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+---- Thread: *A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC (/showthread.php?tid=30240)
*A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC - StadiumGambler - 02-23-2021
After an NSFC article that shockingly led to no casualties and few publicly hurt feelings, its time for the greenhorn agent of Saleem Spence to pontificate on draft day destinations for the ASFC. Unlike the NSFC, the pecking order is a little less cut and dry, with a team or two surprising onlookers with their rise, and a team or two surprising onlookers with their patchy form. Nonetheless, I gots to get paid, so let us take a look at these magnificent seven, their branding, WR room, possible draft strategy, and if they'd be a good fit for Monsieur Spence.
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- SAN JOSE SABERCATS - Overview: An Original Six team, San Jose took a while to get established, finally making it to and winning an Ultimus in Season 14. A Season 15 humbling by Baltimore 49-0 in the Ultimus set the franchise back a bit, but they rebounded to take back-to-backs in Season 24 and 25 twice over the Colorado Yeti. With some good pieces in play and the team tied for 3rd in the conference at 7-5, there's still opportunity for San Jose yet. They have a very wide range for their draft order spot, depending on if they make the playoffs or go far in said playoffs.
WR Room: A star in Ty Hood is flanked nicely by decent #2 and #3 options in Zack Crossley and Tugg Speedman. All have a bit of buffer before regression.
Branding: Bleh, not a lot going on color-wise, but hey my local college has a similar scheme and the same sorta problem too.
Familar Faces?: ckroyal, 3lewsers, and GoonerBear ring a bell, but not much else methinks?
Overall: San Jose has a fairly well-balanced club, maybe missing a little depth for extra packages. I think the team could fortify defense and be justified like a million other ISFL teams, or go QB and RB in case one of their backfield stars doesn't stick around or is unwilling to fight Father Time for too long. WR is honestly more of a luxury need than other spots so I doubt I'll get the call here.
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- ORANGE COUNTY OTTERS - Overview: An Original Six team, Orange County has been the most successful team in the history of the league, with 8 title wins in the 26 year history of the League. Orange County was expected to be contending again this year, but have run into some horrid form this year, currently 3-9 and with a sputtering offense despite the talents of Suleiman Ramza, Garfield Despacito Jr., and Heath Evans. Orange County could pick anywhere from 2nd to 5th depending on their form down the stretch.
WR Room: Garfield Despacito Jr. is good, and Owen Holloway is a good number 2 with a future in front of him. Just a couple inactives are in the pipeline.
Branding: Not bad, but I don't get why the team isn't just in LA. I'm getting some real "Bengals but somewhat credible because successful" vibes from the branding.
Familiar Faces?: Plenty, Teddy and Gabe are homies, and there are half a dozen other SHL peeps i recognize. This would be an okay LR fo sho.
Overall: Orange County might have some more pressing needs than a 3rd good WR for later, like maybe a good 3rd Linebacker, 2nd runningback, or future replacement for Suleiman Razma. WR wouldn't be the worst move though, and I would not mind ending up here, in a team that has a tradition for success and should be better next season if they keep the veterans and figure out what the hell went wrong this year. Some pieces are aging out, but I'm guessing management has been capable of bringing Otters to prominence before, so they can surely do it again.
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- NEW YORK SILVERBACKS - Overview: For reasons that have never been adequately explained, New York took a long time to get a team, finally getting one in Season 25. A tough 4-12 first season ensued, but the second season saw New York spring a playoff berth, winning enough tiebreakers to get through a five team 9-7 logjam to make the playoffs, ultimately losing a Conference Championship thriller to the New Orleans Second Line 43-37 in overtime. New York has a rogue's gallery of up-and-comers and role players supporting a few bonafide stars on defense, and look fairly well off to start their journey to the Ultimus (as well they should be, IRL the league would have super high hopes for the Season 25 expansion.). New York is currently tied for 3rd in the conference at 7-5 and are decent value for a playoff spot looking at strength of remaining schedule (Although a tilt against San Jose in Week 16 could decide it.)
WR Room: Jackson Kingston is a star wideout who still has a slight buffer before regression, Sean Snyder is a capable #2 option, albeit an aging one, and Fank Harley is a good 3rd WR with upside.
Branding: I feel like the branding for a New York team needs to be a lot flashier, although its hard to tell whiteout seeing the actual unis. The wiki doesn't list the Broadway-style golden yellow in its logo as a tertiary colour, so I feel like its probably sorta bland.
Familiar Faces?: A few, kinda. Trautner is someone I shared a locker room with before, but hes a bit of a drifter mercenary in SHL. (and hey, I was one in the SBA, if only because of league churn). I've heard of mcgriddleluver and Acsolap and JaytheGreat as well. timeconsumer let me use his past player for an article which was cool.
Overall: Interestingly, New York was I believe the first team to contact me. I feel like their first rounder could probably go to Defensive Line (and there are a few good ones of first round caliber.) This would be an okay landing spot I think, but I'm not sure how long it would take for a Spence pick to really pay out for the Silverbacks. Silverbacks seem to be in this weird mid-tier of teams destined for 8-8 or 9-7 a lot of the time, and they've got a weird mix of youth and experience, so who knows how the team plays out.
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- NEW ORLEANS SECOND LINE - Overview: Originally the Las Vegas Legion in Season 2, the Legion were presumably chased out of town by an angry mob of peasants after a mere 9 wins in their first 4 seasons of existence, and moved to New Orleans to become the New Orleans Second Line. Success followed a little while after the move, with 4 straight Ultimus appearances ensuing, NOLA splitting the difference and winning 2 of them. NOLA added a third Ultimus win in Season 21, and made it to the Ultimus in Season 26 only to lose to Yellowknife in the finals. NOLA is currently on the outside looking in at 6-6, and could draft around 6th overall this year barring a sudden surge up the rankings.
WR Room: Ed Barker is a star, albeit one on the back half of his career. Adam C. Spencer is a good #2 with some progression still in front of him, while Brock Bodenhamer is a serviceable veteran depth option.
Branding: Well purple's a fun color, but I find the team name kinda weird, as well as the complementary colours. I'm guessing Second Line refers to some part of a Mardi Gras formation? idk.
Familiar Faces?: IIRC I've heard rumours that the team is trying to build itself with a fair few New Orleans Specters users in the LR, and I definitely recognize slothfacekilla, although he's a former Specter these days. He's good people though, and I also know of C9, JuOSu, Nokazoa, and mee. I also notice theres a Portland prospect in their pipeline as well, Kevin Morrison.
Overall: NOLA could go Front 7 with their 1st round pick, but WR might be a need if they cycle out their older guys quicker than anticipated. This would be a fun landing spot, NOLA has had a reasonable history of success, and there's a chance I could taste success there. Plus slothface is cool!
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- HONOLULU HAHALUA - Overview: Part of the Season 22 expansion, Honolulu struggled out of the gate, and the island boys missed the playoffs in every year of existence. This year, however, appears to be the trend changer. Honolulu rebounded from a rock-bottom 3-13 campaign that saw them get the 1st overall pick (Eleven Kendrick-Watts), to be 8-4 as of press time, good for 2nd in the conference. The team initially relied on an unreal season by Quarterback Luke Skywalker and his efficent completion rate, before the team traded him for an arguably better signal caller on a worse team, Chika Fujiwara of the Hawks. If the strong Quarterback play persists, Honolulu could take its first adventurous step into the playoffs. Draft position could be anywhere in the bottom half of the first round, and Honolulu could even miss out with strong play from the Silverbacks and Sabrecats behind them.
WR Room: Aging veterans Jed Podolak and William Alexander currently hold the starting roles, but should be supplanted soon by last season's 1st overall pick Eleven Kendrick-Watts and fellow prospect Lalo Salamanca.
Branding: I imagine the blue and yellow is pretty vibrant, and the team's got a cool field that gives off some Mario Tennis vibes. Hahalua is still a weird thing to name the team, but good effort with the branding overall.
Familiar Faces?: Quite a few! OrbitingDeath, CementHands, Siddhus, AW13, and KC15 are ones I recognize and have briefly shared Discords with. Numbers was the one who approached me for recruiting and seems like a cool guy.
Overall: Honolulu have got some pieces established and some pieces on the riose, but they need to fill some holes in the Front 7 (How many times have I said some variation of that statement in the writeups goddamn.). This one's pretty bad though, with 3 or 4 pieces in it aging badly. WR shouldn't be much of a need with two prospects already there, but numbers was saying it might be a team need they're looking at? It could be that Honolulu has a late enough pick that they miss the marquee defensive talent in the draft, which would make WR the better need as the other offensive positions should be covered and the secondary's probably okay. This would be a fun landing spot, I think Honolulu's got designs on a good future and they have some cool people.
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- AUSTIN COPPERHEADS - Overview: Part of the Season 16 expansion, Austin got off to an inauspicious start, going 0-13 in their first season. However, they rebounded enough to go to the Ultimus in Season 20, downing the Yellowknife Wraiths in their first attempt to win it. Austin lost a rematch to Yellowknife 3 seasons later, and have hung around in near .500 limbo since then, before bottoming out with a 2-10 record as off press time, likely to leave them picking 2nd overall or thereabouts.
(EDIT: Looks like Austin's 1st rounder was traded to Baltimore in a deal to get a couple players further along in development)
WR Room: Really strong at the moment, with Videl-San, Eddie Jeeta, and Doug Howlett forming a receiving corps that is among the league's best (although all three are approaching regression).
Branding: Possibly interesting looking at the colors but maybe a bit too metal? Decent effort though.
Familiar Faces?: Kyamprac is on my SHL team, Southpaw is my soon-to-be former DSFL GM, and I think I know Ben if its the guy that was the San Diego Clippers GM in the SBA and my teammate for the iconic New York Rail championship win. GlimsTC and Kanakothesquirrel also ring a bell for some reason. Some good peeps here.
Overall: I don't know what the hell is going wrong with Austin this season, you'd think that 4 defenders with 1000 TPE would make them stout on the backend, but they give up a lot of points despite not giving up as many yards (relatively). I guess we blame not enough turnover RNG or being on the field too much for that. Jackie Daytona's having growing pains at QB, but hes throwing to a good receiver core. No idea whats going on, but Austin should be getting better if Daytona takes some major steps forward in Year 2. I'm not sure if this team's defense will age out before Spence is ready for primetime, and who knows how long that veteran WR posse would be together in front of me. Perhaps they consider reinforcing the defense with their top picks and ride it out with the offense, or trade their 2nd rounder too to go fishing for a player. This would be a weird landing spot, as I don't know how Austin will progress going forward and they've got those veterans in front for at least a couple more years, but hey, they won before at least, so I don't think I'd be too bad off in the end?
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- ARIZONA OUTLAWS - Overview: The final member of the Original Six in these articles, Arizona was also the most successful out the gate, building the league's first dynasty with 3 straight Ultimus wins in the first 3 seasons of the League. It took until Season 16 for the team to get back to the dance, defeating Philly 34-30 to win their 4th championship. The Outlaws are the only team in the league to have never lost an Ultimus game while making it to at least one I believe. Currently the team is atop the ASFC at 9-3 after a spell of 9-7 seasons, and should probably at least go 10-6 this year. Draft position widely varies but they'll probably be in the playoffs and picking 11th-14th?
WR Room: A good group, with Thomas Passmann, Taro Raimon, and Darren Pama. Passmann is heading towards regression, the other two have some development in front of them still. Saba Donut is the 4th wideout i almost miss but will probably retire after this season or next, if they haven't already.
Branding: Great! Blitz: The League had pretty good branding for a lot of its teams, and while Arizona's in that game wasn't the best, it was solid enough. Too bad the branding didn't come with a free Tito Maas.
Familiar Faces?: Quite a few! Zeagle and qwest are around in my Portland LR, as are prospects TheDude83 and LSUFAN101. StamkosFan and hotdog are familiar faces form the SHL too. This would be a good culture fit for me.
Overall: .......But probably not a good team fit, as it'll be a while before Spence could break through above 3rd in the WR depth chart barring position changes. I think Spence is likely to age into the team as the team ages out of whatever window it has. Arizona could also spend its 1st rounder on the Front 7 (there it is again!), or trade it for a veteran or two to put them over the top. I'd like to go here, but I think Spence will ultimately be riding towards a colder locale that isn't on the owlhoot trail. This team seems pretty good overall though, and may win this year and thus not have to worry about petty things like the future and stuff.
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CONCLUSION
I think what we can draw from this is a lot of teams need defensive help more than offensive, and even if I were to be judged as best WR in show, I think I could slide to round 2. Wideouts like Luke Quick, Sam the Onion Man, and Bayley Cowabunga could draw interest instead for their forum veteranosity or prior connections. Overall though, this was informative enough, I forced myself to learn a bit about the league and its culture (Las Vegas/NOLA early history is some wild stuff lol), and I will ultimately be paid for writing this cause it seems credible on the surface. I hope you enjoyed following along, and to any scouts reading, my DMs are always open! Peace!
RE: A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC - 124715 - 02-23-2021
Great article! Always super interesting to hear from the prospects
RE: A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC - slothfacekilla - 02-23-2021
"Branding: Well purple's a fun color, but I find the team name kinda weird, as well as the complementary colours. I'm guessing Second Line refers to some part of a Mardi Gras formation? idk."
I actually think the Second Line name is really cool, but I could be a dork. They're basically the party group in a mardi gras parade:
The Second Line is a tradition in parades organized by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs (SAPCs) with brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The "main line" or "first line" is the main section of the parade, or the members of the SAPC with the parading permit as well as the brass band. The Second Line consists of people who follow the band to enjoy the music, dance, and engage in "community." The Second Line's style of traditional dance, in which participants dance and walk along with the SAPCs in a Foundational Black American-based, free-form style with parasols and handkerchiefs, is called "second-lining". It is one of the most Foundationally Black American-retentive cultures in the United States.[1] It has been called "the quintessential New Orleans art form – a jazz funeral without a body".[2] Another significant difference from jazz funerals is that Second Line parades lack the slow hymns and dirges played at funerals (although some organizations may have the band play a solemn selection toward the start of the parade in memory of members who died since their last parade)
RE: A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC - AdamS - 02-23-2021
did they go back to clippers?
anyway different ben
RE: A Green User Pontificates On Their Possible Draft Landing Spots: ASFC - Blasoon - 02-24-2021
The reason we're not in LA is because Disney pays us the big bucks and we don't want to be called the "Los Angeles Otters of Anaheim"