Former Kansas City Chiefs draft pick Breeland Speaks is dominating in his first season with the USFL’s Michigan Panthers. At the season’s halfway point, he’s already earning consideration for the USFL’s Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Speaks is the USFL’s sack leader through Week 5 with 6.5 sacks for the Panthers. He earned the league’s Defensive Player of the Week honors twice in that span, most recently after recording 2.5 sacks in Michigan’s loss to the Pittsburgh Maulers. While his team only has a 2-3 overall record through five games, Speaks has been a big-time bright spot for the spring football league.
A second-round pick out of Ole Miss in the 2018 NFL draft, Speaks played all 16 games as a rookie in Kansas City, recording 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He spent the entire 2019 season on injured reserve and was released during final roster cuts ahead of the 2020 NFL season.
His performance in the USFL could certainly be his path back to the NFL, with his potential as a professional finally being realized. You can watch Speaks in action this weekend on FOX at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 20, when the Panthers take on Birmingham Stallions at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
