| Current team | St. Louis Battlehawks |
|---|---|
| Number | 12 |
| Position | Quarterback |
| Birth date | May 9, 1994 (age 32) |
| Birth place | Pensacola, Florida, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft |
| Height in | 2 |
| Weight lbs | 218 |
| High school | Gulf Shores (Gulf Shores, Alabama) |
| College | Troy (2013–2017) |
| Undraftedyear | 2018 |
| Pastteams |
|
| Status | Active |
| Highlights |
William Brandon Silvers (born May 9, 1994) is an American professional football quarterback for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football for the Troy Trojans.
Early life
William Brandon Silvers was born to Rae Ann and Jeff Silvers on May 9, 1994, in Pensacola, Florida. He has one brother, Chase. His uncle, Carey Christensen, played starting quarterback for the Foley Lions and Troy Trojans, helping the latter to win the 1984 NCAA Division II Football Championship. His aunt, Metta Christensen Stapleton, was a star basketball player for the Foley Lions and South Alabama Jaguars.[1]
Silvers first started as quarterback his junior year at Gulf Shores High School in Gulf Shores, Alabama. He threw for 2,468 yards and 26 touchdowns. Silvers had a 54% completion rating his senior year, with 201 attempts for 1,400 yards and 6 touchdowns. He also rushed for 410 yards on 116 carries and nine touchdowns.[1] At the time, ESPN ranked him as the 27th best high school quarterback in the country.[2]
College career
Silvers began playing for the Troy Trojans in 2014, where he set an NCAA record for the highest completion percentage by a freshman. After 2 losing seasons, Silver led the 2016 Trojans to a 10–3 record and a victory in the Dollar General Bowl over Ohio. For his efforts, he was named First-team All-Sun Belt. 2017 would see Silvers lead the Trojans to another winning record and a Sun Belt Conference co-championship. His final season would be capped off with a victory in the New Orleans Bowl against North Texas. He declared for the NFL draft shortly after. In his 4 years at Troy University, Silvers passed for 10,677 yards, 71 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions with a 64.4% completion rating, while also adding 415 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns on 237 attempts. He ended his college career with a passing rating of 135.8.[3] As of 2022, Silvers is second all-time for passing yards and passing touchdowns at Troy.
Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2018 NFL draft, Silvers was invited to the New Orleans Saints rookie minicamp, but was not signed to a contract.[4]
Memphis Express
He was selected by the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) during the 2019 AAF QB Draft. He started the 2019 season as the third-string quarterback behind Christian Hackenberg and Zach Mettenberger.
Hackenberg was demoted to third string after several weeks of poor play and an injury sidelined Mettenberger in week 6. Silvers then began splitting time with recently signed Johnny Manziel. Silvers and Manziel combined to lead the Express to just its second victory of the season in week 7. Silvers passed for the game-winning touchdown in overtime to beat the Birmingham Iron.[5] With Manziel suffering an injury early in week 8, Silvers played the bulk of the game against the top-ranked Orlando Apollos. Silvers nearly pulled off an upset before losing 34–31, with a late interception by Silvers.[6]
Silvers started two games for the Express, passing for 799 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and had a 64% completion rating.[7]
New York Jets
On April 10, 2019, Silvers signed with the New York Jets of the NFL.[8] He was waived on May 6, 2019.[9]
Seattle Dragons
On October 15, 2019, Silvers was chosen to be the first quarterback of the Seattle Dragons of the XFL.[10] He signed a contract with the team on November 4, 2019. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.[11]
The Spring League
Silvers signed with the Conquerors of The Spring League in May 2021.[12] Silvers would be a part of the Conquerors Week 1 roster.[13] In the 2021 season, Silvers would go on to lead the league in passer rating, guiding his team to a 4–2 record. Unfortunately, the Conquerors would fall short of making the championship game. Silvers finished his first season in the Spring League with 685 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a passer rating of 127.3.
Silvers signed with the United States Football League (USFL) after the deadline to be included in the 2022 USFL draft and was included in the supplemental draft, but went undrafted.[14]
Houston Roughnecks
On September 29, 2022, XFL reporter Mike Mitchell reported that 8 quarterbacks that worked with Jordan Palmer have reportedly signed with each team. Silvers was signed to the Houston Roughnecks. Silvers started 8 of the Roughnecks' 10 games and led them to the playoffs.[15][16]
St. Louis Battlehawks
On February 14, 2024, Silvers was signed by the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League (UFL).[17] In St. Louis, Silvers has primarily served as backup to fellow Alabama native A. J. McCarron and Manny Wilkins.[18] Silvers re-signed with the Battlehawks on April 22, 2025, following McCarron's departure and injuries to Wilkins and Chevan Cordeiro.[19] He served as the backup to Max Duggan, saw action in two regular season games, started the week 10 contest, and entered the XFL Conference Championship in relief of Duggan before suffering a broken scapula on an extra point attempt.[20]
Silvers was the only quarterback from 2025 that the Battlehawks kept in the 2026 UFL draft, reuniting with offensive coordinator A. J. Smith, his offensive coordinator when he started for the Roughnecks.[21] Silvers was named the Battlehawks' starter entering the 2026 season and started the first three games of the season before being benched for Harrison Frost and later being relegated to third-string behind Frost and Luis Perez.
Career statistics
Professional
| Year | Team | League | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |||
| 2019 | MEM | AAF | 5 | 2 | 1–1 | 80 | 125 | 64.0 | 799 | 6.4 | 4 | 2 | 86.1 | 4 | 22 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2020 | SEA | XFL | 4 | 4 | 1–3 | 53 | 102 | 52.0 | 539 | 5.2 | 6 | 4 | 70.7 | 6 | 16 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 2021 | CNQ | TSL | 4 | 2 | 2–0 | 55 | 80 | 68.8 | 685 | 8.6 | 9 | 1 | 127.3 | 4 | 5 | 1.3 | 0 |
| 2023 | HOU | XFL | 8 | 8 | 6–2 | 156 | 262 | 59.5 | 1,551 | 5.9 | 13 | 9 | 78.6 | 9 | -2 | -0.2 | 0 |
| 2024 | STL | UFL | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 2025 | STL | 2 | 1 | 1–0 | 13 | 18 | 72.2 | 205 | 11.4 | 1 | 0 | 128.2 | 6 | -6 | -1.0 | 0 | |
| 2026 | STL | 3 | 3 | 2–1 | 44 | 78 | 56.4 | 460 | 5.9 | 2 | 3 | 66.2 | 8 | 14 | 1.8 | 0 | |
| Career | 27 | 20 | 13–7 | 401 | 665 | 60.3 | 4,239 | 6.4 | 35 | 19 | 84.5 | 37 | 49 | 1.3 | 0 | ||
College
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| NCAA record (for freshman) | |
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2013 | Troy | 0 | 0 | — | Redshirted | |||||||||||
| 2014 | Troy | 11 | 11 | 3–8 | 191 | 271 | 70.5 | 1,836 | 6.8 | 11 | 3 | 138.6 | 100 | 196 | 2.0 | 5 |
| 2015 | Troy | 11 | 11 | 4–7 | 202 | 330 | 61.2 | 2,378 | 7.2 | 20 | 7 | 137.5 | 41 | 41 | 1.0 | 2 |
| 2016 | Troy | 13 | 13 | 10–3 | 293 | 460 | 63.7 | 3,180 | 6.9 | 23 | 12 | 133.0 | 48 | 128 | 2.7 | 4 |
| 2017 | Troy | 13 | 13 | 11–2 | 283 | 443 | 63.9 | 3,290 | 7.4 | 17 | 7 | 135.8 | 48 | 50 | 1.0 | 5 |
| Career | 48 | 48 | 28–20 | 969 | 1,504 | 64.4 | 10,684 | 7.1 | 71 | 29 | 135.8 | 237 | 415 | 1.8 | 16 | |
References
- ^ "Brandon Silvers". Troy Trojans. Troy College. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ "Brandon Silvers – Football Recruiting". ESPN. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ "Brandon Silvers College Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
- ^ Anderson, Roy (May 1, 2018). "Troy QB Brandon Silvers to particiapte in Saints rookie minicamp". Who Dat Dish. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
- ^ Anderson, Brett (March 24, 2019). "AAF Week 7 scores, updates, highlights: Johnny Manziel debuts, but other Express QB wins it in OT". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ Munz, Jason (March 30, 2019). "Memphis Express lose Johnny Manziel to injury, game to Orlando Apollos". The Tennessean
- ^ "Alliance Stats". Alliance of American Football. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
- ^ Greenberg, Ethan (April 10, 2019). "Jets Sign QB Brandon Silvers". NewYorkJets.com
- ^ Greenberg, Ethan. "Jets Waive QB Brandon Silvers". NewYorkJets.com. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
- ^ Florio, Mike (October 15, 2019). "XFL announces its eight allocated quarterbacks". Profootballtalk.com. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ Condotta, Bob (April 10, 2020). "XFL suspends operations, terminates all employees, but Jim Zorn says he has hopes league will continue". SeattleTimes.com. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ^ "First look at the #TSLConquerors roster at #TSL2021!". No. 1389389947283640322. May 3, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
- ^ The Spring League 🏈 (May 3, 2021). "First look at the #TSLConquerors ⚔️ roster at #TSL2021! In Week 1, The Linemen will face the Conquerors from @LucasOilStadium at 10 pm ET on Thursday, May 6! The game will air on @FS1. Tickets for the Week 1 doubleheader in Indy can be purchased here: https://bit.ly/3xHRCKz". No. 1389389947283640322. Archived May 20, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
- ^ "Brandon Silvers Reportedly set for USFL Supplemental Draft". February 28, 2022.
- ^ Mitchell, Mike (2022-09-29). "XFL: The First Group Of Tentatively Assigned Quarterbacks For The 2023 Season". XFL News Hub. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ^ "Meet XFL QBs: Stats, experience, what to know about the 15 quarterbacks". ESPN. November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ "UFL Player Transactions, Wednesday February 14, 2024". UFLBoard.com. February 14, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ McNanna, Cole (2024-05-10). "Battlehawk quarterbacks McCarron, Silvers set for Alabama homecoming at St. Louis’ UFL game against Birmingham Stallions on Saturday". Gulf Coast Media. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
- ^ Larsen, James (2025-04-23). "Battlehawks Sign QB Brandon Silvers, Lose Manny Wilkins". Pro Football Newsroom. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ Rifino, Patrick (2025-06-11). "Battlehawks QB Brandon Silvers Provides Injury Update". Retrieved 2025-06-11.
- ^ Larsen, James (2026-01-16). "A.J. Smith Joins UFL’s Battlehawks, Alongside Colorado Buffs". Pro Football Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-01-16.