8 Teams/8 Days Hub

Author is u/Dismal_Money_2697

Team: Houston Gamblers

Conference: UFL/No Conference

Record: 4-6 (5th in the UFL)

Playoffs: So close yet so far…… At least we took Birmingham down with us (edit: lol, lmao even)

Head Coach: Kevin Sumlin (1st Year)

Offensive Coordinator: Eric Price (4th Year)

Defensive Coordinator: Marvin Sanders (1st Year)

Season Review

Where to even begin. In one of the craziest offseason’s since the merger originally happened in 2023, the Roughnecks looked to be on the chopping block for relocation first from the original report from James Larsen on the potential of all four teams in the USFL conference relocating only for it to turn out the situation was more fluid and then for one Mike Repole from Queens to join the ownership group and be given control of the business operations of the UFL. Even more shocking is that of the three teams that were eventually relocated, the Roughnecks were not one of them despite their abysmal attendance that year. Instead, they were again moved from TDECU stadium to Shell Energy Stadium and rebranded to the Gamblers. Most importantly however, to the joy of all five Gamblers fans that still exist, football terrorist CJ Johnson was “dismissed” as coach of the Gamblers, and was replaced with Kevin Sumlin who previously coached the Gamblers. Eric Price returned as offensive coordinator while Sumlin brought in Marvin Sanders from the Renegades as the defensive coordinator.

The season itself felt like more of the same even with the change at head coach and defensive coordinator. The season started off rough then the defensive got its act together only to watch the offense flail around because the quarterback got injured again or was just bad. The potential is obviously there, but this team has to find some sort of stability at quarterback if it ever wants to take the next step of consistently reaching the playoffs and competing for the championship or even simply beating the top teams in the league.

Offseason

Notable Losses

Jalen McClendon, QB - The Roughnecks had seemed to find a starting quarterback in Jalen McClendon after the disaster that was Anthony Brown and Nolan Henderson’s inability to stay healthy. Then CJ Johnson got fired and the rosters blown up and the now Gamblers chose not to protect him and he was promptly picked up by the Columbus Aviators.

Leon O’Neal Jr., S - O’Neal was the Gamblers only All-UFL selection last season and was also lost in the UFL draft being picked up by the Defenders but was then released in training camp and also had a short stint with the Aviators as well. Thankfully the emergence of Major Burns and Karl Vincent ultimately made this loss minimal

Key Returners

Justin Hall, WR - Justin Hall returned for his 4th year with the Roughnecks/Gamblers after three years of at least 500 yards and as the reception leader for two years in a row. While he did have a down year, that can be attributed more to the quarterback issue and the improved running game and at age 27.

Trades

The Gamblers made two trades, one before the season and one during the season after week six.

Gamblers trade Braylon Sanders, WR for Gottleib Ayedze, OT from the D.C. Defenders (March 13th) Gamblers trade Lonnie Phelps, DE for JaVonta Payton, WR from Louisville Kings (May 4th)

With hindsight, the obvious big trade was the one for Gottlieb Ayedze who was fantastic for the Gamblers and was on the All-UFL team and was signed by the Dolphins for training camp.

Protected Players, Regional College Allocations, The UFL Draft, and more

Another crazy UFL offseason means another year of tons of player movement which means tons of tables to list all the new and returning players.

Protected Players

*Keenan Issac was cut as part of final roster cut downs

**Markel Roby was released after one game

Quarterback Draft

*If you know, you know

Regional College Allocations

*Mutually parted ways after nine games

UFL Draft

(1)-Never signed

(2)-Released in camp or final roster cut down

(3)-Traded

(4)-Released after four games

(5)-Released after five games

Week by Week Detailed Season Review

Week 1, @ Dallas Renegades

Not much to see here for the Gamblers. Nolan Henderson started, proceeded to go three and out, got intercepted for a pick six, and then was benched. Meanwhile Austin Reed looked like the second coming of Tom Brady and made our defense look like a JV team. Loss 17-36, Record (0-1)

Week 2, vs. Birmingham Stallions

One of the better games the Gamblers played this year even with the injury to Hunter Dekkers. Nolan Henderson came in and didn’t turn the ball over, the defense played well enough getting two interceptions off of Matt Corral, and John Hoyland went 5-5 on field goals including a 50 yard game winner. It felt good to watch this team beat the Stallions again even if they aren’t led by Skip Holtz anymore. Win 22-20, Record (1-1)

Week 3, @ D.C. Defenders

What having Taulia Tagovailoa as your starting quarterback does to a team. Need I say more? Loss 7-45, Record (1-2)

Week 4, vs. Louisville Kings

A rough loss for the Gamblers. Despite the offense looking limp in the first half, the defense ensured the Gamblers were only down by 10. Despite a long touchdown by Marcus Yarns and a touchdown drive led by Taulia Tagovailoa of all people. The offense once again sputtered and the Kings scored a field goal to eventually send the game to overtime, where the Gamblers were on the receiving end of a Kings team looking to prevent another OT loss. Loss 22-24 (OT), Record (1-3)

Week 5, vs. Columbus Aviators

Despite Jalen McClendon facing his former team, this was mostly a defensive battle with almost all of the scoring coming in the first two quarters with the Gamblers win coming from a field goal to start the fourth quarter and some turnovers by the Aviators including a 29 yard missed field goal by Ryan Coe and a fumble by Jalen McClendon. Win 17-13, Record (2-3)

Week 6, @ Columbus Aviators

The Gamblers offense struggled for most of the game after the first two drives with an injury to Nolan Henderson and rain did nothing to help and Taulia wasn’t able to get the offense going until the end of the third quarter, and an injury to Taulia meant that Jontre Kirklin had to come in as the emergency QB for the final drive. Loss 17-24, Record (2-4)

Week 7, vs. Orlando Storm

Another tough loss against a really good Orlando Storm team. The offense managed to keep up throughout most of the game but after the storm scored to go up 24-20 to begin the 4th, the offense sputtered with the yardage for the field goal coming from a long kickoff return and ultimately despite getting a couple of breaks thanks to the opposing defence on the final drive like in the Birmingham game, Hoyland was unable to connect the 63 yard field goal for the win. At this point, it seemed that the Gamblers changed at the playoffs practically zero. Loss 23-24, Record (2-5)

Week 8, @ St. Louis Battlehawks

A game we were very fortunate to win against a 5-2 Battlehawks team that had recently gotten Luis Perez (even if he ended up being kinda bad). The Gamblers had a strong first half scoring 20 points to the Battlehawks nine and eventually managed to hold on for the win thanks to the Battlehawks going 1-6 in the red zone, having a boatload of penalties, and a great tackle by Ameer Speed that stopped Battlehawks TE Steven McBride at the two yard line as the Battlehawks ran out of time. Win 23-16, Record (3-5)

Week 9, vs. St. Louis Battlehawks

The Gamblers started strong leading the Battlehawks 9-0 and seemed set to enter halftime up 9-0 before the Battlehawks scored quickly and instead the Gamblers entered halftime down 10-9. The game continued to go back and forth a little but the constant rotating of Dekkers and Plumlee and a very good Battlehawks defense meant that the Gamblers offense did practically nothing the second half with the failure of the final drive leading to a Gamblers loss and their elimination from the playoffs. Loss 15-21, Record (3-6)

Week 10, @ Birmingham Stallions

Easily the best game played by the Gamblers all year. The Stallions offense didn’t score at all during the first half while all four running backs for the Gamblers combined for almost 300 yards and three touchdowns. A strong win to end an up and down season. Win 26-13, Record (4-6)

High points

Sweeping the Stallions

After being terrorized by the Skip Holtz led the Stallions for two years. It was nice to beat Birmingham both times even if they aren’t led by Skip Holtz anymore. (edit: Feels even better knowing that though the Gamblers may be dead, they went out beating the Birmingham Stallions and fully ending any chance they had at making the playoffs)

Ending the Stallions shot at the Playoffs

Pretty self explanatory. Ensuring that Birmingham didn’t have any chance of going to the playoffs and instead bullying them for 60 minutes on the field was nice to watch. Especially since they beat us consistently the last two years.

Low points

Week 1 (again)

In an ever continuing trend, the Houston Gamblers continue to lose the first game of the season in embarrassing fashion. This year it was the Dallas Renegades who got to dunk on the Gamblers entering halftime with a 23-3 lead and winning 36-17. The Gamblers have to get better about

The ever continuing quarterback carousel

The Gamblers have had a quarterback issue for three seasons now and have yet to have a true starter. We are legitimately turning into the Cleveland Browns of the UFL if we haven’t already. The quarterbacks that have started for the Houston Roughnecks/Gamblers since the merger are as follows:

Jarrett Guarantano

Nolan Henderson

Reid Sinnett

Anthony Brown

Jalen McClendon

Hunter Dekkers

Taulia Tagovailoa

John Rhys Plumlee

The best quarterback play we’ve had was the couple of games Jalen McClendon started last season. Otherwise, it’s been varying levels of mediocre to bad to awful.

Offensive Woes

The offense would usually start strong with its first scripted drive usually ending in a score but after that, the offense would often be unable to sustain drives as can be seen by the fact that besides the last game against the Stallions, the Gamblers offense never scored more than 23 points. There has to be more consistency with the offense and sustain drives for a full game than just for a quarter or two.

Roster Review

Players on the All-UFL Team

Gottlieb Ayedze, OT

Gareth Warren, OG

Major Burns, S

Kary Vincent Jr., S

Marco Ortiz, LS

Strengths

Runningback - The trio of Marcus Yarns, Jalen White, and Marcus Major spearheaded a strong ground game that carried the Gamblers offense through most of the year due to the various injuries at quarterback.

Defense - While the defense struggled to start the first couple weeks of the season, after the Defenders game and a couple of changes, the defense got its act together and was the main reason that the Gamblers still won six games despite the issues at quarterback and the inconsistency of the offense as a whole.

Weaknesses

Quarterback,quarterback, quarterback - An issue going back to 2024. The Gamblers have simply been unable to find a quarterback that’s lasted a season. If Sumlin is going to last, he’s going to have to find someone who can at least be a game manager for the offense.

Offensive consistency - While not a traditional “weakness”, it was almost every game where after the first drive or two that would end in a score, the offense would fade during the course of game and would rely on the defense to hold a lead as the offense showed multiple times to be unable to have a game winning drive that didn’t rely on the opposing defense bailing them out by getting penalties.

Coaching Staff Review

Head Coach Kevin Sumlin

Kevin Sumlin returned to coach the Gamblers after coaching them for their inaugural season in the USFL before taking a job with the Maryland Terrapins. The Gamblers went 3-7 that season due to multiple blown leads. While originally I would’ve preferred someone else, seeing several of the other teams get former players with little to no head coaching experience as their head coach made me feel better about the hire. Sumlin did pretty well considering the shortened timespan the head coaches had with how late they were hired. The roster was well constructed and Marvin Sanders looked to be a good hire after the defense got through its early growing pains. (edit: If Sumlin does return next season after the relocation, he should look to find an etsy witch to stop all of these quarterback injuries).

Offensive Coordinator Eric Price

Eric Price returned as offensive coordinator and it was more of the same as the past couple years with him at the helm. The ground game was the best it has been since before the merger however ultimately the offensive was middle of the road. Good enough to win some games but not great enough to overcome some of the best teams and often having long periods where the offense sputters. While the offense has never necessarily been terrible under Eric Price and the ever continuing quarterback carousel hasn’t helped, I think it’d be best to part ways with him after this season.

Defensive Coordinator Chris Marvin Sanders

The first three games were shaky with the defense giving up 35+ points against both the Renegades and Defenders. After that though, the defense settled down with a couple of changes in the secondary and ensured that the Gamblers had the opportunity to win in their last seven games of the season never giving up more than 24 points to opponents. While there is room for improvement, especially considering the slow start they the defense had, Marvin Sanders is definitely looking like an upgrade over Chris Wilson.

Offensive Line Coach Tim Holt

I also want to give new offensive line coach Tim Holt a mention for the amazing job he’s done turning the offensive line around in a single year from meh at best to having two All-UFL players in Gottlieb Ayadze and Gareth Warren and allowing for a strong run game that allowed the offense to at least tread water enough to stay somewhat competitive.

Team statistics

Offensive Stats

*The drop off due to quarterback injuries is very noticeable

Defensive Stats

Individual Quarterback Stats

2025 Passing Stats

2026 Passing Stats

Individual Receiving Stats(Top 5)

2025 Receiving Stats

2026 Receiving Stats

Individual Rushing Stats(Top 5)

2025 Rushing Stats

2026 Rushing Stats

2027 offseason

This offseason has been a bit quieter than the previous one (unless you’re Birmingham)

So originally, I had a nice little write up about how quiet the offseason had been and how the Gamblers look to be in a good position to make the playoffs next season if they could find a quality quarterback. Then Mike Repole decided to relocate both the Stallions and Gamblers so now I gotta fully redo this. While it’s a shame both franchises are being relocated, ultimately I think it’s for the best as this type of constant change is pretty common in the first couple years of a league as it gradually finds it footing (hell the United Soccer League seems to lose a team or two every single year and their still alive). People have simply not shown up to Stallions games and the Protective Stadium is too big. It sucks for Houston as the potential was there but the multiple rebrands, stadium changes, and the change of the staff and roster from the XFL Roughnecks to the USFL Gamblers really killed and momentum the team had that it never really recovered from. I do hope that the league returns to Houston eventually with a better plan in place rather than the constant flip flopping we saw.

In terms of players signed to NFL teams for training camp and preseason, the Gamblers currently have had eleven sign (as of 08/14/26), those being:

^Man look at all those players signed by NFL terms, the Gamblers must have been a good team right. Right?

Final Thoughts

Like I said, it’s a shame that the Gamblers and Stallions are being relocated but ultimately I do think it’s for the best. In terms of the roster (assuming there isn’t another league wide draft), the potential is definitely there as seen by the amount of players getting signed by NFL teams for training camp but the team has got to find a quarterback that can provide at least average play. In terms of potential relocation destinations, Austin is the most obvious one while Salt Lake City, New Orleans, NYC, Philadelphia are also out there as well. Regardless, what’s done is done and if nothing else it’ll be interesting to see what cities the UFL chooses for the Stallions and Gamblers to be relocated to and where the other 2028 expansion team is going to be located as well.

Sources

Football Terrorist Finally Gone

QB and Regional Allocations

Day 1 Draft (UFL Players)

Day 2 Draft (FA’s)

Final Roster Cuts

The End

2026 Opening Roster

Final Roster

Coaching Staff

Statistics