Jared Bernhardt Becomes The Biggest Free Agency Signing In PLL History, Joins 3 Other Tewaaraton Winners With The Denver Outlaws

6/03/2025 1:40 PM

Larry French. Getty Images.

The PLL is still only 7 years old. So we haven't had a chance to see a ton of big name players hit the open market yet. There have definitely been a few big trades, like Rob Pannell getting traded to the Redwoods, Zed Williams for Matt Brandau, just recently the trade sending Pat Kavanagh to the Outlaws in exchange for the 3rd overall pick. There's been movement in the league, but no real league-altering acquisitions made via free agency signings.

That changed last night.

It was reported a week or so ago that Jared Bernhardt would be making his return to the sport of lacrosse. He was a National Champion at Maryland in 2017. He won the Tewaaraton Award as the best player in college lacrosse in 2021. After he left Maryland, he transferred to Ferris State to play college football with his final year of eligibility. He led Ferris State to a DII National Championship in 2021 at quarterback, was picked up by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent, and made the 53-man roster as a wide receiver in 2022. A few injuries put an end to his football career, and now it's back to lacrosse for Jared Bernhardt.

Obviously if a guy is going to step away from pursuing a career as a professional football player, you're going to have to make it worth his time financially. All the reports are that this contract with the Outlaws is going to be a six-figure deal. So I just want to take a quick moment here to say Rest In Peace to all the jokes about pro lacrosse players having to spend the rest of their week at a desk job. Six-figure contract, spend a couple weeks running clinics that cost a couple thousand per kid, next thing you know you're driving around in a G Wagon.

But money wasn't the only reason Jared Bernhardt signed with the Denver Outlaws. First off, there's the fact that his older brother, Jesse, is the captain of the team. Jared has been coaching back at Maryland with his brother, Jesse, since his football career ended. So getting a chance to play with him now was obviously huge. And then the Outlaws are absolutely loaded with elite talent around him. Jared Bernhardt won the Tewaaraton Award in 2021, he's now a Denver Outlaw.

Logan Wisnauskus won the Tewaaraton Award in 2022 after leading Maryland to a National Championship, he's now a Denver Outlaw.

Brennan O'Neill won the Tewaaraton Award in 2023, he's now a Denver Outlaw.

And finally, Pat Kavanagh won the Tewaaraton Award in 2024 after leading Notre Dame to back-to-back National Championships, and he's now a Denver Outlaw.

Aside from maybe a Team USA in the early 2000s, we've never seen a team go out and feature 4 out of the last 5 Tewaaraton Award winners. Like if an NFL team had Travis Hunter, Jayden Daniels, DeVonta Smith, and then Bryce Young as a backup, you'd immediately start counting down the days until they won a Super Bowl. That's now the Denver Outlaws' offense. If the only problem you have as an offense is that you don't know which one of your four Tewaaraton winners is going to be the one primarily carrying the ball, that's a pretty decent problem to have.

Obviously the conversation now immediately turns to "who is the odd man out at attack". You have 4 guys and only 3 spots available down low. Pat Kavanagh was just traded to the Denver Outlaws because he just didn't seem to fit with the Boston Cannons last summer as a midfielder. Clearly you want to keep him down at his natural position. Brennan O'Neill could easily win an MVP this year, so you're not going to want to take him off the field at all. Logan Wisnauskus has done a great job running that attack for the past few seasons, and deserves to still be the guy down there for the Outlaws.

The good news is that 1) Bernhardt still needs to get himself going again. It was just 4 seasons ago that he was the best player in the country. So even if he's extremely "rusty", he'd still be a top 100 player in the world today. But he's jumping into a new team right away, and needs time to develop some chemistry. And 2) he's had a ton of success as a midfielder in the past.

If he comes running out of the box as a midfielder and gets matched up against a SSDM right away? That's an automatic goal.

We'll get our first chance to see Jared Bernhardt with the Outlaws on Friday night at 6pm when they play against the Carolina Chaos on ESPN+. That's going to be a brutal 3 days trying to prepare for that matchup nightmare if you're Carolina.