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+---- Thread: *Rookie Season Goals (/showthread.php?tid=19625)
*Rookie Season Goals - Drizzy - 03-01-2020
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After a fairly successful sophomore season in the DSFL with the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, the time has come for S20 draftee Jamie Nkiah to make his way to the big league and play his first games in the NSFL. Coming into the draft as an underdeveloped prospect has put him behind many in his class when it comes to making an impact on the big stage, but as the offseason grinds on and the hard work to develop as a player continues, Jamie inevitably looks ahead to what he hopes that he’s able to achieve in his first run out in the NSFL. Joining a team that surprised many last season in the Arizona Outlaws, Jamie looks set to line up as the starting safety on an exciting young team led by talismanic young quarterback Jay Cue, and features some highly touted defensive prospects including Galt Wilf and Desmond Scarlett. To have the talent around him on the defensive side of the ball that he does will give Jamie confidence to make plays and take risks, and so maybe the expectations he’s setting for his first season are more realistic than some might believe. So, below I’ve listed down some of my initial goals for what is achievable for a rookie season in the NSFL. I know people will loom at some of these and wonder what the fuck I’m thinking coming out with stuff so unrealistic but bear with me as I lay out some of my totally sound reasoning as to why these are so very possible.
1. Achieve a Pro Bowl Vote
I’m going in with potentially the loftiest ambition first. I’d like Jamie to come out with at least a single Pro Bowl vote in any of the available defensive categories. With the chance to be voted in as either a safety, defensive back or even defensive flex player, there’s certainly opportunities to get a look in as a potential Pro Bowl. The bigger problem however is the competition Jamie is going to be going up against has a vastly superior amount of development and experience and so will almost definitely be outplaying him in many areas. But the game of football is an unpredictable one, so what is there to say that Jamie Nkiah can’t have the kind of dream rookie season that leads to him getting a shot at taking part in a Pro Bowl in his first try? As pointed out above, with the multitude of possible roles to be voted into the Pro Bowl under, it is highly improbable, but yet, not impossible that one vote for one of these open positions can somehow find its way down the line. Stranger things have happened.
2. Lead rookie safeties in at least one major stat
This one is potentially more realistic than the first. There’s definitely going to be some stiff competition in terms of fellow safeties in this rookie class (not least my old Myrtle Beach teammate Prince Vegeta), but the nature of this goal means it’s something thats definitely possible to go out and get. I’d really like to see Jamie have the chance to assert his authority and take the lead in the numbers in terms of either pass disruptions, interceptions or tackles. As I said, this isn’t going to be easy but with the plans I’ve got for my build, along with the opportunity to play a lot of snaps, I’m hoping there’s a possibility that my game really starts to level up and we can see some more progress compared to my last season in the DSFL which was uninspiring at times. It’ll be interesting to see how he can play against the rest of the rookie class, but as long as I can get it done in one stat I’ll be more than happy. I’m not saying I don’t want to go out there and blow the competition away in every major stat, but it’s probably better to set things a little more reasonable and then at least I have a good chance of looking back on this list and not being totally disappointed at what I’ve been able to achieve.
3. Help the Outlaws make it back into the playoffs
This one is probably the most important of them all. For me, the most valuable thing Jamie can do this season is help his team win games and force their way back into the postseason. After finishing agonisingly close to making it in this season and missing out thanks to the sim’s stupid tiebreakers, we know we have the talent to get there this time around. We’ve had some real development of our talent occur in the offseason, and with an ever developing Jay Cue leading the team, fresh off a Quarterback of the Year and Rookie of the Year winning season, it is no stretch at all to say we have a chance at making it in. Once we get that far, it really is down to a game by game basis and a deep run into the playoffs is far from impossible. We’re far from favourites to make the playoffs with the level of youth and inexperience on our team, but our team has already shown it has the potential and raw talent to turn heads, and if we can build on our last season and deliver an 8 or 9 win season (which isn’t totally unrealistic), we could be very much close to being there.
4. Win Defensive Rookie of the Year
Back to another potentially unrealistic and probably overly-ambitious goal, it’d be the ultimate Cinderella story to see Jamie break into the league and win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award this season. The biggest obstacle here isn’t so much Jamie’s ability or the opportunities he’ll have to play his game, but rather the level of competition he’ll be going up against. He’s going to be far from the highest TPE defensive player in this rookie class, and that inherently means he’s fighting an uphill battle from the word go. I go back to what I said earlier however about this league and it’s sim being nothing if not unpredictable, and if it turns out that the sim gods decide to smile down on Jamie this season, what’s to say that he can’t go out there and steal the award out of the hands of some of the more prominent names in this rookie class.
5. Grind out as much TPE as possible
An important thing, getting the maximum TPE I can for Jamie this season is critical to fulfilling all of the other goals I’ve set. After missing basically my entire rookie season I was fighting an uphill battle and then some, but if I can go out and continue the trend of earning every single point of TPE possible (apart from when whoever I copy in the Predicitons fucks up and I miss out, Jamie’s development should really continue at a very nice trend and leave me right in the mix as other members of the draft class potentially slow down. There’s a lot of ground to make up, but I’ve already seen a lot of progress with Jamie in the past season and it’s motivated me to maximise my earning and make as effective a player as possible for this coming season and those to come. As I’ve stated before, the plan is to take Jamie for the full 15 seasons before he retires, which means I’ll have a lot of horrible regression seasons to face which will take every point of TPE possible to fight off.
6. Set off the road to a Hall of Fame career
I’ve been vocal before in my disappointment that my previous player, Cordell Joshua never made it into the Hall of Fame despite having strong numbers and entering the league as a top earner with a world of potential. Therefore, my ultimate goal with Jamie is to see his name up there as a Hall of Fame quality player when all is said is done. Ideally, I’d like to see him as a first ballot guy but that’s not really essential at this point. Longevity is going to be a big part of the ultimate goal being achieved, but besides that I’ll need to have some exceptional seasons between now and then. If I can start off on the right foot and get going with great numbers in my rookie season, it’ll be a big step to getting going towards being a Hall of Famer. It’ll be a tough battle over a lot of seasons, but for now, all I can do is have the best start possible to my career this season and use it as a platform to build off.
7. Enjoy being back in the NSFL
This is probably the most important goal of all and will be the one that ensures maximum success for Jamie’s career in the long run. Having been away from the NSFL for quite a while (not really been properly active since the Hawks cup win in S10 (?)), I’m glad to be back in the league, earning consistently and contributing to the league in more ways than just having a semi active player. It’d be great if I could keep things ticking over, maintain my enthusiasm for the league and ensure that things are as successful for me as possible for as long a period of time as I can maintain. Being in two great locker rooms in Arizona and Myrtle Beach since I’ve come back has been crucial in keeping things moving, and with the level of talent and quality of member we’ve added to the Arizona locker room in this last draft, it looks set to continue going forward.
I think the goals I’ve set for the year ahead are far from unrealistic as a whole. A couple of them are definitely not very likely to be achieved, but others are certainly possible, and it’s my hope that at least one thing falls in my favour in the sim and I can be happy looking back on my rookie season. As I’ve said before, missing out on my whole pre draft season has left me with a lot of ground to make up on the rest of the league, but I’m determined to go out there and make the best of my rookie season as a way of showing the level of play I’m hoping to achieve my whole career through.
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