Former Kansas City Chiefs draft pick wins highest defensive honor in UFL's inaugural season
A former member of the Kansas City Chiefs has earned recognition for his dominance during the UFL's inaugural season. The XFL and USFL combined during the 2024 spring football season to make the United Football League (UFL). The UFL announced on Friday that former Chiefs draft pick and Michigan Panthers defensive end, Breeland Speaks, has […]
A former member of the Kansas City Chiefs has earned recognition for his dominance during the UFL's inaugural season. The XFL and USFL combined during the 2024 spring football season to make the United Football League (UFL).
The UFL announced on Friday that former Chiefs draft pick and Michigan Panthers defensive end, Breeland Speaks, has won the 2024 UFL Defensive Player of the Year award. Speaks led the UFL this season with 9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss during the regular season. He recorded the most single-game tackles for loss (4) by a UFL player this season at Houston on May 26.
The former 2018 second-round pick out of Ole Miss started four games as a rookie with the Chiefs in 2018 and appeared in all 16 games that season. He recorded just 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks, with the team falling just short of a Super Bowl berth in the AFC Championship Game. Speaks spent the entire 2019 NFL season on injured reserve and was waived during roster cuts ahead of the 2020 NFL season. His tenure in Kansas City wasn't a success, but he certainly hasn't let that stop him from playing the game he loves.
Speaks has made stops in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and most recently the San Francisco 49ers. His biggest professional football-playing success has undoubtedly come in various spring leagues. Last year, with the USFL, he led the league in sacks. This year with the UFL, he made the all-UFL team and has now been recognized as the league's top defensive player.
His season isn't over yet as as the 2024 UFL playoffs begin this weekend. You can watch Speaks and the Panthers in the USFL Conference Championship Game at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 8 at Protective Stadium, where they'll face the Birmingham Stallions. The two teams played a game just last week, where the Stallions defeated the Panthers 20-19.
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