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*A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - TubaDeus - 02-08-2024
We've all heard it. "Are you open to playing other positions?" Almost every scouting conversation has some variation of that question slipped in somewhere. For the veterans, it's a chance to provide teams with realistic expectations of what you're looking to accomplish with your player, but for the rookies that's a very open ended question that you don't have the experience to really know how to answer. Sure, you might have idealized versions of what you'd like to think each position is, but are those realistic when it comes to the sim? That's what this piece is aiming to explore; what impact does each position have in the sim, and how do different TPE levels alter that impact?
Some important context for understanding the positional outlines with regard to what each level of TPE earning means.
To be a max earner, you need to do everything. Do every activity check, answer every prompt, try your hand at every bonus opportunity that comes your way. This also means you need to earn league money, and a lot of it. Max earning means maxing out on your weekly training every week along with purchasing Tier 6 Equipment every season. That's a total of $21.5 million per season, which means you need a way to earn $21.5 million per season. There are plenty of ways to earn league money (league jobs, media, gambling), but they do take some effort. If you manage to keep your income up, though, a max earner can expect to max out their player's stats at the peak of their career at minimum, and potentially could spend as many as 4 seasons maxed out or close to it. Bear in mind, though, that you won't necessarily always be the starter by default just because you're a max earner. In the very early and late stages of your career especially, your TPE will still be on the lower side relative to your peers, which means you'll be placed out of position due to team need and/or you won't be very effective depending on what position you play. Just remember to be patient if you find yourself in these situations. They're only temporary.
By comparison, a mid earner is a little more relaxed. As a mid earner, you'd still do the vast majority of TPE tasks every week, but might not have the time or willingness to push out media or fill in a league job. Without the income of league money, you won't be able to purchase high level equipment and may not be able to consistently afford weekly training. You won't max out your player's stats without the training and equipment, but you should get reasonably close at the peak of your career. Your player probably won't be a superstar, but you could still win awards with a little bit of luck and you'll certainly be able to find a starting role somewhere for almost every position.
Finally, there's the casual earner. Perhaps you're the type of person to really go hard into hobbies before burning out quickly, creating a cycle of high earning followed by inactivity. Or perhaps you enjoy the league and the community but simply don't have the time or wherewithal to get to your TPE tasks completed on any sort of consistent basis. You most likely will never win awards as a casual earner, and you may not even find a consistent starting role depending on your position, but if your goal is just to hang out and have fun with the great community we have then that's certainly alright too.
Also worth mentioning that all views expressed below are my personal opinions based on my experience in the league. There are people who have been around a lot longer than me who may have different views, and it's also entirely possible to see a shift in the league meta at any time for any number of reasons. I did run my opinions past a few of the more veteran sim gurus of the league to confirm I don't have any explicit biases coloring my views, but ultimately my opinions are based on what I've seen as a GM from my fellow GMs and through sim testing.
With our key definitions out of the way, let's take a look at how each level plays out at each position!
Quarterback
General Description: Just like in real life, the quarterback is the heart and soul of the offense. Teams live and die by their QB play. However, unlike the NFL, the ISFL has devised a rhythm to pretty much guarantee high level QB play permanently. Part of this rhythm is ensuring they can trust players to stay active and max earning through their entire career, which means there is a heavy bias against going with first time player QBs. It's not impossible to find a starting QB job as a new user (notably, current San Jose QB Josh Patterson is a first time user), but it's a difficult decision for GMs to build their teams' futures around an unknown.
Life as a max earner: As noted above, even if you plan to max earn, it's difficult to break into the QB ranks as a new user. Teams want to know they can trust their QB to max earn for a full career, and it's pretty much impossible to prove that you're capable of doing so when you're brand new to the league. Still, if you commit to being a max earner and stay the course, you'll probably find a home somewhere. Just expect a lot of people asking "Are you sure?"
Life as a mid earner: As a mid earner, you can probably make a career out of being a DSFL lifer at QB, but you're going to find it tough to find a home in the ISFL. Chances are you're going to find yourself floating around as a free agent unless you're willing to swap positions. At best you might get lucky on timing and be able to fill in as a stopgap for a season or two on a team that had their existing QB plans blow up.
Life as a casual earner: You're either going to have to switch positions or accept that you're not going to play anywhere beyond the DSFL.
Running Back
General Description: In the NFL, running back is a very visible position but not a highly valued one. That's not the case in the ISFL. A good running game is wildly powerful in the sim, which means a good running back is truly valued here in the ISFL. And, because of league-wide contract requirements, running backs aren't paid any less than anyone else either! Being both visible and valued, though, means there's stiff competition for roles. On the flip side, it's been noted that having a pair of running backs improves efficiency, so most teams will try to roster at least two solid running backs in an effort to maximize their ground attack (unless a specific contract requires otherwise).
Life as a max earner: Bottom line is that you're going to be a star running back. At worst you'll have to share a backfield with another back, but the second back will usually just be there to give your player breathers or to flex out as a wide receiver or tight end. On rare occasion you'll find teams with two max earners at running back, but when that happens you'll find those teams run the ball into the ground, providing both players with plenty of work.
Life as a mid earner: You probably won't be asked to swap positions (at least, not incessantly), but you're not likely to find yourself in a workhorse role either. You may fill in as the lead back of a committee backfield on a more pass-happy team, or you may be the stopgap starter while a newly drafted max earner comes up through the ranks. You're also probably going to be in the flex role, frequently finding yourself lining up as a wide receiver or tight end, depending on team needs. Not glamorous perhaps, but there are definitely roles out there.
Life as a casual earner: A casual player at running back will not find a high volume role at the ISFL level. You're likely to be asked to swap positions a fair bit. For those who stick it out, though, your player will most likely be used as a fullback, or maybe a TE2 since there are a couple of playbooks that use a fair bit of 2TE sets.
Special note on Fullbacks: One of these archetypes is not like the others. Fullbacks are technically listed as a running back as far as the sim is concerned, but they truly are a unique beast. They fill in an incredibly versatile role, able to function as a traditional fullback, a big running back, or a tight end, and they do all of them surprisingly well. It's worth noting that the teams that employ an actual fullback tend to run much more efficiently than teams who stick a low TPE running back or tight end into the fullback slot. There's also very little competition for awards, so an active fullback has an easy path to All Pro nominations galore just by being moderately active. The one major drawback to playing fullback is that you simply won't have much in the way of counting stats, so while your awards shelf might be full your stat sheet might not be. If you're willing to sacrifice some personal glory for the greater good of your team, fullbacks have an easy path to relevance very quickly at mid and max earning levels.
Wide Receiver
General Description: This one is pretty similar to the NFL. Being good yourself gives your player a better chance to succeed, but your player's success is also tied to factors beyond your control (quality of quarterback, gameplan, etc). We've had some mid level wideouts put up monstrous seasons and we've had premier receivers just kinda plod through their careers. In general, though, if you follow the NFL at all this is one position the sim does a decent job of paralleling.
Life as a max earner: You will almost certainly be a WR1 at some point during your career, but for how long varies. You could get lucky and go to a team that doesn't have much in the way of receiving talent, allowing you to dominate your team's targets your entire career. You could also get unlucky and find yourself just a season or two behind another max earner, preventing you from ascending to primary receiver status until you're in the twilight of your career. I've seen both scenarios happen repeatedly, so don't be surprised either way.
Life as a mid earner: Ideally you'll be able to float around the league as a WR1 for hire for bad receiving corps, or fill in as a solid WR2 on good ones. Occasionally you might find yourself stuck as a WR3 in an elite offense, but I don't usually hear people complaining about being a WR3 on a serious contender (which your team would kinda have to be to end up with a mid earner as the WR3).
Life as a casual earner: There actually are a fair number of casual wide receivers throughout the league who find themselves in reasonably consistent roles thanks to the need for each team to have 2-4 on their rosters. Some even have respectable seasons every now and then. Even if there isn't necessarily a role for you as a receiver, several teams will line up a lower TPE wideout as a tight end since the performance is still reasonable with better flexibility to split out wide when needed.
Tight End
General Description: Tight end is an underrated position in the sim, and the league has created something of a self-fulfilling prophecy around it. The tight end position is halfway between a receiver and an offensive lineman, able to be functional as both but seriously lagging in counting stats from either. Because of this, there is a perception around the league that tight ends simply aren't valuable, especially when you can stick a lower TPE wide receiver into the tight end slot and achieve similar results as a lower TPE tight end. This perception (and lack of counting stats) often leads max earners to swap away from tight end, opening the door for lower TPE receivers to fill the slot "adequately", thus completing the self-fulfilling prophecy. However, those that stick it out (and can stomach a relative lack of counting stats) will find that their hybrid role is a boon to teams, allowing much greater flexibility in pretty much everything related to playcalling.
Life as a max earner: You're probably going to be asked to swap positions. A lot. But if you stick it out you'll almost certainly find yourself at the top of the tight end TPE leaderboard at some point in your career. Similarly, you're almost certain to win at least a couple awards because the level of competition simply isn't all that impressive.
Life as a mid earner: This is actually where most of the higher end tight ends around the league reside. You will certainly have a starting role somewhere in the league, and you'll actually have a solid chance of winning an award at some point. You could almost consider this the "sweet spot" for tight ends, as it were. Good enough to be good, not so good as to face constant "Are you interested in switching" questions.
Life as a casual earner: As long as you're active, you'll still probably have a home somewhere even if you're a more casual player. Every season there's at least one tight end signed off waivers just to fill a slot, whether that's as a cheap tight end or as a fill in fullback. You probably won't be racking up any sort of crazy production, but you can certainly find a home at the ISFL level.
Offensive Line
General Description: Offensive linemen occupy a very strange role in the sim. Having human linemen is considered a massive boon for any team, but high earners are often asked to swap positions at some point during their career. Both sides of this coin come down to the existence of offensive line bots. The league needs more offensive linemen than any other position, but very few people are willing to play a position that's largely invisible in the sim. As a result, the league offers offensive line bots to fill out the line for teams that don't have enough human players. On the one hand, human players are usually better than bots at equal TPE levels, human players are considerably cheaper than offensive line bots against the salary cap, and human players can also greatly exceed bots in total TPE if you're high earning. On the other hand, the fact that there is a backup option at offensive line and nowhere else means a high earner is more likely to be swapped to another position of need because teams can always replace the human offensive lineman with a bot.
Life as a max earner: Honestly, you're probably going to be asked to switch positions at multiple points. However, there are always a small handful of max earning linemen in the league every season, and those are the linemen who consistently win awards year in and year out. You'll be highly sought after and pretty much guaranteed to be successful...but still asked to swap on occasion if your team has pressing needs at other positions.
Life as a mid earner: This is truly the bread and butter of offensive linemen. A mid earner fits in close to the TPE level of offensive line bots, actually slightly outperforms those bots due to being a human player instead of a bot, and costs way less against the cap. If someone starts off as a high earner but then realizes they don't have the time to maintain it for a full player career, offensive line is frequently the position teams will ask that person to swap to. The value of such a player extends far beyond their stat line.
Life as a casual earner: While a mid earner is the sweet spot in terms of offensive line value, there are plenty of casual earning linemen around the league as well. Casual earners aren't quite as highly sough after since their TPE actually has them performing worse than the majority of offensive line bots. However, with how many available offensive line slots there are around the league, any active lineman will more than likely find a home somewhere. You'd have to have very low TPE to be left off a roster.
Kicker
General Description: This is the most common home for casual players. The sim is a cruel mistress to kickers, which means you'll often have casual earners seriously competing for awards with the top earners. Of course, the top earners will usually perform better (especially at punting, which depends more heavily on TPE), but it's not a guarantee. You're also at the mercy of the team around you for scoring opportunities, no matter how good your individual player might be.
Life as a max earner: You will be asked to swap to another position. Likely frequently. And, as noted above, just because you're a max earning kicker does not mean you're guaranteed to win awards every season regardless of the level of your competition. You're at the mercy of both your team's ability to get you scoring opportunities and the sim itself. However, as a max earner you certainly give yourself a better shot at awards, and have a much better shot at the Hall of Fame given your ability to stick around for a longer career.
Life as a mid earner: Honestly, a mid earner's career at kicker won't look that much different from a max earner's. You'll still most likely be asked to swap positions at some point, you're still at the mercy of both your team and the sim for scoring opportunities, and you're still probably better than most of your peers and therefore a little more likely to win awards. Honestly the only differences are your career will be a little bit shorter than a max earner and you'll be asked to swap positions slightly less.
Life as a casual earner: This is the most common home of casual earners who manage to stick around instead of going inactive (and even then there are several inactive kickers who still find themselves on rosters). Veteran players who want to go through a casual run often recreate as kickers, and first time users who find out they don't have the time to dedicate to building a strong player often swap to kicker early on in their careers. Every team needs a kicker, and the sim simply doesn't place that high a premium on high earners at the position. It all makes for a perfect storm that gives casual earners a solid place in the league.
Defensive Tackle
General Description: Much like real life, most defensive tackles are largely interchangeable as simply a big body in the middle to clog up running lanes. However, also just like real life, an elite defensive tackle generates far more production than you would ever expect. Defensive tackles also tend to produce their best stat lines in a 3-4 defensive alignment, which happens to be the league meta. This is a deceptively important position that provides solid roles for all levels of earners.
Life as a max earner: Max earning defensive tackles are shockingly stat hungry in the 3-4 defense that's used throughout the vast majority of the league. The top players pretty much always find themselves with double digit sacks and/or TFLs, along with a handful of fumbles and maybe a safety. The sky's the limit, and I don't think you'll be asked to swap positions all that often given just how impactful you can be and how many defensive linemen teams need.
Life as a mid earner: A mid earning defensive tackle won't have quite the same ceiling as a max earner, but you can still produce solid stat lines and win awards in the right situation. At minimum you will certainly find a starting position on any team in the league and will be considered a valuable contributor.
Life as a casual earner: While your stat line won't be great, there are still plenty of places where a casual defensive tackle can find a home. You probably won't be asked to switch much either. In the 3-4 defense that almost every team uses, defensive tackles perform better at every position on the line than defensive ends, which means most teams are best off finding three defensive tackles to fill in their roster. Unless there happens to be a much better defensive end floating around, just having the size advantage of being a defensive tackle is worth something.
Defensive End
General Description: On the opposite end of the spectrum from defensive tackles, defensive ends really need a 4-3 alignment to shine. However, the league meta shifted to a 3-4 defensive alignment thanks to the greater flexibility it affords. Because of this, defensive ends tend to struggle to make an impact. Even the best defensive ends will see their stats pale in comparison to the top defensive tackles. You could split out as an outside linebacker to increase stats, but then you're usually considered a linebacker for awards purposes which will hurt your chances to actually win awards. Bottom line is that a defensive end can do well, but until there are enough good defensive linemen around the league to convince teams to convert to a 4-3 alignment the ceiling is limited.
Life as a max earner: You probably won't be asked to switch positions all that often as defensive line is an under-represented position among players. Teams usually can't afford to have you switch. By extension, that also means the competition for starting roles and awards isn't particularly stiff, so a max earning defensive end can pretty much automatically expect to be in contention for awards every season. However, don't expect any monster numbers unless you're flexed out to linebacker or you actually manage to convince your team to play a 4-3 defensive alignment.
Life as a mid earner: Similar to max earning defensive ends, mid earners shouldn't expect requests to switch positions all that often. Teams need defensive linemen and usually won't turn away any solid options they can find. You might even get lucky and win some awards in a good situation. However, your stat line is unlikely to look that great unless your team switches to a 4-3 alignment.
Life as a casual earner: Once again, just being a defensive end will give a casual earner some life as teams usually can't afford to turn away defensive line help when they get it. A casual earning defensive end is more likely to find themselves quickly replaced if a better option comes along, but that doesn't necessarily mean the end of your career or the end of your tenure with your team. Remember how I mentioned that the 3-4 alignment is preferred due to its flexibility? I've occasionally seen casual earning defensive ends lining up at middle linebacker since they perform just as well as any other casual earning linebacker or defensive back in the position.
Linebacker
General Description: Linebackers are the single biggest beneficiaries of the league's 3-4 alignment meta. After all, the alignment rather explicitly puts more linebackers on the field. The outside linebackers especially become the primary pass rushers, which grants them a massive boost in ability to rack up stats. It's hard to view any defensive position as being as "glamorous" as the main offensive skill positions, but if there's any defensive position that can come close it's the linebackers.
Life as a max earner: Life as a max earning linebacker is good. With the 3-4 defensive alignment meta, you'll almost always be an edge rusher and watch the numbers go brrrr. In the last 25 seasons, there have only been two MVP's awarded to players who weren't a quarterback or running back. It was a linebacker both times.
Life as a mid earner: While your chances of winning an MVP drop just a bit as a mid earner, there are still plenty of opportunities to be an edge rusher around the league. Just being an edge rusher is a massive advantage to racking up stats, and you could still put up pretty good numbers in the right situation. On occasion you'll find yourself stuck as a middle linebacker on a loaded defense, but it's rare to be stuck in such a position for long. And even if you are, it means your team is probably a contender.
Life as a casual earner: There are enough linebacker slots to fill around the league that casual earners can pretty easily find a home somewhere. You'll most likely be a middle linebacker your whole career, and you might fill in as a nickel cornerback or emergency strong safety on occasion. However you come about it, though, you'll have a role.
Cornerback
General Description: In the NFL, a true shutdown corner doesn't get many opportunities to make plays because opposing teams simply avoid their side of the field. Conversely, bad corners are often picked on by NFL teams. That's not how the sim works. Sim logic puts a heavy emphasis on throwing to the WR1 and a similarly heavy emphasis on throwing to the designated primary receiver (who is usually the WR1, but can be moved around). That means targets are a little less reactive to the defense in the ISFL, which means the number of chances you have to make plays has little to do with the ability of your player. However, there are several factors that go into finding success as an ISFL cornerback that are entirely out of your control as a player. The relative strength of your team's front seven compared to your secondary can funnel opposing offenses to either run or throw. Arguably even more importantly, being on a team with a good offense can encourage opponents to throw more due to the game flow of needing to keep up in a shootout.
Life as a max earner: A max earning cornerback is highly coveted in the ISFL because every team needs at least one elite corner to match up against opponents' primary receivers. Having the ability to shut down an opposing WR1 (or at least as much as the sim allows) can have an outsized impact on the outcome of a game. You almost have to be a max earner to win awards as a cornerback, but just being a max earner isn't necessarily enough to win them. You'll also need a lot of help from your team around you, plus a little luck from the sim.
Life as a mid earner: It's very difficult to win awards as a mid earning cornerback, but you'll still be highly sought after by teams. Every team needs a handful of corners to properly fill out a roster, and it can be a struggle finding enough quality players to fill the depth chart. A mid earner will have no issues finding a home and should earn a consistent role on almost every team.
Life as a casual earner: While it is true that there's a shortage of corners around the league, a casual earner might be pushing their luck to find a home. The sim can't pick on an individual corner the same way the NFL can, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished at all. There are tricks teams can use to try to focus attention on a weaker corner. You could very well still find yourself a stable position on a team simply because you're a warm body at a much needed but not commonly chosen position, but you may be replaced or asked to switch positions in short order.
Safety
General Description: Safety is one of the most versatile positions in the league. Obviously every team needs a pair of safeties on the back end, but safeties can also find plenty of success as fill ins for cornerback or even middle linebacker. And I do mean success. Beyond just being a warm body capable of filling in the spot, multiple safeties have won awards while playing out of position. Safety itself isn't always the most glamorous position, but their versatility on defense is unmatched.
Life as a max earner: A max earning safety is very likely to win awards at some point during their career. While their production is at the mercy of the team around them just like cornerbacks, the level of competition at safety isn't always as high. What's more, a high earning safety may be moved over to play cornerback on a team that's lacking in the latter. Such situations have produced a handful of award winners. I can also personally vouch that gameplanning around max earning safeties is a pain in the ass, so there's that.
Life as a mid earner: As a mid earning safety, your chances of winning awards are small but not zero. There have been more than a handful of mid earning safeties who have won awards just by having the luck to find themselves in "perfect storm" situations. Beyond awards, you will certainly find yourself in a stable starting role on pretty much any team, even if that means filling in as a middle linebacker and nickel cornerback.
Life as a casual earner: Casual earners may not always find themselves in starting safety roles. The league needs a fair number, but there are usually enough mid and max earners to fill out those slots. However, casual earners still can find homes pretty easily thanks to the versatility of safeties. You might be playing middle linebacker or nickel corner rather than safety, but you'll have a place somewhere.
Hopefully that helps give you some idea of what veteran players mean when they reference different tiers of earning, as well as what those tiers mean in the context of each position in the league. If you still have questions, always feel free to reach out on discord and ask. The ISFL has a large and helpful community that is more than happy to help new users with any questions they might have.
RE: A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - ZootTX - 02-08-2024
What about long snapper?
RE: A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - Nathan - 02-08-2024
With defensive tackle, the players who get top stats and awards get that thru being played out wide in defensive formations. If you’re only in the DT/NT position you’ll get nothing cause like 70% of sacks are free rushers which is impossible when lined up at DT. TFLs are literally impossible because you’ll never get out wide on a toss and inside dives can only be no gain at worst.
RE: A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - g2019 - 02-09-2024
FB go brrrrr
RE: A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - swoosh - 02-09-2024
pin this, really cool Tuba
RE: A Rookie's Guide to ISFL Positions - DREAMSLOTH - 02-09-2024
when Fullback?