The revamped USFL held Day 1 of its draft on Tuesday night and some familiar names were called.
That includes one former and notable Eagles draft pick.
In the first round, which included only quarterbacks, the Houston Gamblers used their No. 5 overall pick on former Eagles quarterback Clayton Thorson.
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Thorson, 26, was drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round out of Northwestern in 2019. He was taken to be a developmental quarterback that season to be molded by Doug Pederson but Thorson had a really rough training camp in 2019.
At Northwestern, the 6-foot-4 Thorson threw for over 10,000 yards in four seasons with 61 touchdowns and 45 interceptions. He seemingly had some tools but it became apparently pretty quickly in the NFL that he wasn’t going to work. After the Eagles released him at final cuts in 2019, he ended up with the Cowboys on their practice squad for his rookie season. He then spent some time with the Giants’ practice squad in 2020 and some time in 2021.
After the Eagles released Thorson in 2019, they signed another developmental quarterback to their practice squad in Kyle Lauletta. Guess what? Lauletta was taken two picks later on Tuesday night in the USFL draft by the Pittsburgh Maulers.
NFL
The eight-team USFL held its first 12 rounds of the draft on Tuesday night and will hold the remaining 23 rounds on Wednesday. This draft isn’t a traditional one as rounds are split up by positions:
Day 1
Round 1: Quarterbacks
Rounds 2-4: Edge rushers/defensive ends
Rounds 5-7: Offensive tackles
Round 8-11: Cornerbacks
Round 12: Quarterbacks
Day 2
Rounds 13-17: Wide receivers
Rounds 18-19: Safeties
Round 20: Centers
Round 21: Inside linebackers
Rounds 22-23: Offensive guards
Rounds 24-26: Defensive tackles and nose tackles
Rounds 27-28: Running backs and fullbacks
Rounds 29-31: Outside linebackers
Round 32: Kickers
Round 33: Punters
Round 34: Tight ends/Halfbacks
Round 35: Long snappers
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Thorson and Lauletta weren’t the only former Eagles drafted on Tuesday night. Here are a few other notable ones:
Round 8-3: CB De’Vante Bausby (New Jersey Generals): Bausby, who was undrafted out of Pittsburgh State, actually played quite a bit in the NFL. In total, he has 26 career games with 6 career starts under his belt. In 2018, he played in six games with the Eagles and started one. In those games, h had 14 tackles. Bausby was on the Eagles’ practice squad in 2017 and in 2018 before he was promoted to the active roster. He was waived in December of 2018.
Round 8-8: CB Ajene Harris (Pittsburgh Maulers): You might not remember the USC corner’s time with the Eagles — it was brief — but I sure do. Back in 2019, the Eagles needed to add a corner during training camp and brought in Harris, who had worked out for them before. Two days later, he played in his first NFL preseason game. He never really had a shot to make the team that year.
Round 9-6: CB Trae Elston (New Jersey Generals): While he was drafted as a corner, Elston has played safety in the NFL and he’s also been in the CFL before too. Elston has 14 NFL games under his belt and all of them came in the 2017 season. One of them was with the Eagles. So, yes, Elston was a part of the Eagles’ Super Bowl season. He played seven special teams snaps in the 27-24 win over the Giants in Week 3.
And if you’re wondering, here’s a look at Day 1 for the Philadelphia Stars: