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*S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - lemonoppy - 10-30-2023
Imagine you’re a college player, or maybe you’re a Gundam/waffle/dockside rough from Waterdeep/Sailor Moon/rich kid croquet pro running away with daddy’s silverware, and you’re looking to declare for the draft, where do you think you’ll get drafted?
The ISFL and NFL drafts are very different, of course, but what if we pretended like we were doing an NFL type draft where your combine and college season mattered.
Thor’s very generously provided some combine data so that takes care of that, but now we need to find the college numbers. I think CFB seasons are 14 games long, and would you look at that, so is a DSFL season! If we take a player’s full rookie season (aka not the TDL players’ 4 game waiver season) as a qualifying season, we have something that approaches a stat-based look at a player’s projection into an NFL draft.
If we take a player’s DSFL season as their college season before they declare for the draft (assuming Bread Bowls have a Panera University), we could create a spreadsheet with combine data and college stats, which means… power rankings???
Most of my media is written with players from S42 onwards, I joined as a S43 create so those are players that I’m familiar with.
There are 155 players with combine data starting then, minus a few for some corner cases like being listed differently on different pages. Once we filter out players who didn’t really perform at a fantastic level, we can fill out basically 3 rounds of an NFL draft.
Disclaimers!
- Position swaps (a) - we got some position swaps, but this is going for players in that first DSFL season, so if I’m talking about Ignatious Cleetington, it’ll be as a TE, rather than a cowardly ex-TE that swapped to LB.
- Position swaps (b) - if you mid-season swapped positions like Thomas Sutha from CB -> WR, the stats are gonna look weird. I’ll mention it where I can, but I’m never super sure. This unfortunately means players like Speedings actually doesn’t appear in this article at all.
- Combine Score Generation - I’m not sure about the actual formula to get the combine stuff generated. It is all done after your first DSFL season though, so end of season update is what’s used.
- Name changes - If you changed your name, you’ll be listed as what I’ve got you as in the spreadsheet.
- Position Groups - DL have been consolidated in the data.
TE - 15 Prospects
Tight end was the first position group I did, just to make sure I could actually do this article. 15 is quite a reasonable number, and if I can manage this, I should be able to do the rest. I’m scared about doing RBs since they do catches + runs. Speaking of that, Ignatious Cleetington is the only TE to take any runs in their qualifying season but he had 2 carries for 0 yards, so no real data there lol.
Alright! TEs sorted by overall ISFL draft position!
![[Image: rwKogu8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rwKogu8.png)
This is a lot of numbers and colours, so I’m going to point out some standout players here, and some thoughts on where we’d place players if it was like an NFL draft and we’re going on college production + combine stats.
The first thing that stands out is that of all the TEs, we’ve got 4+1 stand out players: Thomas Passarelli, Ignatious Cleetington, Dylan Duma, Hank Mardukas, and National Treasure.
So, if we were NFL GMs, and we’ve got this set of TEs in an upcoming draft, there’s seemingly no Kyle Pitts in terms of hype or production. TEs generally go in the second and sometimes late first if they’re standout.
In the last few NFL drafts, there’s a TE that goes a round earlier before about 4 or 5 in the next round, and I think we can really see that here, there’s a standout + a few that are close but not quite.
Top First: Thomas Passarelli
Early Second: Ignatious Cleetington
Middle Second: Dylan Duma, Hank Mardukas
Late Second: National Treasure
Top First
Thomas Passarelli: I thought that Thomas Passarelli is the guy that goes in the late first and then Cleetington/Duma/Mardukas/Treasure go in the middle 2nd, with National Treasure going a bit closer to the end of the round but then I looked at the Passarelli combine metrics.
This first picture is the Passarelli percentiles. The second is a composite of each of the next three tight ends where we took the best score among them.
![[Image: HJMQ9ov.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HJMQ9ov.png)
![[Image: E4RC0ct.png]](https://i.imgur.com/E4RC0ct.png)
Passarelli measures off the charts, except he’s not so good at the books. Didn’t go to school to do anything but play football.
If I’m an NFL GM, I’m thinking that Passarelli is a clear favourite, going in the early or middle first, and then it’s a question of what you’re looking for after that.
Early Second
Ignatious Cleetington: I’ve personally got Ignatious Cleetington next, Cleetington doesn’t have any standout measurables, he’s very much the average combine score of the top players, but I’m looking at 4 catches for 40+ yards, I think that the prospect tape would pop when seeing him rip off some large plays, and that that points to some of that elusive “stuff” where some players just know where the defense is soft and can make some big plays when the team needs it.
Mid Second
Dylan Duma: I’ve got Duma after Cleetington because I’m loving the agility and the fact that they’ve got an extra 20 receptions over the others. Duma’s clearly trusted by their QB as a safety outlet, even when asked to do so much blocking. Duma’s my guy to do the hard stuff and move the chains, very Kittle like.
Hank Mardukas: My fourth of the big TE 4 here, smart, strong player who not have the agility but can bully his opponents. What I’m worried about with Mardukas is that he has most of the flaws you might try and point out about each of the other prospects. He’s got the second most drops, fewest yardage/g, strong arms but doesn’t seem to block so well, with only 7 pancakes. I’d be betting on Mardukas interviewing well and really showing that football IQ as the last of the big top 4 TEs.
Late Second
National Treasure: For National Treasure, I’ve got him pegged as a player who stood out but got injured in their senior season because of the combine strength number. National Treasure has the combine metrics that are comparable to the others, except a steep dropoff in the bench press, which suggests something like shoulder injury or some back problems, which drops them to the end of the second round.
As we turn back to the ISFL, I’d like to point out some position swaps:
To WR: Thomas Passarelli, Hank Mardukas, National Treasure
To LB: Ignatious Cleetington
To RB: Swamp Maiden (Dylan Duma)
Yep, every single top TE has changed out of the position as their teams look to move these max earners into more impactful spots.
I’d like to also point out some stratification we’ve got in the draft order, our top players were drafted as such, with TMoney, Lips, Radio, honey going right the top of the first round.
Next we have ElectricTree dropping to the late second and then Waldo at the top of the third. I’d also like to shout out Mossed at P44 also earning super well, great get for any team who grabbed these three.
Wide Receiver - 20 Prospects
It’s at this point that I realized it took me 800 words to get through the TEs, and we’ve got quite a few more positions to go, we’re going to approach Zenzeroni levels of word count here.
Here’s the list of WRs by ISFL draft position:
![[Image: GuJar63.png]](https://i.imgur.com/GuJar63.png)
Immediately a few things stand out to me, OJ and I were taken at the top of the first, then we have a cluster of players at the R1/R2 turn, and then a whole bunch at the middle and bottom of the third. Surprised that such a stat generating offensive position wouldn’t have a lot of high earners, but I suppose a lot of swaps to WR happen. Unlike with the Tight Ends, the ISFL draft position doesn’t correlate with the qualifying season as strongly.
The numbers with the WRs are much harder to parse than with the TEs, we don’t have a clear delineation of top players, although we do have Diego Lopez da Castilla and La’Fluke Paris-Johnson as standout combine candidates that went at a very middling spot in the ISFL draft.
If we sort by yards per game, we kind of get a better picture of which players might top our WR power rankings.
![[Image: wH4jMLo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/wH4jMLo.png)
At the very top, we have Alex Sanchez (Mr Otter Booster himself) and Thomas Sutha as the two players to break the century mark in receiving yards per game for each game at WR.
Right below them are Orange Julius, Stetson David, and Tyler Hunt each fewer than 4 yards below a hundred.
The third tier of receivers is the Keanu Calhoun, Aaron Jaeger, Lucas Stevenson, Domeo Roubs at 80+ YPG.
After that, as an NFL GM you’d be looking a lot of intangibles and combine numbers to separate how you’d rank Logan Runswell, Lane Frost III, Diego Lopez, Mega Tron, La’Fluke Paris-Johnson, Jarad Marshall, Anakin Skywalker, and Jordan Bamford.
I realize I don’t really have any context for what college receiving stats are, so I found the declaration years for Ja’marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Drake London, and Jordan Addison and threw them into the spreadsheet.
![[Image: auKBMAI.png]](https://i.imgur.com/auKBMAI.png)
The first thing that jumps out is that holy shit Chase was broken in college. He had 1780 yards in 14 games, with a 21.2 YPC and 20 TDs. Waddle also with the 21.1 YPC is a monster.
Drake London goes 10th overall with super high volume but doesn’t have that explosiveness the previous two have. Jordan Addison’s numbers look a lot like a bunch of our guys, and he went 23rd overall, so I think we could really benchmark our class’ end of 1st/top of 2nd against him.
Alright, now for some draft grades/power rankings:
Top of First: Orange Julius, Stetson David
Middle First: Tyler Hunt, Thomas Sutha, Alex Sanchez
Late First/Early Second: Keanu Calhoun, Aaron Jaeger, Lucas Stevenson, Logan Runswell, Lane Frost III, Diego Lopez de Castilla
Second Round: Mega Tron, La’Fluke Paris-John, Jarad Marshall, Anakin Skywalker, Jordan Bamford
Early First
Orange Julius: Orange Julius projects strongly to the NFL, he’s got high metrics, pushing the explosive plays with 7 plays for more than 40 yards but there will be some questions about his drops. Good metrics, but not great. I think OJ would go maybe 10th overall? It is worrying that OJ doesn't have those elite physical traits we expect from true star wide outs.
![[Image: cGEeagw.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cGEeagw.png)
Stetson David: My other top prospect, I think David is a touch below OJ, but his metrics are unbelievable, you’re betting on talent here, with high usage during his qualifying season but problems with a class leading 7 fumbles. Ball security is an issue, but you’re getting a strong blocker who can fly. With these combine stats, I’d be looking at the tape and thinking that I could use David all over the field and he’d be a true WR1 and a mismatch all over the field.
![[Image: XBMYeSg.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XBMYeSg.png)
Mid First
Tyler Hunt: Explosive play-making ability with 18.6 YPC, worrisome metrics and makes me think that it might be a function of playing in a bad conference where the DBs just couldn’t keep up.
Thomas Sutha: Swapped from CB mid-season so we have questions there. Very quick with good agility and leaping power, but weak and might not be able to deal with more physical corners at the next level.
Alex Sanchez: Player with great strength but low agility and speed, makes me worry that he won’t translate against better athletes. Great ability to find soft spots in zone coverage and is reliable as a blocker and safety outlet for the QB.
Late First
Keanu Calhoun: Home run player who takes any small hole and turns it into an extra 20 yards. Amazing speed in straight lines. Problem with drops and concentration.
Aaron Jaeger: Role-player in a pass/RPO heavy offense. Quick with a great catch radius at the short-mid range.
Lucas Stevenson: Very intelligent player who clearly puts in the time to study tape and exploit defensive holes. Physical traits might not translate to the NFL.
Top Second
Lane Frost III: Physically gifted and amazing at getting free in the red-zone. Questions about film room and ability to learn an NFL offense. Lapses in concentration leaves him with a lot of drops.
Diego Lopez de Castilla: Incredibly agile, secure with the ball in hands. Functioned as a WR2, should have the traits for increased workload at the next level.
Logan Runswell: What I love about Runswell is that he’s a smart player who’s extremely reliable as a target getting open, especially in the red zone, of course we’ve got fumble problems combine question marks that makes him intriguing but hard to project.
Middle Second
Mega Tron: Couldn’t command touches in qualifying season, interviewed as incredibly teachable and intelligent.
La’Fluke Paris-Johnson: Incredible blocker and RPO player, solidifies the line when asked to.
Jarad Marshall: Slow but with a quick release. Surprisingly quick and elusive after the catch.
Anakin Skywalker: Very agile but doesn’t have the physical talent for the next level.
Late Second
Jordan Bamford: Strong, fast, and great lateral movement. Unable to shine in a scheme that featured other wide outs, raw at position.
As a side-note Domeo Roubs had a great amount of production but retired before being able to be drafted -> Roubs suffered a career ending injury during that qualifying season.
Octavion Speedings also doesn’t appear, he is a WR in the draft sigs picture, but is listed as a LB in the combine and sim so I just took him out.
Running Back - 17 Prospects
Alright! Another big prospect group, I originally dreaded doing the RBs since I’d need to copy over the receiving work and fit that in too. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it could be since I only took a few of the numbers.
RBs by ISFL draft position:
![[Image: Qcu3gCX.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Qcu3gCX.png)
RBs by YPG (Rushing)
![[Image: ZPW2yUi.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ZPW2yUi.png)
A few things that pop out immediately:
- Eldroh Kove had a ton of volume, 60 more touches then Bertie Mannering-Phipps who was second with 300, and that was a lot too.
- RBs are much more evenly distributed in draft placement, we’ve got a nice gradient all along the pick order, very nice.
- Reginald Shrubbery’s metrics are just insane, way greener than I would have imagined.
- Of the high volume backs, Martin Bachman had the best efficiency, making all those touches entrusted to him count.
- Maple Dogwood was great at producing electrifying, large runs.
As an NFL GM, how do you separate all of these backs? It’s really quite difficult to figure out who pops amongst all these players, with no one player having super standout figures.
I think I’ve got a few players I like but no one that I would take in the top half of the first round, just too many questions about what they can do.
Mid-Late First: Reginald Shrubbery, Eldroh Kove
Top Second: Bertie Mannering-Phipps, Joe Bazooka, Martin Bachman
Mid Second: Oskar Clark, Ace Anderson, Kyle Bessey, Maple Dogwood
Third: Ivan Ivanov, Sailor Moon
I don’t have every RB tiered because I’m just not sure about a lot of them, and where they would go. This also fits into my personal bias against RBs in the NFL with regards to how you should draft a good one, don't extend em, and just draft another.
Mid First
Reginald Shrubbery: My first RB because of his physical traits and not just cause I’m a Ducks booster. I thought he would be better than the percentiles, but I suppose he’s not as quick and agile as I expected amongst the entirety of the history of the ISFL. Still, he clearly is head and shoulders above the draft class and if we combine that with his volume, he looks quite nice.
Shrubbery does project to be a receiving back, but he doesn’t have the volume to really prove that, and fumbled 4 times as well.
![[Image: Od2yfuy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Od2yfuy.png)
Eldroh Kove: Just a monster on workload, he’s really the lead back of the entire class and proves it with very reasonable YPC even with that many carries. On the combine side, even with all the green numbers on the sheet, Kove isn’t actually a stand-out guy, really none of the RBs in this draft are metric wise, which is interesting.
![[Image: 3EY4rQ0.png]](https://i.imgur.com/3EY4rQ0.png)
Top Second
This is a big second round for RBs kinda place, lot of players here and it’s really dealer’s choice on what numbers you like and where you place value.
Bertie Mannering-Phipps: This rich boy croquet pro carried the rock 301 times for Bondi Beach in his qualifying season, he wasn’t very efficient and didn’t rip off very many long runs, but he’s got 10 TDs and is a very clear 2 down back to help establish the run game.
Joe Bazooka: Joe Bazooka is the guy who’s toolsy and can do it all. Bazooka doesn’t boast the top end speed I love to see in running backs, but he’s got fantastic agility and ability to shift through the defenders, and he excels in the passing game, and can block as well. Bazooka is a true three down back, although he probably has some problems finding holes and doesn’t have explosive potential.
Martin Bachman: Martin Bachman is the benchmark for this class, he’s got good numbers everywhere, and efficient too. This is my player for all around most balanced and probably the last player I’d feel confident about translating to the next level.
Mid Second Round
Oskar Clark/Ace Anderson/Kyle Bessey: I love these guys but I can’t point to anything stand out about the characters. They’re all very solid and they have reasonable numbers, but they don’t do receiving enough to be really called a 3 down guy, and they don’t have any combine standouts.
Maple Dogwood: From a combine and stat point of view, nothing stands out from this user. They’ve got a great 5.1 average yards per carry which is fantastic, but low usage, no pass game involvement, and a very small percentage of runs going for a first down, although, even with low usage, he’s got the potential to break off some long runs.
Third Round
Sailor Moon: Sailor Moon tests really well for a full back, exactly what you want to see in this kind of player, except for not having the strength to block and push through as much as you’d love to see. Positional value of a full back drops them to the third, but this is as reliable a player you’ll see. When you draft Sailor Moon you get a player who gets you that third and short yardage on command.
Ivan Ivanov: If I’m an NFL GM, I’m taking Ivanov here as a moon shot for a pass catching back who can rotate on some downs. Combine numbers are a bit mediocre, problems with being able to block NFL caliber players so projects the play when he’s on the field but a reasonable player to take.
OL - 11 Prospects
Doing OL here before QB since it’d be sad to end on such a lame section, lame cause I just don’t know what I’m doing and can’t figure out what’s good here.
Once more, player by ISFL draft position.
![[Image: EblSOM8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/EblSOM8.png)
As you can see, OL doesn’t actually have many stats, and you also don’t see a ton of important things like, for example, how many times did they block? What’s a good pancake number? How good is a pancake? Where did they play on the OL?
I think clearly we can all say that more pancakes is better, more sacks is worse, and we want green in the combine metrics.
Two players stick out to me, Blacksmith Andre and Carter Goad, I think that these are the two players that I’m most interested in drafting.
Top of First: Blacksmith Andre, Carter Goad
Middle First: Dan Dandrews, Brock Lesnar
Late First/Early Second: Kelijah Verwae, Bruce Talis, Triceracop, Biggie Fast
Top of First
Blacksmith Andre: Blacksmith Andre clearly stands out here with his 75 pancakes and clean sheet on the sacks during his qualifying season. This man here is a monster who boasts positive combine metrics wherever you look, although he’s more average than stellar. Blacksmith Andre clearly has great anticipation, understanding of the defensive plans, and technique to go alongside his bear strength.
Carter Goad: Carter Goad has very few pancakes for how strong he is but this man is a unicorn at the OL position from a combine metrics point of view. His numbers are as impressive as Thomas Passarelli’s and that’s a high bar to clear. I’m thinking that Carter Goad was sheltered a bit at the position, maybe he was a newer player or a position swap but clearly he’s got the chops and potential to be a perennial top player.
![[Image: aXtpT3n.png]](https://i.imgur.com/aXtpT3n.png)
Middle First
Dan Dandrews: Great, secure pick at OL. You get all the safety of a Blacksmith Andre but a maybe 10 picks later. Dandrews projects to be a strong interior lineman or tackle, and what you want at these positions is just someone rock solid.
Brock Lesnar: With two sacks allowed, Lesnar is a player who may not have the agility to keep up at the next level. Looking like a player who might need to move inside on the line so they don’t need to go up against the quick defensive ends in the league.
Late First
Kelijah Verwae: I think this is my point where I’m seeing clear downsides that might exist and am hoping for upside. Kelijah Verwae has comparable blocking stats to the people in the tier above him, but he measures quite badly at the combine. Enough so that I don’t think it can be explained away as a bad day. Unfortunately, we’re looking at low upside here.
Bruce Talis: Bruce Talis is a player who measures very well at the combine but can’t translate those numbers to the production we’d expect. We’re looking at some potential problems with his motor or dedication, we would need to look at the tape and do some real interviewing to figure out if it’s that or something fixable like technique that needs to be refined.
Early Second
Triceracop: What would you expect from a dinosaur offensive lineman? A big, fast reptile-ish thing that maybe isn’t refined at playing actual football? Well, that’s what we’ve got here. Not as strong as expected and lacking actual football IQ but having the potential to get there.
Biggie Fast: Biggie Fast is basically a Bruce Talis with higher floor and lower ceiling. Doesn’t have the same combine metrics but is polished in technique and gets the pancakes to open up the defensive line.
QB - 9 Prospects
QB is super hard to display, we’ve got a ton of numbers and it’s kind of impossible to fit on the screen. It’s also really difficult to parse the qualifying season stats and combine performance to NFL performance.
![[Image: 7YSUjjz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/7YSUjjz.png)
QB is the most important position in the NFL and if I was a GM for this class, I’d try and roll the dice on next season if I couldn’t take the top two. You just don’t have a good read on anyone past Josh Patterson and Zisia Ojeisndiwoseodj, red flags abound, and I think I have one top guy and then just a mess of others.
Top First: Josh Patterson, Zisia Ojeisndiwoseodj
Middle First: Lenard McRobinson, RE #38
Late First: C.G. Breezy Jr.
Second Round: Jay Cue III, Maximus Boudreaux
Third Round: Thor Bollrsveifla
Do Not Draft: Tua TurnDaBallOva
Top First
Josh Patterson: Josh Patterson owned all of the awards in his qualifying season, and for good reason, he’s the top QB in the draft and the only one I’d feel confident about taking. Patterson is faster and more agile than one would think (sneaky fast) for a pocket passing QB, and he’s both efficient and safe with the ball. He threw for over 4000 yards in his qualifying season, and long passes too, really stretching the field with his accuracy.
Zisia Ojeisndiwoseodj: The second player here, and bad luck for them to be in the same DSFL class as Patterson. Zisia was basically Patterson but a bit worse at basically everything. His passing stats are great, his combine metrics meh, but it’s very unfortunate to have someone basically like you but more in your class. This is probably someone who Twitter analysts and talking heads try to push as a contender for QB1 when the news cycle gets old.
Middle First
Lenard McRobinson: Lenard McRobinson is our first dual threat guy, rushing for 482 yards on the ground, which would bring his total yardage to just above 3000. McRobinson is quick, agile, and not very accurate. He’s got all the toolsy physical attributes that makes NFL GMs very excited (except for any Bears head-office) and is a real gamble on hitting it big.
RE #38: This is the point where we hit red flags, but with how important the position is, these players are taken real early. RE #38 is pretty efficient, he loves hitting the short yardage passes where he’s very accurate. The problem is that he’s the definition of a system QB (which I personally think isn’t really a thing nor is it a negative). What you’re getting here is an immobile turret who’ll hit his guys accurately and dump off to the RB when is prudent but that’s where we end.
Late First
C.G. Breezy Jr.: Breezy Jr. Is our Anthony Richardson, he’s quick, fast, strong, agile, and his metrics are irresistible bait for a first round pick for that 5th year of control. What’s the red flag here? Well, he just doesn’t have much experience either throwing or running the ball. He looks like he can be great, but we just don’t know either way.
Second Round
Jay Cue III: Jay Cue III is a strange prospect, he passes a ton, is really good at making sure those throws get caught, but also gets intercepted a lot, and doesn’t throw touchdowns. Cue III is very bleh from a stats perspective. He got asked to do way more than he was ready for his qualifying season, it would make sense from a lore point of view if he declared a year before he really was ready to head to the show, and was bolstered by a star pass catching running back that bailed him out.
Maximus Boudreaux: Boudreaux probably could go earlier, he’s a guy who’s got the most exciting highlight reels on YouTube of all these guys, I’m pretty sure. Boudreaux keeps himself safe, throws bombs, and doesn’t get intercepted as much as you’d think for that playstyle. What I feel like is happening here is a star receiver situation like a few years ago at Bama where anything that gets caught goes all the way.
Third Round
Thor Bollrsveifla: Thor has the numbers that match up with other quarterbacks on how well they throw the ball, but on lower volume. Part of the reason for that is that Thor turns the ball over a lot, way more than you’d expect or want.
Do Not Draft
Tua TurnDaBallOva: This player stayed true to their name by somehow throwing 17 picks and 9 fumbles. NINE FUMBLES. He had 16 rushes for -21 yards and NINE FUMBLES. He threw so many times every game but didn’t have the game to back it up. This is the first player with more turnovers than touchdowns. I feel like fourth round is too generous, I would not draft him in the NFL.
Safety - 14 Prospects
Starting with Safety on the defensive end, I’m really happy with the defensive side of the ball because all of their stats are the same (I’m not adding in any return game) so the sheets were easy to import.
With the defensive players, I thought it’d quite difficult to stand out because a lot of stats aren’t descriptive enough, we don’t know average depth of tackle, the coverage, etc. but I have my imagination, biases, and will be making the head-canon to explain stuff, just like I have for everything.
It’s really interesting doing this since I can learn more about draft capital too. For example, I wasn’t going to split up safety and cornerback, but safety is a position that does not get drafted highly, just not “valuable” enough in the NFL, so my rankings for my top Safeties will start at the middle of the first if they’re exceptional.
![[Image: iceyHho.png]](https://i.imgur.com/iceyHho.png)
Middle First: Josh Gibson, Tha Thu Craicte
Late First: Jamie Orion, Scott Junior
Mid Second: Felix Waterman, Honey Humphries, Spruce Willis
Late Second: The Red Panda
Third Round: Dewey Greenbeans
Middle First
Josh Gibson: My top safety in the class, Gibson’s the only one with 70+ tackles, and he’s even got 82! This strong safety is basically a linebacker playing safety, and his measurables (other than his bench press) are at the top of anyone in this cohort. You’d expect him to be a liability in coverage but his pass defense numbers are in line with the rest of the strong safeties, as far as I can tell. Josh Gibson is a fast, agile box to box safety who’ll wrap up anyone who gets past the linemen.
Tha Thu Craicte: Tha Thu Craicte has eye popping tape, whenever the ball gets near him, you’re anticipating something big happening. Craicte has something intangible that can’t be taught, he’s a natural born ball hawk with 16 pass defenses and 5 interceptions in his qualifying season. Not only does he have the range to close off the secondary by himself, when he hits he has an eye for the ball with 3 forced fumbles.
Late First
Jamie Orion: Jamie Orion is the highest ISFL drafted safety, and similarly to Josh Gibson, he also plays Strong Safety, plus very similar measurables, although he’s got much more strength in exchange for dropping some agility across the board. Orion doesn’t stand out meaningfully in this draft class because we have Josh Gibson who is basically the same player but with more tackle production. Orion does have deeper penetration when asked to blitz though, finding his way to the quarterback with his superior strength trucking over any Tight Ends or Running Backs tasked with trying to block him.
Scott Junior: Possibly the craftiest player in this draft class, Scott Junior does not miss a single chance to take the ball when he can. The game looks like it moves in slow motion for Scott Junior when he’s faced with making a tackle, if the ball-carrier is distracted for any small moment, Junior punches the ball out and has forced 8 fumbles on the year. This nose for the ball doesn’t mean that Junior gives up anything in coverage though, with 16 pass defenses, Junior is a master of reading the player he’s tasked to defend and has elite anticipation.
Mid Second
Felix Waterman: Felix Waterman is a human missile, albeit one that may need some updates to its guidance systems. Fast and agile, Waterman locks on to the ball and finds the fastest way there at all times. This level of athletic ability and willingness to get themselves involved in every play where they’re on the field has lead to 69 tackles, 4 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 12 pass defenses, essentially second in each category in the class. Unfortunately, this has also led to a class leading 13 missed tackles, doubling up on the second place player. Waterman is the highest upside player here in the second round, but a very feast or famine playstyle that may be exploited by a savvy quarterback or offensive coordinator.
Honey Humphries: Honey Humphries is a true captain of the secondary, with the ability to read the defense and high leadership skills that elevate the team, directing the plays from the back. Unfortunately this ability to read the field has not translated to stellar on field production, but he’s been able to do what his coaches have asked from him.
Spruce Willis: Spruce Willis would surely have gone higher in the draft if it wasn’t for an injury that prevented him from doing the bench press during the combine. Spruce Willis is quick, fast, and dependable in the Free Safety position. Any team looking for a reliable presence in their backfield needs to do their due diligence on the end of season injury that led to a player who may have lingering injury.
Late Second
The Red Panda: The Red Panda is a blitzing strong safety, in some regards they were played in a position similar to a coverage middle linebacker during his qualifying season, partially because of a lack of combine measurables. Red Panda makes plays on the field, but there are concerns if he can hold up against NFL speed and strength, and if it may have been numbers propped up by playing against inferior college talent.
Third Round
Dewey Greenbeans: Greenbeans is not what you think of when you think of a prototypical NFL player, there are concerns about his speed, strength, and agility. With 4 interceptions and 9 pass defenses, Greenbeans makes plays on the ball, but has trouble finishing tackles and may sell out too much in order to look for game-changing plays, in either direction. Greenbeans is a home run swing, looking for a game changer here in the third, but also risking a pop fly.
Cornerback - 17 Prospects
The second half of the defensive backs, we’ve got 17 prospects here and we’ll see how many we get to! Corners just naturally have a higher average draft position in the NFL, and these stats from the sim are much higher, these players do get more action!
One thing that jumps out is that it feels like the CBs are way more subjective in that it really depends on what you’re looking for in a Cornerback. I personally valued pass defenses and interceptions quite highly. I think you really could mix up 5 of the top Cornerbacks and it’d be very defensible.
![[Image: 8O9qmGn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/8O9qmGn.png)
Top First: Chaos Vert, Gajeel Redfox
Middle First: Paul Dosza, Xavier Moreno, Dino Nuggets
Late First: Luigi Numberone
Middle Second: Robert Rossi
Late Second: Pat Uncertain
Third: Wayne Miller, Bell Pepper
Top First
Chaos Vert: Chaos Vert, to me, is the standout corner, on of two I have going top first. I used to have three players here, but I think that’s a bit too generous. Vert ranks tied for second in tackles, but he also leads in forced fumbles, interceptions, and pass defenses! It’s a stellar season to pull this off, and while his measurables are good, they aren’t outstanding. Vert, like Tha Thu Craicte, has that intangible intuition that you can’t teach. I actually don’t understand why Chaos Vert has these numbers because teams should have learned not to throw the ball at the person he was defending. If you’re lucky, Chaos Vert just blocks the pass, and if you throw anywhere else of the field, Vert is already there, laying down a monster hit and forcing a fumble. Truly in a tier of his own.
Gajeel Redfox: I’ve been told that this is an anime character. Gajeel Redfox has an astounding 95 tackles, 20 above the player below him (Chaos Vert of course). You’d think that his pass defence metrics would suffer as a response, “Redfox just tackles them after soft coverage” BUT NO, Redfox is tied for second in pass defenses! Redfox is not particularly strong but he’s always the first to reach the ballcarrier and mop up any passes that are not thrown his way. It’s a shame that Chaos Vert exists in this draft class because unfortunately he ranks second.
Middle First
Paul Dosza: Paul Dosza is what you’d consider a perennial pro bowler. Everything that there is to do, he does well. He ranks positively in every combine metric, every measured stat, and can fill any spot available in the secondary. Dosza projects to be a player that every team needs, especially in the nickel heavy packages of the modern NFL. If your team has luxury of having Dosza in the second Cornerback spot, you know you’ve got a cornerstone of your defense set.Xavier Moreno: Xavier Moreno is your corner you keep in coverage, very rarely blitzing with Moreno himself. With good side to side speed, Moreno will be a stout zone scheme defender although he may get lost on some plays. With a bit more burst, we’d see Moreno excel in a single coverage and unlock the ability to use his strength.
Dino Nuggets: Dino Nuggets is our combine monster at the Cornerback position, he’s fast, smart, and has vertical ability that lets him contest every catch that is thrown his way. Unfortunately, his physical talent hasn’t manifested in top notch coverage skills as he his still raw there. Any team picking him up should have assurances that he will be able to pick up more complicated NFL schemes, and he does have the aptitude to do so.
Late First
Luigi Numberone: Luigi is talented, quite thin for the position, Luigi has a twitchy burst that allows him to make plays on balls in his general direction, operating as a spy to limit big plays and hold medium depth coverage in zone schemes. Lack of size may limit him in the NFL but he has proven himself in situtations where he isn’t asked to go one on one with a big receiver down-field.
Middle Second
Robert Rossi: Robert Rossi sneaks into the middle of the second for me based on his leadership and measurables. Rossi was a leader of the defense as a long term captain in college but he has problems with the speed of the game passing him by post-snap, although he displays an ability to read plays pre-snap.
Late Second
Pat Uncertain: Pat Uncertain has been the steady presence that every defense needs, while not having a standout performance in the secondary, his speed and strength give him the leverage to make plays when he can see it developing. Increased anticipation and time in the film room should help him grow into an NFL defense.
Third Round
Wayne Miller/Bell Pepper: Wayne Miller and Bell Pepper have the same problem, although they fit different player profiles. Miller and Pepper have bad tackling form and unfortunately, form bad enough that it’s a question if they’ll be able to tackle bigger and faster players in the NFL. With 10 missed tackles each, both players have high upside when they do bring the ball carrier down. Miller boasts pass defense skills that are among the top of the class and Pepper can explode past the line for big sacks and interceptions. Both players may be able to be coached out of their bad habits, I would rank Miller a touch higher because a blitzing Cornerback who misses tackles when they reach the Quarterback is a spot of concern.Defensive Line - 20 Prospects
The second last position group! Nearly at the end of this horrendously long article. Defensive Line, much like Offensive Line is hard to parse, there are more stats but we’ve got a lot of similar numbers across the board, which is rough as these players would go highly in a real draft.
![[Image: sRcp1bM.png]](https://i.imgur.com/sRcp1bM.png)
Middle First: Crasher Wake, Sack Sparrow, Ryan McBean
Late First: Tunkha Danstrol, Redd Mistt, Trent Thigpen
Top Second: Ronald McDonald
I don’t think we’ve got a top of the first monster for either the Defensive End or Defensive Tackle position, which is unfortunate, but hey, that’s how it goes.
Middle First
Crasher Wake: Notionally our first DL off the list, Crasher Wake the Defensive Tackle. If we remove the outlier that is Redd Mistt, Wake is top of the class in tackles and has 7 sacks (+ 2 forced fumbles). With 9 missed tackles, Wake needs to clean up his technique but he seems to have trouble learning more complicated rushing schemes.
Sack Sparrow: Sack Sparrow is a more controlled version of Crasher Wake. Sparrow may not miss many tackles, but that comes at the expense of not being involved in as many plays. Sparrow gives you great, consistent output and will get you the stop if the play is in his general direction.
Ryan McBean: If you’re looking for a more reliable, sure Defensive Tackle with great measurables, Ryan McBean is your guy. He doesn’t have the production that belies his physical traits, but he will make the tackle, which is immensely valuable in this class.
Late First
Tunkha Danstrol: Tunkha Danstrol uses his technique and craftiness to get into the opposing backfield. Unfortunately his speed and strength leave something to be desired at the NFL level. Danstrol may project to be a monster outside Linebacker but the speed there is still a concern. Danstrol will penetrate the line but may have trouble bringing down the ball carrier.
Redd Mistt: Redd Mistt has an eye-watering 60 tackles, and still 4 sacks. Mistt is a run stuffing Defensive Tackle who seals the edge and is invaluable in short yardage downs. He may not have the physical ability to do more, but his ability to stuff plays at the line provides safety to any defense.
Trent Thigpen: Trent Thigpen is a player who makes big plays. When he can make it through the offensive line, he crunches into the runner to stop a drive in its tracks. High penetration but most valuable as a run blocker.
Top Second
Ronald McDonald: The most terrifying looking prospect in this draft, Ronald McDonald provides high reliability coverage and excels in blitz situations where any chaos gives him the opening needed to stop a runner before he can get any momentum going.
Linebacker - 21 Prospects
WE DID IT! Last position group, and we’ve got the stat seeking glory hogs in Linebackers here. There are some really cool outlier LBs stat wise so this one will be fun, hopefully!
Linebackers have been devalued in the NFL, with so much emphasis on the defensive line and secondary, so we’ll see how that factors in.
![[Image: g0IHoX2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/g0IHoX2.png)
Top First: Iman Outlaw
Middle First: Thor Dangerson, A Waffle
Late First: Aleskander Kovic, Joey Battle, Gougar
Top Second: Pete Moss, Gaius Gleel, Cheecago Boucher
Middle Second: Sam Mercury
Top First
Iman Outlaw: My lone top first linebacker is Iman Outlaw. Outlaw sets himself apart by using his speed and technique to achieve 119 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, and 14 sacks on the season, leading in each of those categories. Outlaw also does well in coverage but is clearly a powerhouse when it comes to making sure the Quarterbacks, Running Backs, and slot Wide Receivers have trouble finding any space.
Middle First
Thor Dangerson: Thor Dangerson is a multi-faceted weapon. Excellent strength and leaping ability pushed him to be a complete wall at the line of scrimmage. Quickly making his way into the backfield, Dangerson was a threat to sack the Quarterback, or deflect a desperate bid to throw the ball before the inevitable crunch.
A Waffle: A Waffle was a force on as a linebacker. Finding his way into the backline, not only did he sack the opposing Quarterbacks, he forced fumbles, using his fantastic speed to get into your face quicker than you thought. His overwhelming strength meant that a single hand had more than enough power to push any ball loose. Combined with strong tackling ability, Waffle projects as as reliable as they come.
Late First
Aleksander Kovic: Kovic entered the season focusing on his straight line speed and power to make a difference. Exploding through the line to make stops on crucial downs, if not asked to go sideline to sideline in coverage, Kovic shows his strengths.Joey Battle: Joey Battle’s intelligence and operation as the middle Linebacker for his team was admirable. Displaying a level of canniness you wouldn’t expect, Battle was able to stop plays as they came to him. Suffering tackling problems, Battle will need to be eased into a MLB position at the NFL.
Gougar: Gougar used his quickness and agility to excel on multiple spots in the Linebacker role. Logging over a hundred tackles, Gougar may not stand out in this exceptional Linebacker class, but he has the reach, fitness, and agility to play at any spot.
Top Second
Pete Moss: Pete Moss is a freight train when running down opposing Quarterbacks. Sometimes lost in the scramble as the play breaks down, Moss may not have the best coverage skills but he displays a skill for finding the Quarterback that you’re hoping for at this spot in the draft.Gaius Gleel: Gaius Gleel has been stellar in his role on the defense in his qualifying season. While he has a trouble pushing through the line of scrimmage with his smaller frame, when he’s through, covers the entire line horizontally, going sideline to sideline to track any runner trying to break through.
Cheecago Boucher: Cheecago Boucher has had some trouble with reliability and finishing tackles. While he may meet the ball carrier, too much focus on getting the ball itself leads to Boucher committing prematurely and allowing a potential fumble turn into a long gain.
Middle Second
Sam Mercury: Sam Mercury is a unique Linebacker in this class. With numbers that look closer to a defensive back than a Linebacker, it’ll be intriguing to see what this player can do with a full season dropping back in coverage or even as something like a Strong Safety.
Conclusion
The ISFL draft is pretty cool and of course stats don’t matter in the DSFL (sim gonna sim and all that) but it’s cool to see that TEs map basically perfectly stat and draft position wise, and that makes sense with how they’re used here. I think it'd be really interesting if there was some sort of way that all of this would map to some kind of award in the ISFL, but that's just this article I suppose.
I think I’ve got a few standout players from an NFL perspective:
Thomas Passarelli - Amazing metrics and clear TE leader
Josh Patterson - I think I just forgot how good his season was. The DSFL awards is the Patterson Awards Show for a reason.
Carter Goad - Metrics galore good god.
Chaos Vert - Coverage god. Don't pass near him.
Tua TurnDaBallOva: 16 rushes for -21 yards and 9 fumbles
Without any kind of tape or actual ability to analyze what makes NFL players good, I can’t do any real analysis but it was fun to try and parse where I think people might have gone with just a few numbers, and some rationalizations with it.
Draft Grades sorted by round, position, and soft rankings within the position group.
![[Image: FdHFyiZ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/FdHFyiZ.png)
Spreadsheet link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bj1WauqCZb18fMm3aRbsZgj2oZA-sGzBNOCd_7LtZFk/edit?usp=sharing
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - CROney3 - 10-30-2023
Add another Gemini to the signature.
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - Tmoney6996 - 10-30-2023
This was an INCREDIBLE read, good work!
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - Assistant to the POR GM - 10-30-2023
I’d like to protest the reliability of this article
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - Thor - 10-30-2023
Damn I give you all that combine data and you really gone and put me in the third :kek:
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - Baron1898 - 10-30-2023
This is incredible.
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - CROney3 - 10-30-2023
(10-30-2023, 03:37 PM)Thor Wrote: Damn I give you all that combine data and you really gone and put me in the third :kek:Congrats, you played yourself.
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - UptownCord - 10-30-2023
Smh why not S41
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - caleb.grim - 10-30-2023
This is exceptional! Amazing work!
RE: S42-44 Prospect Power Rankings - Chicken Lips - 10-30-2023
Hank really was one of the TEs of all time.