# Houston Roughnecks (2024)

The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The Roughnecks compete in the United Football League (UFL) as a member of the USFL Conference. The team is owned-and-operated by Dwayne Johnson's Alpha Acquico and Fox Corporation. The team was a founding member of the USFL, as the Houston Gamblers in 2022, named after the 1980s USFL team of the same name. Though named after the city of Houston, the 2020s Gamblers never played there under that brand, instead playing its home games as the guest of other USFL teams in Birmingham, Alabama in 2022 and Memphis, Tennessee in 2023. When the USFL and XFL merged to form the UFL in 2024, the Gamblers took over the branding of the original Houston Roughnecks that had played the 2020 and 2023 seasons in the XFL and played in Houston at Rice Stadium and will play at Space City Financial Stadium (previously TDECU Stadium, the home of the 2020 and 2023 Roughnecks) for the 2025 season.

## History
### Houston Gamblers (2022–2023)

The Houston Gamblers were one of eight teams that were officially announced as a USFL franchise on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on November 22, 2021. On January 6, 2022, it was announced on The Herd with Colin Cowherd that former NCAA Football Head coach Kevin Sumlin was named the Head coach and General manager of the Gamblers. Houston was the only city in the USFL nominally based west of the Mississippi River and the only team that had a representative team in both professional spring football leagues, the USFL (the Gamblers) and the XFL (the Roughnecks), though the Gamblers never set foot in Houston, instead playing as a traveling team under the USFL's hub model.
On January 6, 2022, former college head coach, Kevin Sumlin was named the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers. The Gamblers' first season game was on April 17, 2022, against the Michigan Panthers at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. Kicker Nick Vogel made a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter (the first points for the franchise). The Gamblers defeated the Panthers 17–12, winning their first game in franchise history. The Gamblers lost their next seven games before winning for their final two games of the season, and failing to qualify for the USFL playoffs.
In September, 2022, the Gamblers announced that Robert Morris was named their new general manager. In November 2022, the USFL announced that the Gamblers will play at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee for the 2023 season. In February, 2023, Sumlin announced his plans to join the coaching staff of the Maryland Terrapins, this led to the Gamblers hiring former New Orleans Saints assistant coach, Curtis Johnson as their new head coach.

### Houston Roughnecks (2024–present)

On January 1, as part of the merger with the XFL, the Gamblers merged with their XFL counterpart, the Roughnecks. The merged team took on the Roughnecks name and identity (including history and social media presence), while maintaining the Gamblers' coaching staff, player rights and position in the USFL Conference. The team will play in Houston as the Roughnecks did, but renovations to TDECU Stadium, the Roughnecks' home in 2020 and 2023, required the use of a different venue; Rice University Stadium was approached about the possibility prior to the merger. On February 1, 2024, the Roughnecks announced an agreement to play the 2024 season at Rice Stadium. The Roughnecks announced their return to TDECU Stadium on September 13, 2024. Four days later, the stadium announced it would be renamed Space City Financial Stadium as soon as signange was replaced in the first quarter of 2025, in time for the Roughnecks' return to the venue.

## Player history
### Current NFL players

| Season | Pos | Name | NFL Team |
| 2022 | DT | Domenique Davis | Cincinnati Bengals |

### Notable players

| Season | Pos | Name | Notes |
| 2024 | LB | Reuben Foster | Former San Francisco 49ers Linebacker, 2017 1st Round Pick |
| 2024 | TE | Ryan Izzo | Former New England Patriots Tight End, 2018 7th Round Pick |
| 2025–present | CB | Damon Arnette | Former Las Vegas Raiders Tight End, 2020 1st Round Pick |

### USFL Offensive Player of the Year award winners

Gamblers USFL OPOY winners :
| Year | Player | Position | Selector |
| 2023 | Mark Thompson | RB | USFL |

### USFL Defensive Player of the Year award winners

Gamblers USFL DPOY winners :
| Year | Player | Position | Selector |
| 2022 | Chris Odom | DE | USFL |

## Coach history
### Head Coach history

| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Awards |
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win % | GC | W | L | Awards |
| Houston Gamblers |||||||||||
| 1 | Kevin Sumlin | 2022 | 10 | 3 | 7 | .300 | - | - | - | |
| 2 | Curtis Johnson | 2023 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | - | - | - |
| Houston Roughnecks |||||||||||
| — | Curtis Johnson | 2024–present | 10 | 1 | 9 | .100 | - | - | - |

### Offensive Coordinator history

| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Awards |
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win % | GC | W | L | Awards |
| Houston Gamblers |||||||||||
| 1 | David Beaty | 2022 | 10 | 3 | 7 | .300 | - | - | - | *Co Offensive Coordinator |
| 2 | J. D. Runnels | 2022 | 10 | 3 | 7 | .300 | - | - | - | *Co Offensive Coordinator |
| 3 | Eric Price | 2023 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | - | - | - |
| Houston Roughnecks |||||||||||
| — | Eric Price | 2024–present | 10 | 1 | 9 | .100 | - | - | - | |

### Defensive Coordinator history

| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Awards |
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win % | GC | W | L | Awards |
| Houston Gamblers |||||||||||
| 1 | Tim Lewis | 2022 | 10 | 3 | 7 | .300 | - | - | - | |
| 2 | Chris Wilson | 2023 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | - | - | - | |
| Houston Roughnecks |||||||||||
| — | Chris Wilson | 2024–present | 10 | 1 | 9 | .100 | - | - | - | |

## Records

All-time Gamblers/Roughnecks leaders :
| Leader | Player | Record | Years with Gamblers/Roughnecks |
| Passing Yards | Kenji Bahar | 2,250 passing yards | 2022–2024 |
| Passing Touchdowns | Clayton Thorson Kenji Bahar | 10 passing touchdowns | 2022 2022–2024 |
| Rushing Yards | Mark Thompson | 1,341 rushing yards | 2022–2024 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | Mark Thompson | 21 rushing touchdowns | 2022–2024 |
| Receiving Yards | Justin Hall | 1,119 receiving yards | 2023–present |
| Receiving Touchdowns | Justin Hall | 7 receiving touchdowns | 2023–present |
| Receptions | Justin Hall | 103 receptions | 2023–present |
| Tackles | Donald Payne | 117 tackles | 2022 |
| Sacks | Chris Odom | 17.5 sacks | 2022, 2024 |
| Interceptions | William Likely | 4 interceptions | 2022 |
| Coaching wins | Curtis Johnson | 6 wins | 2023–present |

## Statistics and records
### Season-by-season record

| UFL champions$^†$ (2024–present) | USFL champions$^§$ (2022–2023) | Conference champions$^*$ | Division champions$^^$ | Wild Card berth$^#$ |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Postseason results | Awards | Head coaches | Pct. |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Finish | W | L | Postseason results | Awards | Head coaches | Pct. |
| 2022 | 2022 | USFL | | South | 4th | 3 | 7 | | Chris Odom (DPOY) | Kevin Sumlin | .300 |
| 2023 | 2023 | USFL | | South | 3rd | 5 | 5 | | Mark Thompson (OPOY) | Curtis Johnson | .500 |
| 2024 | 2024 | UFL | USFL | | 4th | 1 | 9 | | | Curtis Johnson | .100 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 9 | 21 | All-time regular season record (2022–2024) | All-time regular season record (2022–2024) | All-time regular season record (2022–2024) | .300 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 0 | 0 | All-time postseason record (2022–2024) | All-time postseason record (2022–2024) | All-time postseason record (2022–2024) | – |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 9 | 21 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2022–2024) | All-time regular season and postseason record (2022–2024) | All-time regular season and postseason record (2022–2024) | .300 |

### Rivalries
#### Double Down Derby

The Houston Roughnecks have shared a rivalry with the Birmingham Stallions since 2022. This rivalry was called the Double Down Derby. As of 2024 the Roughnecks hold a 2–4 record against Birmingham.

#### Memphis Showboats

The Houston Roughnecks shared Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee with the Memphis Showboats during the 2023 season. In 2024, the two teams played against each other in the season finale for the number one overall pick in the 2025 UFL draft. The winner would get the number one pick, the Showboats won the game 19–12 and earned the 2025 number one pick. Currently the Roughnecks have a 1–3 record against the Showboats.

#### Franchise matchup history

| Team | Record | Pct. |
| Arlington Renegades | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| New Jersey Generals | 1–1 | .500 |
| Philadelphia Stars | 1–1 | .500 |
| Pittsburgh Maulers | 1–1 | .500 |
| Birmingham Stallions | 2–4 | .333 |
| Memphis Showboats | 1–3 | .250 |
| Michigan Panthers | 1–3 | .250 |
| New Orleans Breakers | 1–3 | .250 |
| DC Defenders | 0–1 | .000 |
| St. Louis Battlehawks | 0–1 | .000 |
| San Antonio Brahmas | 0–1 | .000 |
| Tampa Bay Bandits | 0–2 | .000 |
* Defunct teams in light gray.