
First start for former Packers QB in the UFL..
After suffering an ankle injury in Week 7 of the UFL season, quarterback A.J. McCarron of the St. Louis Battlehawks, a former national championship winner for the Alabama Crimson Tide, was unable to play on Sunday. Fans of the Green Bay Packers may be familiar with his replacement, Manny Wilkins.
After starting three seasons for the Arizona State Sun Devils, Wilkins signed as an undrafted free agent with the Packers back in 2019. While he was unable to make the roster that carried Aaron Rodgers and Tom Boyle, Wilkins was signed to the team’s practice squad for his rookie season. After 2019, Wilkins was given a reserve/futures contract, which kept him on the team in 2020 until Jordan Love was drafted — leading to Wilkins’ April 27th release.
Since that date in 2020, it appears that Wilkins hasn’t drawn NFL interest, as he had not signed with another football team until he resurfaced in the XFL in February of 2023. When it was announced that McCarron, one of the handful of players who are in the UFL Most Valuable Player Award race, would not play, many pointed to Wilkins as a major question mark in this week’s matchup versus the DC Defenders— as Wilkins hadn’t started a single football game at any level since his 2018 senior season at Arizona State.
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