P.J. Walker Fantasy Football Outlook Includes Big Upside With the Carolina Panthers After Signing from the XFL

With the cancellation of the remainder of the XFL season, there's been a new dynamic to players moving from the XFL to the NFL. Instead of waiting until after the NFL Draft, players were free to sign with NFL teams as early as March 23rd.

Former Houston Roughnecks quarterback P.J. Walker was one of the more high-profile XFL players expected to make the leap, and he quickly found a new home with the Carolina Panthers. Landing in Carolina leaves Walker with a real chance at earning a starting job, and that make him a very interesting fantasy football asset.

We saw last season that Kyle Allen is not the answer at QB for the Panthers, and Cam Newton appears to be all but a lock to play elsewhere in 2020. Carolina may have their eye on a QB in the draft, but picking No. 7 means that unless they trade up, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert will likely be off the board by the time they pick. Walker also played under Panthers head coach Matt Rhule at Temple, so there's an established connection there.

Walker absolutely took the XFL by storm. He led his Roughnecks to a perfect 5-0 record, while no other team was better than 3-2. They dominated offensively, scoring 158 points in those five games, while only one other team scored more than 100 (the Los Angeles Wildcats, with 129).

Walker himself played a huge role in that. His 1,338 passing yards topped the next-best total by 246. His 15 touchdowns were 4 more than anyone else threw, and he did that with just 4 interceptions. He also showed mobility and a willingness to run the ball, racking up 24 carries across five games.

Walker is, of course, going to be a risky fantasy football asset. He's far from a lock to start 16 games (or even one game, depending on how the rest of the Panthers' offseason shakes out), and he's certainly not guaranteed to carry over his XFL success to the pros.

Mobile quarterbacks are very valuable in fantasy football, however, and playing in an offense that include Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel would give Walker a nice array of weapons to work with. If he lands the starting job, keep an eye on him as a late-round flyer in your fantasy drafts.

Get $20 FREE when you sign up for FanDuel Racing, plus we’ll match your first deposit in site credit up to $50!

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.