In American football, the startingquarterback is typically viewed as the leader of a team.[1] The quarterback is considered the most important position on the field and among the most important positions in team sports.[2][3] They are among the most high-profile athletes in North America and have been described as akin to A-list celebrities;[4] in the United Football League, such quarterbacks benefit from national television exposure and in-game action that they may not get as backup or practice squad quarterbacks in the National Football League; former New York Guardians starter Matt McGloin, former Dallas Renegades starting quarterback Landry Jones and current St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron all cited the ability to have their friends and family see them play professional football as reasons why they chose to play in the league.[5][6][7] The success of an American football team often rests on the quarterback; thus, teams will go to great lengths to find a franchise quarterback to build around for the long-term goals of the team. This page contains the lists of starting quarterbacks for the eight teams that played in the XFL, a league that operated for 1½ seasons as a standalone league in 2020 and 2023. This page also contains the lists of starting quarterbacks for the nine teams that played in the United States Football League (USFL), a league that operated for 2 seasons as a standalone league in 2022 and 2023. Four teams from each league now constitute the XFL and USFL conferences respectively of the UFL.
Starting quarterbacks in the XFL received a substantially higher salary than backups and other position players. In the 2020 season, the salary for an XFL starting quarterback was $495,000 plus a $2,222 bonus for every game won as a member of the team;[8] the "average quarterback" on a 2020 XFL roster was reputed to make $125,000, compared to $55,000 for other position players, with both figures including bonuses.[9] The presumed starting quarterbacks were also assigned by the league office and not subject to the 2020 XFL Draft, though this did not guarantee they would start.[10] For 2023, the highest paid XFL starting quarterback, Brett Hundley, earned $200,000 in base salary,[11] while Jordan Ta'amu and McCarron both made over $100,000, in addition to win bonuses.[12] The XFL structure stood in contrast to the USFL, which purposely chose an egalitarian structure paying all players equally regardless of position;[13] as a result, McCarron and Ta'amu were initially hesitant to stay with their teams as they transitioned to the UFL, which operates under the USFL's collective bargaining agreement (CBA).[14] The USFL's players' union, United SteelworkersLocal 9004, gave its permission for the league to sign players at a higher salary, stating that it would only enforce the relevant clause in the CBA as a minimum salary, not a hard salary cap, and openly encouraged the league to sign McCarron, offering to make union dues optional.[15]
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