mostly unsuccessful franchise) in its first two years. Then the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars moved from Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Byrd Stadium in College Park, Maryland, in 1985, winning the USFL's final championship. The Canadian Football League's Baltimore CFL Colts/Stallions were the only successful American team in the league during their two-year existence in the mid-1990s (and were the only American-based team to win the Grey Cup, the CFL's championship). Indoor teams to have played in Washington include the Washington Commandos and the Washington Valor (which folded two months before the Defenders' first game) of the Arena Football League, and the D.C. Armor of American Indoor Football Association, in addition to several teams based in Maryland.

Defenders fans have taken up a tradition of assembling beer snakes out of empty beer containers. The snake constructed at the March 8 game ended up spanning several rows, including a contribution from Commissioner Oliver Luck.[8]

Staff
DC Defenders staff
Front office
  • President – Erik Moses
  • Director of player personnel – Greg Gabriel
Head coach
Offensive coaches
  • Offensive coordinator/running backs – Tanner Engstrand
  • Quarterbacks – Ted White
  • Receivers – Bob Saunders
  • Run game coordinator/tight ends – Chris Scelfo
  • Offensive line – Mitch Browning
  
Defensive coaches
  • Defensive coordinator/secondary – Louie Cioffi
  • Defensive line – Napoleon Sykes
  • Linebackers – Kurt Gouveia
  • Outside linebackers – Sammy Lawanson
Special teames coaches
East Division
DC
NY
STL
TB
West Division
DAL
HOU
LA
SEA

Roster
DC Defenders roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen
  • 69 Cole Boozer T
  • 75 Chris Brown G
  • 78 Malcolm Bunche T
  • 74 Rishard Cook G
  • 62 Randall Harris T
  • 70 Terronne Prescod G
  • -- Bunchy Stallings G
  • 72 Logan Tuley-Tillman T
  • 79 De'Ondre Wesley T

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

  • 44 Reggie Cole CB
  • 37 Deion Harris CB
  • 23 Josh Jenkins CB
  • 25 Desmond Lawrence CB
  • 20 Carlos Merritt FS
  • 45 Rahim Moore SS
  • 38 Shamarko Thomas FS
  • 27 Josh Thornton CB

Special teams

  • 42 Brian Khoury LS
  •  2 Tyler Rausa K
 Reserve lists


Roster updated November 3, 2020
Depth chart
51 active, 8 inactive

→ XFL rosters
East Division
DC
NY
STL
TB
West Division
DAL
HOU
LA
SEA
Team 9

References
  1. Maake, Katishi (29 March 2019). "D.C.'s new XFL team taps a local sports veteran". Washington Business Journal.
  2. Perry, Mark (August 3, 2020). "More Details On The Rock Purchase Of The XFL, How Many Bidders". XFL News Hub. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  3. "FOX Sports announces 2020 XFL schedule". KMPH. January 7, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  4. "DC Defenders' uniforms, helmet". XFL.com (Press release). December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  5. Staff, KOMO (5 December 2018). "Seattle chosen as one of 8 inaugural teams for new XFL football league". KOMO.
  6. https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2019/02/pep-hamilton-is-reportedly-heading-to-the-xfl.html
  7. "XFL scores Week 1: Final results, highlights from Saturday's games". www.sportingnews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  8. Lincoln, Darrelle (March 8, 2020). "DC Defenders fans might've created the biggestbeer snake in history during game at Audi Field". Total Pro Sports. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
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