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+---- Thread: *S41 ISFL draft review (/showthread.php?tid=45040)
*S41 ISFL draft review - Troen - 04-14-2023
Another few months and another draft! With S41's kickoff, what did teams do to fortify themselves when dealing with the contraction-preventingly-large draft class? Much like last year, I'll be looking at team's rosters after initial callups and regression (Apr 9 onward), thought the TPE tracker might fool me as per normal. The draft featured 91 picks vs. 127 total S41 class members.
Arizona
R1 P14 - WR Benji Aguilera - though Aguilera has cracked the 300 TPE barrier, it looks like they'll stick with S31 Staggs at about 468 TPE after regression. For a team that has only 500k in cap space remaining, that decision seems pretty logical, but I'm definitely expecting to see an S42 callup for this WR.
R2 P8 - DE Logjammed McBobface - McBobface seems like a planned replacement for S36 DT Quinn, though Quinn has actually returned and updated for the update of April 8th. McBobface might still get called up in S42 since S33 DT McTurtle will be hitting regression harder, so it will be interesting to see the exact order that everything happens in. I'm sure Arizona would be happy to have the problem of too many active players on the D-line and needing to figure out how to make that work, though.
R2 P14 - CB Benjamin Duvernay - with 3 CBs from S31/34/35, Arizona makes another move which sets them up more for the next couple seasons. S31 Goodhead enters the season at 635 TPE but a max-earning Duvernay should be able to challenge that after the end of S41 regression. I could potentially see the lower-TPE S31 S Springer getting dropped instead of Goodhead depending on the users' interests in recreating, chasing records, etc. but there's going to be a need in the secondary either way.
R3 P7 - S Brian Vincent-Vega - addressing the other secondary position occupied by an S31 player, Vincent-Vega is another pick that makes sense for Arizona's future needs. Pretty much everything about Duverney applies here as well.
R3 P14 - OL Beeg Beeg Yoshi Jr. - Yoshi Sr. was on Austin and was a lot of fun, so I like this pick just on that. Plus for Arizona, with S33 Mangoldson hitting regression and human OL being extra useful in keeping cap free by avoiding bot purchases, this seems like a great pick for their future.
R4 P8 - DT Scruffy The Janitor - while not the highest earner, Janitor could be another future reinforcement on the D-line. The user has a track record of consistent activity, though not quite max earning and so that seems like a good choice late as a roughly midway through the draft option. Depending on TPE earning rate and timelines, I could see the Outlaws actually ending up trading Janitor if they can't make a roster slot for S42 work and the user wants to get into the ISFL.
R6 P14 - OL Cheeky Lad - hasn't updated and so is still at 50 TPE, so probably unlikely to be a big impact. If Lad ends up active, though, that could be another useful piece in dealing with the cap limits.
Austin
R1 P9 - WR Oliver Tolliver - the first of two callups for Austin, Mori is clearly great since we were on the same S21 Buccaneers team. Beside that clearly most important aspect of the user, Tolliver will reinforce the Copperheads' passing game after the loss of S31 Patey. Austin has had consistently great WRs (for fantasy purposes at least) in the last few seasons, so I think Tolliver has a chance at OROTY so long as the number of bodies on the offensive side of the ball doesn't limit passes too much.
R4 P5 - LB Ryan Knock - with S32 and S33 LBs in Ron and Smokes, respectively, Knock clearly will be helpful in the future. The two veterans will definitely be serviceable this season, though since Smokes isn't really earning I could see a chance that Knock takes over in S42 even at a lower TPE total.
R4 P9 - WR LeAnthony LeDavis - while WR was not a core need after the earlier Tolliver pick, the team picked a user that they believed in and figured they'd be able to figure out how to get everything else to work later. This late in the draft I can definitely see that plan making sense, but if LeDavis is really set on being a WR then it might have to end up in a trade/free agency in the end.
R5 P9 - OL Great Khali - the second callup for the Copperheads, Khali is another good pick to help out dealing with cap concerns, allowing the team to get 2 top-tier OL bots rather than having to compromise. Khali has also continued earning TPE since the draft, though is admittedly off the pace for top of the class. All around, though, this seems like a great pick for as late as it is.
R6 P9 - LB Albert Einstein - clearly a wicked smaht pick, Einstein is maybe not living up to the name due to not having been seen on the site for a month. Still, for a pick this late that the team leadership said was done due to it being the funniest remaining name, I can hardly criticize going for a player who had multiple updates.
Baltimore
R5 P2 - DE Frederick Carlson - Baltimore's first pick of the draft isn't addressing an immediate area of need, but you're not really expecting to get that out of your team's fifth round pick. Carlson could optimistically be a future replacement for S36 DE Pines, but at the TPE earning rate demonstrated so far it definitely might take a few seasons before we see Carlson's debut.
R5 P10 - OL Bubba Chubb - continuing with the trend of not being an immediate slot into the team on the ISFL level, Chubb is earning and so has a chance to end up called up to take over for a bot or replace S37 HotDogPie in the future. Baltimore has plenty of cap space right now due to being a younger team and so I'm not surprised to see Chubb remaining in the DSFL this year, but if the players they have keep earning then the cap savings will end up very relevant in future seasons. So, I'm sure that the team is happy with this pick to get an active OL player this late.
R5 P11 - LB Myrtle Beach Tolliver - the user's last two players haven't broken the 200 TPE mark and so this definitely looks like a bit of a flyer with the user not having been back to the site since March. Still, I have to love the user's name per MBB contractual obligations and the user's first player (S19 OL Beerus) demonstrates that this is a user with the capability to earn well. Baltimore just needs to figure out how to get that level of engagement again.
R6 P2 - WR Garrett Cheetahman - how can you not love this render? A strong contender against McMillion for the best render, I do think Cheetahman ends up taking the silver. As far as the actual player, Cheetahman has been back to the site and earned, so that looks pretty good for a late pick like this. Baltimore's WR3 now is only at 325 TPE, so Cheetahman definitely has a chance to make a run this year and get called up for S42.
R7 P2 - DT Luca Rossi - this user made a great early DSFL showing to get to 88 TPE in February, but hasn't been seen back at the site since. Seems like a solid speculative pick since the user clearly can be engaged and earn, but it does seem like attempts at getting the user to come back have not yet paid dividends. Baltimore does actually have a pretty solid and younger DL too, so missing on this pick is hardly a giant problem for the team.
Berlin
R2 P5 - WR Emile Charles - one of two S41 callups, Charles slots right in for Berlin as a third WR. S34 Dangle just entered the first regression season so I wouldn't consider this pick a direct replacement, but WR was definitely going to need fortification in the future. Plus, with most teams seeming to run 3 WRs in their base offense, this pick makes a lot of sense.
R3 P1 - TE Burnt Toast - with S35 Hamilton only around 400 TPE and slated to enter regression after this season, a replacement TE makes a lot of sense. Not much else to say other than that I'd expect to see Toast called up in S42 - why make a good replacement complicated?
R3 P3 - TE Nick Williams - picking a second tight end just two picks after Toast, this pick does seem a little positionally weird. Given how positive the draft stream comments were about Toast's user, I could see that maybe the team expects a position switch? Or maybe we'll just be seeing a fancy double TE offense for the Fire Salamanders in the future? Either way, this pick seems fine.
R3 P5 - DE Lukas Van Ness - the second S41 callup, Van Ness seems like a possible signal that the team will be switching to a 4-3 defense with the departure of S32 LB Beck. It's also possible that Berlin will play 3-4 with one of the DEs getting started in the LB position, but either way an active and earning Van Ness looks much more promising than an inactive Beck around 212 TPE. Seems like a great pick for positional needs this season.
R4 P10 - WR Forozka Duanei - BWIII has two 1k+ TPE players but then topped out just over 200 TPE on a third player. Even with a little bit of risk from that slightly inconsistent track record, getting a player from a user with that much league experience seems like a possible steal this late in the draft.
R5 P5 - CB Ivan Baldwin - Baldwin has been seen on the site but didn't update in the last update cycle, so it does look like a pick with risks. If it does turn into an active CB in the 5th round, though, then this pick will end up looking amazing seeing as how in demand CBs are in the current version of the ISFL. Absolutely seems like a good pick and Berlin just needs to work on turning site presence into TPE earning for it to be a slam dunk.
R5 P12 - TE Pierce Hawthorne - is this the pick that tips Berlin's hand to show they have figured out an overpowered triple TE strategy? Probably not. While the draft stream said that they'd had conversations with Hawthorne, I'm not seeing any updates or site activity since March 24th - hopefully the issues figuring out the TPE claim posts didn't drive this user away. If I were in Berlin's leadership's position, I'd definitely be trying to reach out to get this player back and try to smooth over any frustrations, but it might be too late at this point.
R6 P5 - DT Atlas Kirkby - with two previous Kirkby players both making it over 700 TPE, this seems like a solid late pick even with the user saying that there is less ISFL time in the future. The user hasn't updated since February but has been on the site and has a fair amount of unclaimed TPE, so there is definitely hope to at least get a solid player out of a pick in the 6th round which sounds great.
R7 P5 - LB Aleksander Reznikov - with only apparently 3 picks left, Reznikov was seen on the site in March so that might be a positive sign? Still, I don't think anyone on the team (specifically the GM with some draft notes of lackluster quality) is expecting much from this pick and so I won't either.
Cape Town
R1 P10 - WR Legs McMillion - the clear winner for best render of the draft despite a strong showing from Cheetahman, McMillion seems likely to be targeting a replacement for S34 Kemp in a season or two once regression really kicks in. It seems possible that the timing might get a little awkward for the team with cap vs. regression timings, but I'm sure that they'll be able to talk with the involved people and figure it out.
R2 P4 - DE Rolud Onyxgut - after having taking S40 DE Lawrence last year, this seems like a surprising pick to me, especially when following it up by taking Steele 6 picks later, I'm not sure about the strategy of going for the double DL pick at this point. Sure, eventually S33 DT Marciano is going to need a replacement but it seems like LB or CB would have been more strategic picks for one or both of these two picks. I'm all for picking DL, though, so I'm not hating on the pick.
R2 P9 - OL Justin Willis - with a cost of next year's first round pick, I'm a little surprised to see Cape Town pick an OL that they aren't calling up this year. They do have two S35 OL who will be hitting regression after this season (though class TPE leader Payne will definitely be able to stick around for a while) so it definitely is a restock that needs to happen at some point. However, since the team has enough cap to not need a called-up human OL this season I again wonder if this was the right pick at this slot or not.
R2 P10 - DT Jason Steele - similarly to the notes about Onyxgut above, I like this pick in general but don't know if a second DL pick is the best move for the team to have made here from a positional need point of view. If one or more of the users are actually open/planning to switch positions then of course these picks end up matching what Cape Town needs much more directly and would be a better match and of course active users at any position are great, but draft review articles are to nitpick over small things and so here we are.
R4 P11 - K/P Bob Kickerson - Cape town actually have a decent TPE (though inactive) kicker, but if nothing else getting another kicker 5 seasons younger is useful. This is definitely a solid pickup, especially if the user earns at a moderate rate from the current point.
R4 P14 - RB Sticky Hands - a distant third in the best render, this pick is the slam dunk on Cape Town winning the award for best renders selected. Beyond that, this is another pick that to me slightly is mismatched from the positional needs as the team has its current RBs from S36 and S40, so they're safe from regression for a while. I suppose if a team is planning to lean on their RBs as much as CTC did last season then it's important to have a good pipeline of them and getting a solidly earning one in the end of the fourth round is solid value in the abstract, though, so I should really focus more on the positives here.
R5 P14 - LB Bigton Hammer - the draft notes were really positive for this user and the user has been around, but I don't see any activity from the user related to earning more TPE. If that optimism and player's being on the site pans out, this is clearly a great pick for the Crash, and they would hardly need a top earner to replace S32 Fireball after another season of regression (especially since it might be enough to hit the automatic retirement point).
R6 P10 - Donny Doofenshmirtz - for players this late, there isn't much to say. S35 Boot will need a replacement eventually (unless Cape Town adopts the former Austin "TEs are for chumps" plan) but Doofenshmirtz seems likely to follow S40 Ehrmantraut into the inactive side of things after not having been on the site for nearly 2 months.
Chicago
R1 P12 - S Rico Savage - the first of two callups for Chicago, Savage slots into the backfield that had only one other player, S30 Walt. Nearly a perfect position need fit/pick, this seems pretty much perfectly what you're looking for in the first round.
R2 P12 - CB Bill Cravy - the second of two backfield callups, Cravy looks to be immediately replacing S35 Altidor and has basically already gotten to more TPE before the season has started. For a team that seems to run a base 4-2 nickel, this seems like a great way to be getting better this season. If I really wanted to nitpick I could say maybe a third LB could be a higher priority since they have an S34 starter, but for sticking with their scheme this seems like a great fit pick too.
R3 P12 - QB Jake Jefferson - I'm guessing that Jefferson will be position switching for S42 prior to a callup and the draft video seemed to agree. So, when a player can be any position you've clearly made a great pick, right? Most likely, so long as the current willingness to position switch remains when it comes time to do so. The user has also remained active with updates so far, so I don't see anything that would be concerning for the team.
R4 P4 - DE Daust Leercor - Leercor isn't a top earner, but could still be a good candidate to take over on the D-Line for S32 DT Turtle next season. S40 DE Bronson is active but only around 250 TPE, so Leercor could clearly make it to DE2 on the team after S36 Valorian with a good season of earning. This pick seems pretty good given a need for some DL replacement in the future even if it results in the Butchers running 3 DEs and 1 DT rather than the more traditional 2/2.
R4 P12 - S Amanda HugAndKiss - after making safety their first pick, HugAndKiss might be destined to be called up in S42 as a replacement for S30 Walt even at a low earning rate seeing the impending 60% TPE loss after next season. Also, for the record, the Chicago GM writing for the draft stream had an amount of fun with this player's name that I can only describe as most likely illegal and most definitely immoral.
R6 P12 - S Icepick O'Hullihan - a player over 200 TPE this late in the draft? Well, there were apparently user issues which might have led to the player leaving, so falling to this late could make sense. I don't stalk the appropriate places closely enough to know what the issue was until I went looking, and so it seems like they're basically suspended until S42. If the user shapes up and is still interested in the league, I guess that this might look like a great pick in a few seasons and if not a 6th round pick isn't a huge loss given the possible upside.
Colorado
R1 P2 - S Mary Marie - while safety isn't an immediate need for Colorado, I could see Marie getting called up in S42 as a slightly indirect replacement for S31 CB Wilkins II to keep the backfield at 5 players. Longer term, S34 S Cross-Eriksen is getting deeper into regression rather than shallower (shockingly) and so there will eventually be a direct positional need that Marie helps out with.
R1 P7 - LB Craig Brand - the only callup in S41 for Colorado, Brand slots in as the third LB by replacing S30 Waterfalls. Makes a lot of sense from a positional need and Brand is 6th in the class by TPE as of the April 8th update. With good earning and also good user experiences in the DSFL from other users on the Yeti, this seems like a pick the team is unlikely to regret.
R1 P11 - QB Wolfie McDummy Jr. - with S32 Laughlove dropping below 1k TPE after regression and looking to be around 650 TPE at the start of S42, I'm guessing McDummy Jr. might be looking at a callup in S43 rather than S42, depending. If there's one thing I've learned from trying to write about the moves teams will make in the future, though, it's that what I think makes the most sense from a purely strategic point of view isn't always what the users want to do, and so I wouldn't be shocked if we see a callup in S42 or something else crazy like a reprise of Austin's dual QB approach (though to be clear, I would be shocked if they actually did the double QB thing).
R3 P2 - CB Synystyr Gates - as mentioned above for Marie, S31 Wilkins II will be retiring due to regression soon. Beyond that, though, the other two Yeti CBs, Stark and Corning, are both S35 and so even if Marie is the immediate future plan Gates plays will into future seasons as well. Seems like a good pick for future needs.
R5 P7 - CB Banjo O'Kudah - a third DB pick might be a bit much, but in the 5th round finding someone who might help out in the future seems good. I could see WR having been a more direct match for future needs, but O'Kudah has been active and earning so there's nothing to dislike.
R6 P7 - LB Spooky Diddler III - linebacker isn't a core need after picking up Brand, but maybe the team could hope? Sadly, any dreams they might have had for this pick have apparently been crushed because Diddler III is now retired. That clearly grades out as a not great pick when there were other players that still at least aren't actually retired yet, but the cost wasn't too high so I'm not calling this a complete miss.
R7 P7 - RB Quarl Walkins III - also now retired, given that this was literally the last pick of the draft I have no issue with the team making this pick. They even tried to make a witty draft remark! Full points to the team considering the position. I was also amused by the team drafting a Junior and two IIIs, which just about matches Orange County's Stark VIII pick when you sum them up.
Honolulu
R1 P3 - DT Billy Jor-El - the first of three callups, Jor-El joins a trio of S40 players on the Hahalua's D-Line. With three great earners and Longpipe hardly being inactive, this might be a ferocious positional group in a season or two. At a minimum I'm sure that Honolulu is hoping to be able to keep their defense getting better and to specifically get their rushing yards allowed up from 6th in the conference last season.
R2 P3 - K/P Ray Baker - as far as I'm concerned, Honolulu is the natural team for top earning kickers after the career that Venus Powers had. My opinion notwithstanding, the draft stream seemed to focus more on the user which I guess is also pretty good. Not someone I really know, though, so I'll take their word for it. And given that their kicker from last season, S31 Ballz, was slated to be autoretired, getting an active user that works to be their second callup sounds good for a second round pick.
R3 P8 - LB Liath Squirrel - the third and final callup, Squirrel looks to be replacing the inactive S37 Ward in the LB corps. Having already surpassed Ward's TPE total and gotten to 11th overall in the class, I can only say that this seems like a great meshing of positional need and getting a very active user late. Seems like possibly the best value pick that Honolulu made and makes the trade up to make it look pretty solid.
R4 P3 - OL Trent Silverback - with what I can see of the budget sheet now, I'm surprised that the team didn't call Silverback up this year. If I'm reading things right, the team could have started Silverback and 4 T4 OL bots rather than no humans and 3 T4/2 T3 bots that they're using now. Maybe they didn't know their final cap situation when making callups or maybe a ~200 TPE human OL is enough worse than a T3 bot that it's better to wait another season? Still, this seems like a pick that will end up being really important for cap reasons in the future as the team's leadership tries to get a bunch of players to peak at the same point to try and make playoff runs in the next couple seasons.
R6 P3 - DT Øffé Pànic - I'm subtracting severe points from the draft stream for writing "Offe Panic" instead of the much more complicated accented letters. I'm sure they'd blame youtube or something but whatever. Fun names aside, this player's user hasn't been seen on the site since February so this is looking to me like a player destined to remain IA and not ever make the cut to get called up. With 4 earlier good picks, I don't think missing one here is enough to make the draft unsuccessful overall for Honolulu.
R7 P3 - DE John Smith - another late D-Line pick, Smith has been on the site more recently than Pànic. Unfortunately, the most recent visit was still about 4 weeks ago and with no post-draft return, I think this is looking like another player who will be remaining IA.
New Orleans
R1 P5 - CB Ezra Azazel - with back-to-back first round picks, New Orleans found back-to-back S41 callups starting with the pick of Azazel. New Orleans seems to be running with 8 DBs so figuring out the specific plan for this player is a little tricky. If nothing else, Azazel is already higher TPE than the S37 duo of CB Rage and S Murray, though those two might be kept around as warm bodies seeing as S32 CB Harper II hits the deeper parts of regression.
R1 P6 - DE Bruce White - the second first round pick and second callup, White also slots oddly into the Second Line as a 5th player on the D-Line. I'm guessing that White will primarily or completely take over for S36 DT IamYeti who's only at 218 TPE and that the team had to make the IA bid before the draft was done? Regardless, S31 DE Czargyros will have to retire in the near future and so White will clearly have a place as one of the top earners of the S41 class.
R2 P6 - RB Kyle Crane - after trading away Armor Queen, RB is definitely a position that New Orleans needed to reinforce seeing as the have 504 TPE S35 Thecrab, 286 TPE S29 Cue Jr., and 100 TPE S37 Shpoopy for the position now. Crane might replace all three of them next season, so this seems like a pick they needed to make to have any chance at a strong running game.
R4 P6 - RB Malik Brooks - with their last pick in the second round also being a running back, there's a definite argument that this was the wrong pick from a position/need fit. That being said, Brooks is the second highest TPE RB after the April 8th update (after Crane) and 21st overall in the class. For a fourth round pick (48th overall), that seems great. I could see the team trying to see if either Crane or Brooks might be interested in position switching to smooth out any other holes, but even if that doesn't happen and the team just has a pair of high-earning RBs, I can't fault the pick given from a value point of view.
R5 P1 - LB Rodney Rosadino - Rosadino seems pretty good value as an active player in the fifth round. However, New Orleans called this player up in S41 to be a 5th linebacker at (as of the April 8th update) 227 TPE. That seems maybe not likely to be useful? The team's 4th LB (S30 Woody) is at 400 TPE, and with a plethora of other defensive players it's hardly like the team needed to have an extra LB to fill in on the D-Line or in the secondary. So while I'm a little confused on the strategic decision made for making a callup this season rather than next year, I do think the overall choice seems really strong - I just would have expected Rosadino to play in the DSFL this year and then get called up to replace Woody next season.
R6 P6 - TE William Barkley - with only S36 Golum on the roster, this seems like a good flyer pick on positional need. Unfortunately, the user hasn't been on the site since February and hopefully the team will find a different TE option with more than 80 TPE by the time they need to find a replacement.
R7 P6 - DT Nwoye Musa - with only two options left, Musa clearly had the best render of the last two options. The player has, perhaps unsurprisingly, now been retired, but the team basically had nothing to lose and so I have nothing to hate.
New York
R1 P1 - DT Dub Redd - the first overall pick has been called up to kick off the season and will be an interesting player for New York. The Silverbacks look to be shedding S30 DE Blade and S31 DT Kekua, looking to Redd and last year's DT Scrimmage to help rejuvenate the defensive line. On paper, defense seemed like less of a concern for New York than offense - they finished solidly middle of the pack on defense but were 6th in the conference and 13th overall for points scored. Still, with a clear age issue on the D-line this is a pick that I'm sure they'll be happy with.
R2 P1 - LB Loose Cannon - the second round pick and second callup to New York, Cannon has a 20 TPE lead in the class for top earner so far. Linebacker might not have been a position where the Silverbacks actually had a hole that needed filling this season, but Cannon at already nearly 400 TPE will be playing snaps instead of either S36 DT Wilfork (203 TPE) or S35 LB Dafootbawl (208 TPE) which seems like a clear upgrade and just another part of New York using S41 as a strong part of revitalizing their team for the future.
R3 P6 - WR Sean Robinson - continuing the callup trend, Robinson is the third called-up player in New York. The Silverbacks have two high-earning WRs from S36 and S37, but Robinson was set to immediately replace the retired S35 Torch. This pick also helps the team to set up the next wave of offensive talent to match their two prior defensive picks.
R3 P10 - WR The Riddler - if nothing else, I have to love this pick for the thematic Gotham connection. Still, taking another WR just 4 picks after another one is maybe an interesting choice. However, given that the team currently has an inactive TE in S38 OfCatarina and a very lightly earning S40 Simmons II, I can see the logic in getting some receiving options. Plus, while the position match to need is maybe not perfect, there's a good user/GM connection that gives a very decent justification to make this pick over any of the other options the team had at this point.
R6 P1 - CB Bradley Welch Jr. - the Silverbacks do have a future need at CB with S33 Dangerfield hitting regression. This user isn't the highest earning and had a previous player that topped out around 500 TPE, but "active user with chance of a low ceiling" seems like a really strong option to kick off the sixth round with when there's only about 7.5 rounds worth of picks to be made. Seems great, and the user has updated since the draft so I have no complaints.
R6 P4 - CB Saveour Piethons - basically similar conceptually to Welch Jr. but at a lower earning rate and a slightly higher TPE previous player. Has also updated since the draft, though only for 7 TPE. Even with a stated plan of only going up to about the DSFL cap, getting a user you've talked to who will be active is great at this point.
R7 P1 - WR Slim Reaper - with only slim pickings left, New York picked Slim. Unfortunately, the odds of this being a good pick went from Slim to none as Reaper is now retired.
Orange County
R1 P4 - LB John Stark VIII - looking to slot in most directly as a replacement for S35 Jaxx, Stark VIII is only 5 TPE behind the more veteran LB as of the April 8th update and seems poised to jump ahead of S40 Mayhem in the next couple weeks. This looks like a pick that can really be setting up the future of the LB corps in Orange County and the draft notes were wildly enthusiastic about the user as well. Seems good.
R3 P11 - QB Lloyd Bannings - the current QB in Orange County is S37 St. Christmas who is presumably still living the journeyman QB life. So, it definitely seems possible that Bannings might actually be a future QB for the Otters? Knowing the history of QB draft selections I also wouldn't be shocked to see a position switch, but I wouldn't want to have to put money on either option because then I'd have to write more media when I lose.
R4 P7 - LB Leo Stud - the Otters did address the LB position already in the first round, but Stud is active and plenty of teams run 4 LBs routinely which makes this a logical enough pick. Maybe if there was a safety/cornerback at a similar TPE and activity level that could have been slightly more useful given the pair of S35 DBs that will need replacing in the future, but this pick still holds up.
R5 P6 - OL Joshua Mabry - with plenty of cap this year, OL wasn't a critical pickup to fit in bots. Mabry is apparently active and earning but hasn't actually made a claim page yet, so this seems like it could be a wildly amazing pick if the team can help the player to actually be able to apply the TPE. And if not, it's a late enough pick that the risk/cost isn't super high.
R6 P11 - RB Akele Kekela - this user seems to be a bit of a serial recreate type with retired players in S33, 34, 38, and now 41, having topped out at 193 TPE. Since Kekela is now retired the pick clearly didn't go as well as Orange County was hoping, but for as late as it was they can't be too unhappy about it.
San Jose
R2 P2 - DT Jumbo Edward - it looks to me like DT wasn't exactly the top need for San Jose seeing as they have S36 Jack at over 900 TPE. So, it'll be interesting to see if this ends up heralding a position switch, a swap to a 4-3 defense, or something else. Need for the position aside, picking a user with two previous 1k+ TPE players makes a this a good pick here.
R2 P11 - LB DJ Maclean - this seems like a much better position match for the SaberCats as a future replacement for either non-updating S39 McCormick or later regression S30 Torrent. Maclean at 223 TPE is almost already ahead of McCormick's 254, but with the team having basically no cap space left after bot purchases I can see why they didn't make the call up. I'm definitely expecting to see Mclean in the ISFL in S42 though.
R3 P4 - WR Diego Lopez Alonso - looking like a future replacement for S31 Higgins as regression keeps up its malicious stalking of older players, Alonso seems like a good match to future needs. The draft announcers said the user is really active and energetic, too,so that's always a wonderful addition to a player at a good TPE level.
R3 P9 - OL Modest Mussorgsky - with only one human OL (S34 Jenkins at 242 TPE), this seems like a reasonable pick. On a pure TPE view it could look maybe questionable with no claimed TPE since the March 11 update, but the user is definitely active and posting in activity threads, training camp, etc. Given that, I'm a little surprised that the SaberCats didn't try to get those claims in before the season and call Mussorgsky up to get some cap relief. That minor point aside, seems like a great pick for future seasons.
R4 P1 - TE Otto The Orange - the only S41 callup for San Jose this season, Orange is the SaberCat's departure from the Austin no-TE plan (thanks for Penne!). San Jose has several offensive players in the 400-600 range and Orange can get to around there by the end of the season. I'd definitely expect to see some more of the great TE receiving stats that Penne was known for to reappear for Orange.
R5 P4 - TE Kenny Szymborski - a second TE is an interesting decision here, but getting an active player in the 5th round who has 3 previous players who've gotten over 400 TPE make this a low risk. Maybe also low upside given the lack of previous max-earning players, but for a pick this late I'm not worried about that part if I'm the team. A callup in S42 seems likely, though I could see a potential position switch in the future if the user isn't committed to playing one of the offensive skill positions.
R7 P4 - DE Samuel Nelson - getting a player at 100 TPE isn't the best this late, but the player hasn't been on the site since early March and so I'm pretty sure nobody involved is expecting much to come out of this pick.
Sarasota
R1 P8 - LB Max Honestly - Honestly looks slated to replace S30 draft in the near future given regression. Combined with last season's selection of S40 Fresh, the Sailfish are looking to be in a good position to manage the regressions of draft and the S36 duo of Steele and Cloud.
R2 P7 - WR Artemis Entreri - the first of three S41 callups, Entreri seems most directly planned to replace S31 Kaepercolin Jr. in a season or two. Seems like a good fit for the team's positions, especially given that most teams run 3 WR offenses. With S36 QB Miller taking over for S31 Knight and several higher TPE players on the offense, Entreri might not have any garish receiving stats this season. Sarasota has had several great passing offenses, though, so I'd consider this to be a very promising pick.
R4 P2 - DT Damarcus Cole - Cole is the second callup and seems primed to take over the lead DT duties from inactive S35 Freddy. Depending on what the involved users want to do, I'd expect to see one or both of Freddy and S32 DE McHits to be off the team next year as part of revitalizing the team's D-Line for S42 and beyond. So, while this might not be a pick that was needed for this season, I like it for keeping an eye on the future. Cole was a bit off the top TPE of the class at the time of the draft but has earned well in the offseason so far.
R5 P3 - RB Eilliot Berry - the third and final S41 callup, Berry hasn't updated since the draft but has been on the site and been posting in activity checks, training camp, etc. With S36 Zuh over 1k TPE, I'm not expecting Berry to make a huge impact on the team this year. Zuh's user, however, seems to have last updated in February and last posted in March, which means this could potentially turn into a really important pick if the Sailfish can't get quite as many years of Zuh in regression as they might have hoped.
R5 P8 - LB King Dedede - Dedede has updated since the draft and been earning quite well. As mentioned above, Sarasota has several LBs who are in or will be entering regression in the next couple years and so getting a potential high-earning starter to handle that this late in the draft seems like a great pick to me. The only possible concern I can see is if playing Smash with the team creates enough internal strife to fracture the locker room. I can only hope the team can weather any such strife.
R6 P8 - S Mr Robb - Robb hasn't updated or been seen since mid-March, so probably not a pick that the team has high hopes held out for. Still, the player is over 100 TPE so there's definitely some hope if they can induce some activity.
Yellowknife
R1 P13 - CB Kadarius Claypool II - the only callup from the S41 class for Yellowknife, Claypool II gets a start as the third CB and looking to be the replacement for one of S32 Mekhar or S34 Frog. Frog will be regressing less, but is inactive and so I could totally see the team going either way (or drafting another CB and then having both retire around the same year). Reinforcing on DB makes sense given the ages here and how overall great the Wraiths' defense has been the last couple seasons so I have nothing bad to say about this pick.
R2 P13 - LB Terry Johnson - similarly to CB, the LB position for Yellowknife has an S32 and S33 leading the TPE count so they totally needed to find reinforcements for the future. At only 150 claimed TPE, that could look a little concerning, but similarly to several of the other players this draft Johnson has been doing the activities but just not posting them in the update thread. I'll say that being a DSFL GM is maybe a better excuse than some of the other people, and it looks like as of April 14th the user has made claims up to 228 TPE. That's setting up to be solidly 300+ for S42 and so I'm thinking we'll be seeing Johnson's ISFL debut then.
R3 P13 - WR Orga Panda - with S32 Brot dropping to about 600 TPE after regression, this is another draft pick to reinforce the team in a season or two. The user has an S21 player that broke 1k TPE and a lower earning OL, so it seems like a pick the team can very reasonably be expecting to be a good contributor for the future and at a position where that's exactly what they'll be wanting. Really, my only question with this pick is wondering what an Orga is. Anyone know?
R4 P13 - TE Andrija Divac - the Wraiths have a great S40 TE already, but the draft notes said the team would be down to run 2 TE formations. Seeing as S40 Crashmore is also a blocking TE (vs. Divac's possession archetype), that could actually lead to some really good offensive synergy in the future. I think there were a couple fifth round players that might have been a slightly better positional match, but if the team thinks the user will be a good match then that is usually more important than just the player's position vs. the team's lineup anyway.
R5 P13 - S Garth Silver - with S31 Spears getting dangerously close to the mandatory retirement point, picking a safety seems great in theory. In practice, Silver hadn't posted in a while. In the last few days, though, I see activity from the user in training camp, predictions, and so on, so this looks like the team might have gotten a really late active user at a position of need. For the end of the fifth round, I'd consider that basically an unbeatable proposition.
R6 P13 - K/P Wade Right - unlike their fifth round user's return, Right's user hasn't been back to the site since the middle of March. For a very late flyer selection, that seems like a fine outcome (though, again, I'm sure that the team would be happy to see the user return). Also, minor bonus points to the Wraiths for being the only team to select at the same pick in each round. That might just be due to them not trading at all, but I was still amused by it.
7620
Bonus Round: ISFL love
Because I really need money to buy T6 equipment and saw the bonus prompt Purely due to my love of writing about the ISFL and for no other financial reason whatsoever, I'd like to spend approximately 501 words expressing what I love about things here.
More seriously, though, I do want to mention some of what I like about being here and what's kept me coming back. I joined the ISFL in the S22 class and the experience with hanging around with people and cheering on the Buccaneers really made the whole March "oh no I'm stuck at home and can't see actual people" 2020 experience much more tolerable. With that set of circumstances as the framing, I found that I really enjoyed the whole experience of the half social gaming/half imaginary fandom thing that the NSFL ISFL resulted in. The environment of tools and data (TPE tracker, wolfiebot, all the forum utilities, etc) that the wildly devoted people in the league created blew me away in terms of what quality and detail was available from a basically volunteer project. I've used (and worked on, sadly) much worse paid products. The ability to get at a lot of user statistics led to my (in hindsight really naive) first media article where I thought TPE mattered a lot more than it does and tried to do a mock draft based mostly on that. I later got a little more sophisticated by trying to look at overall engagement in rookie tasks and then seeing how well that predicted draft order later on. I really enjoyed doing this kind of analysis and it was only possible in the time I had to do it because of all the tools that other users had written to make all the data available in one place.
In the process of writing media, I naturally also read a lot of what other users wrote to learn about the league, analyze other media, or just as a fun distraction. In the course of being here for now more than 3 years, I wanted to specifically mention a couple of my favorite media authors, what I think they do well, and to recommend that everyone else read the articles I mention if you haven't yet.
* @Baron1898 - while I for selfish reasons love the media award series (S39/S40), the three part article (part 1/part 2/part 3) on the longest running ISFL trade (...so far) is an amazingly well-researched article given the breadth and depth involved. Beyond that specific series, Baron has written other history articles, all of which I have enjoyed and so you should check those other articles out too. Also apparently I use question marks in media article titles a lot so thanks for pointing that out?
* @JuOSu - a huge writer covering team and league histories in both the ISFL and PBE, you can find articles on stuff like player legacy scores through S14 (basically a hall of fame monitoring criteria), team's top 10 lists, comparing PBE to the ISFL, and finding the only user to have done every activity check. These are exactly the kinds of articles I think are fun to write myself (well other than NOLA records since they didn't draft me y'know) and so I want to express my thanks for having also written about these kinds of interesting and yet slightly whimsical topics.
* @iStegosauruz - I think people in the league now generally understand the value of having human OL players. This article in 2020 was, per my understanding, a huge part of revolutionizing how the league utilized the OL position and prioritized human vs. bot options. That was just the start of Steg's simulation articles with later articles on the role of int stats on penalties, figuring out CB stat prioritization, and more, using mass simulation of games under different stat parameters. My understanding is that team strategy departments have done plenty of test simming to tweak strategies, but I'd never seen or heard of anyone doing it at the scale and publicity that Steg did. And a team's strategies never (I think?) had the impact on the league that the revealed information from Steg's articles did. I'm not sure if there's another single user whose media articles changed league strategic approach as much, though admittedly I didn't look back much before S18 or so.
* Lastly, all of you! If it weren't for people reading these media articles, I wouldn't get paid my ego would suffer the media forum would be much emptier. Spending hours (or days or weeks) coming up with ideas, researching, writing, and then revising articles only to have nobody seem to care is a killer. Sure, media payout is extrinsically motivating, but I'm pretty sure everyone regularly posting in the media section would have stopped by now if nobody else ever responded. So, thank you all again for taking the time to look over what the community writes and to give feedback and debate our opinions.
RE: S41 ISFL draft review - Purpl3Spartan - 04-14-2023
noice wroitup matey