The Showboats have been extremely active at running back this off-season. After seeing BJ Emmons leave for the NFL and CFL, the Showboats have completely retooled their backfield. Over the past couple weeks, the Showboats released Tra Minter and Juwan Washington, in addition to losing leading rusher Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu. Despite the complete overhaul, a move to Memphis, and uncertainty at Quarterback, the Showboats did add Alex Collins to the team in an effort to gain stability in the backfield.
Collins comes to the Showboats after spending, parts of six seasons in the NFL, earning over three million dollars, per spotrac. Originally a 5th round draft pick in 2016, Collins has amassed 1,997 career rushing yards including 973-yard 2017 with the Baltimore Ravens. However, due to injuries and suspensions Collins would find himself out of the NFL in 2021 and spent all of 2022 unemployed.
Collins now joins David Hamm an Arena Football Vet, Justin Stockton an AAF vet, and Kerrith Whyte an NFL vet going into the Showboats 2023 season. With a completely new back field, and the return of top two receivers Rashard Davis and Derrick Dillon, the Showboats seem to have one of the stronger skill position groups in the USFL.
For Collins it looks that the RB1 competition is in full force come USFL training camp. If Todd Haley continues to utilize the same Running Back by committee approach that he did last year, it’s clear Collins will continue to be utilized as asset for the new look Showboats. For a team that is in clear transition and has questions at Quarterback, bringing in a seasoned vet like Collins makes the Showboats a bit more stable going into 2023.
Ken Granito
January 15, 2023 at 2:02 am
It seems like they are stacking up some good players at skill positions in Memphis. Provided they add an additional quarterback say a Kelly Bryant or Kurt Benkert they should have a chance at a fairly good offense and if the players and coach mesh then they should do really well. Hoping Case Cookus makes his way back to the Philadelphia Stars and puts them in a good place to get their season off on the right foot. Since we are signing some of our USFL veterans back and since we lost some coaches to the XFL maybe we can interview some coaches with USFL experience for open coaching positions maybe Joey Jones in Birmingham, Tim Spencer for running backs in Memphis or San Diego (yes looking ahead) and let’s not forget Rick Neuheisel or Jim Jeffcoat XFL coach but Houston needs experienced coaches.