Barber: Scooby Wright chasing dream with AAF's Arizona Hotshots

A funny thing happened when the Alliance of American Football played its inaugural games two weekends ago.

It was a slow news day in the sports world, and a lot of eyes drifted to the AAF, the spring league that is emerging as a potential feeder to the NFL. And people seemed to … actually … like it? I was following on Twitter, a platform that generally displays the empathy and enthusiasm of a Russian prison camp. But instead of goofing on and mocking the AAF, most observers praised the level of play, the light-handed officiating and even the uniforms.

I wondered if Philip Wright III, better known as Scooby, had noticed.

“I’m probably the wrong person to ask, because I hate social media,” he said over the phone with a gruff laugh. “I don’t really care what anybody says. I’m here to focus on ball and the stuff you can control.”

Yes, Scooby Wright’s football career has taken another twist. A man-among-boys at Cardinal Newman High School and a top-10 Heisman Trophy candidate at the University of Arizona, he got lost in the NFL numbers game. Wright spent most of the 2016 season on the Cleveland Browns’ practice squad, and played 14 games with the Arizona Cardinals in 2016-17 before becoming a casualty of the Cardinals’ final cuts last September. He had a tryout with the New Orleans Saints later in the fall, but they didn’t offer him a contract.

Wright was back in Santa Rosa, working out at Complete Athlete on Cleveland Avenue, when the AAF called. He was eager to sign up. The new league used a geographical allocation of talent, and Scooby, with both college and NFL ties to the Grand Canyon State, was a natural for the Arizona Hotshots.

He took part in a tryout in mid-December and a minicamp shortly thereafter, then spent most of January at a training camp in San Antonio. It has been an accelerated timeline for a professional football team, and the early AAF games have reflected that, with some miscommunication on both sides of the ball.

Wright rotated at one of Arizona’s inside linebacker spots last Saturday, in a game against the Memphis Express. He isn’t dominating as he did in the Pac-12, but the punishing physicality emerged a couple times in the Hotshots’ 20-18 win. With 4:17 remaining in the second quarter, Wright drilled Memphis’ Zac Stacy at the sideline, knocking the former St. Louis Rams running back into a padded wall. And with 7 minutes left in the game, the linebacker collided with a guard trying to trap him, knocked the offensive lineman on his butt and tackled running back Terrence Magee after a 3-yard gain.

Wright makes no bones about his motivation. He is happy to be earning a paycheck playing the game he loves - standard (and non-guaranteed) AAF contracts reportedly pay $225,000 over three years - but his ultimate goal is to be back in the NFL.

He is not alone in this dream. Just about every player suiting up in the alliance is hoping to use it as a steppingstone to the league. The AAF is fine with that. In fact, it’s an explicit recruiting tool. Before Saturday’s game, as the players stretched on the field in Memphis, an NFL Network microphone picked up Hotshots coach Rick Neuheisel telling his men, “Come on, now. Let’s go after the resume.”

“One hundred percent,” Wright said. “I mean, coach Neuheisel preaches that all the time. We’re trying to get another shot.”

The question is, does the AAF have a real shot of sticking around?

There are positive signs, to be sure. Starting with the league’s top brass. Bill Polian, a co-founder, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his front-office work. Troy Polamalu is the head of player relations and another Pittsburgh Steelers legend, Hines Ward, is head of football development. The AAF’s head coaches are a who’s who of headsets: Mike Martz, Steve Spurrier, Mike Singletary, Dennis Erickson, Brad Childress, Mike Riley and Tim Lewis, in addition to Neuheisel.

Those names lent immediately credibility. And as I said, initial reaction to the AAF was favorable. Fans recognized a few names, and thought the overall level of play was solid. Teams have to go for 2-point conversions after they score, and a lot of players and coaches are “mic’d up” for the telecasts, all of which is fun. Plus, AAF officiating crews seem willing to swallow their whistles after big hits, even on quarterbacks.

I asked Wright about it, and he texted me a video clip of his hit on Stacy. The message read: “This is a flag in the nfl.” He was right.

Head trauma? You know most fans aren’t concerned with that.

On Feb. 9, the opening day of AAF action, CBS aired two concurrent games in prime time (in different regions) and they combined to reel in an estimated 2.9 million viewers, outdrawing the NBA’s Rockets-Thunder game. AAF ratings on NFL Network the next day were smaller, at about 408,000 viewers, but that number was considered acceptable.

“I’m feeling really good about it,” Wright said. “I think it’s gonna be great. This is the most fun I’ve had playing football in a long time, I’m not gonna lie. It’s exciting football.”

Still, there are warning signs. The Hotshots have probably received as much attention as any team, but both of their games - one at home, one on the road - were played in front of small crowds. On Monday, the Athletic reported that the AAF had been in danger of missing payroll last Friday, before Carolina Hurricanes (that’s an NHL team) majority owner Tom Dundon stepped up to offer a cash infusion of $250 million. Dundon, coincidentally, is now the AAF’s chairman. The league later denied it was in financial trouble.

The biggest advantage the AAF has over previous professional leagues is a relationship, rather than a rivalry, with the NFL. Players can move back and forth between the two leagues, and they have partnered on data collection and broadcast rights. But the reciprocation ends there.

Think about it. Major League Baseball has a farm system. The NBA has the G League. The NHL has the American Hockey League. The NFL has only the oppressive college-football system of the NCAA, an organization that is sometimes at cross-purposes with the professional league. Individual NFL teams have no affiliated minor leaguers.

The AAF probably can’t count on a millionaire sportsman stepping up every few weeks with a quarter-billion-dollar check. If the league is to survive, it will probably need true financial investment by the NFL, something it doesn’t have thus far.

Which would make sense, right? There are a lot of Scooby Wrights out there, looking for one more shot at true football glory. And there are 32 NFL teams that are always in need of hungry young bodies.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.