Pope Calls It Quits After 1 Season

All star wide out John Pope call it quits, After an all star season, that saw Pope become the Xpress Offensive rookie of the year, and NMLF All Star, star wide receiver John Pope decides to hang up his cleats. Yes he is retiring, When John pope contacted the Xpress to let the organization know he was retiring, head coach Truman Vernon was disappointed with Pope's decision, After Pope let coach Vernon know the reason for his retirement Coach Vernon truly understood the reason. Pope let the organization know he was retiring because he wants to fulfill a life long dream to be a fire fighter and the time was nearing for that dream to become a reality. The Xpress family will truly miss John and wish him all the luck in his endeavor. What this does for the team is push Rashard Manning to a starter roll and the Xpress will lean more on 4Th receiver Melvin Harris to step up and produce more catches as a 3rd receiver instead of a 4Th receiver. Pope's retirement forces the Xpress to go after another veteran Receiver to shore up the receiving crew.