[div align=\\\"center\\\"]Tales From The TPE Tracker
Quarterbacks in the S22 NSFL Draft
Hot off the heels of my last article in which I looked in some depth at the S17 NSFL Draft based off information I took from the TPE tracker I’ve decided to suit up once again and plunge headfirst into the world of the TPE Tracker in order to look at something going on in the draft that’s going to be taking place this week. Everyone knows that a quarterback is the beating heart of a team. Esteemed sports pundit Skip Bayless has famously said that a quarterback is the only individual position that can win or lose a team a game, and perhaps in the NSFL this also holds true. How many times have we seen the team with the bigger presence at QB win out over a rival team that is similarly matched in other areas? More times than I’d care to mention (or count) personally. And so it is an inevitability that when building a team, QB is the position that almost every GM will look to build out from; once you have your house in order at the quarterback position the team building process will usually look a lot more straightforward.
With this in mind, there should definitely be some interest in the quarterback class that we are about to see partake in the upcoming NSFL draft. With a historically large class, and for once a few potential roster spaces for young QBs, this could very well be one of the more interesting drafts for young prospects to be a pet of. The expansion the league has recently undergone created two new landing spots for quarterback prospects, and with some notable retirements and general ageing of the quarterbacks round the league, there’s certainly enough teams that could go down the route of acquiring a quarterback this draft to make it a position of real interest. So, what is the aim of this article going to be? I’m going to firstly take a look at the active quarterback prospects in this draft, based off the TPE totals contained in the TPE tracker, and from there I’ll look to give some sort of opinion and analysis on those involved and where I could potentially see them ending up on draft day, and maybe even the round we may see them going in. So, without further ado, let’s blow the cobwebs off the TPE machine and see what secrets it will reveal to us today.
QB #1 - COLBY JACK
TPE: 245
The far and away TPE leader of this years QB class and one of the Jackboys (two prospects with the same surname who both play quarterback who confusingly share a name with the Travis Scott lead rap collective), Colby Jack has been making his claim as the premier quarterback prospect in this draft all season by pulling away with the TPE lead. Selected in the DSFL draft last season by the newly founded London Royals, Colby and his brother Monty have a sizable chunk of TPE more than the next tier of QB prospects on the eve of the NSFL draft. Colby is the recreate of a veteran user, flyeaglesfly29. While most teams would love to have the opportunity to draft a QB prospect who has come out the blocks so fast, and is made by such a respected user, they unfortunately will not have the option to do so, as Colby’s draft location is predetermined. Fixed to be taken by the Yellowknife Wraiths in the second round as the team GMed by eagles, the Wraiths get incredible value in adding about as good a talent as you can get at Quarterback and not even having to give up a first round pick to do so. This is a huge win for the team as it enables them to bolster another position of need with their first round pick while still obtaining the kind of talent who would be taken as early as possible under different circumstances. Even though he’s not necessarily a draft prospect in that he can’t really be drafted by 99% of the league, Colby has the honor of being the number one prospect on our list going into draft day this week.
QB #2 - MONTY JACK
TPE: 229
The second of the Jackboys (I want to use the same shitty joke as I did earlier but I won’t because it didn’t exactly land the first time), Monty is second in this draft class only to Colby when it comes to TPE. He is following a remarkably similar path to his brother into the league in almost every way; an early create which allows him to maximise TPE, drafted high by one of the DSFL expansion teams as the man to lead their new offense and heading into the NSFL as a GM pick, Monty will be headed straight to the San Jose Sabercats to become their quarterback of the future. Although Colby is slightly ahead in terms of raw TPE, you can absolutely consider these two players to be on the same level as QB prospects. Monty is the recreate of Rradum, a veteran user who built a very good player in long time Sabercats tight end Cameron Olsen, he’s about as safe a bet as you can get when it comes to the user you want building your franchise quarterback, and someone that the Sabercats will be able to count on to lead their franchise for a long time to come. Although we won’t get to see much excitement surrounding who gets to draft him and where he spends his career, it’ll certainly be interesting to follow both of the brothers’ careers and see how they match up to those prospects who will be entering the league through the more conventional draft process this season.
QB #3 - JIM WATERS
TPE: 207
Having looked at two prospects who couldn’t have been taken off the board any quicker in the DSFL draft, the third prospect on our list isn’t too far behind but really was someone who had to wait a lot longer than he would’ve liked to hear his name be called at the start of the season. Taken with the 180th pick, down in the 23rd round of the draft, Jim Waters is the recreate of siddhus. siddhus’ last player, running back Siddhu Sarvepally enjoyed a lot of success in the DSFL and the NSFL (in the lone season he spent playing there) and looked as if he was on track for success until he retired somewhat more abruptly than expected. His previous early retirement was maybe the contributing factor to him falling as far as he did in the DSFL draft, but he has certainly done everything he can since then to prove to NSFL teams exactly why they should be considering him as the kind of player who is able to lead their franchise to success in years to come. He’s been a very good earner, amassing 207 TPE, the most of any quarterback without the surname ‘Jack’, and the most of any who didn’t get an early start in terms of creation and earning. He’s shown that he can earn at the kind of rate that’s required of QBs in this league, and although he may not be a first round pick in the NSFL draft simply due to the need that teams have and the other prospects around him, he really could be a good value pick for a team in the later rounds who wants to take a chance on him to be their guy of the future. I’d say that he’d be a great add for either an expansion team who doesn’t have any solid option at QB currently, or a team that’s got an aging QB and wants someone who they can develop in the pipeline for seasons to come. Either way, it would be good to see Waters get the opportunity to prove his worth to the NSFL and show exactly why DSFL teams made a mistake letting him fall so far as they did in S21.
QB #4 - BEN SLOTHLISBERGER
TPE: 203
One of the more recognisable names among recreates in the draft, slothfacekilla is a well respected user having just come off a career with a very strong player in linebacker Johnny Slothface and being highly active in other leagues also. Sloth (as I will refer to him from here on out as opposed to typing out Slothlisberger every time, which I would do if the payscale for articles factored in characters as well as words but alas it does not) is only a hair behind Waters in TPE, likely caused by a difference in predictions success or something, and has so far proved to be every bit the reliable presence you need at QB. With his previous player having strong links to the New Orleans Second Line and their upcoming need for a new quarterback with the retirement of Stan Francisco, a lot of users have him mocked as returning down to NOLA, but it could make for a delicious draft day story if another team was able to snipe the young prospect before the Second alone were able to get their hands on him. Regardless of who drafts him, based on the ability we’ve seen from Sloth to earn TPE with this player so far along with his past success and dependability across a range of sim leagues, I believe he has the makings of an elite QB in every department; a view that I believe will be shared almost unanimously among the front offices across the league.
Wow, really starting to get into it here huh? Full disclosure, there’s more active quarterback prospects in this draft than I thought there were before I started writing. This could Mean that there’s a drop off in quality from this point out but hopefully not. Who knows. Anyway, onto our next prospect.
QB #5 - LUKE SKYWALKER
TPE: 193
Luke Skywalker has the distinction of being the first prospect in our list to be a first generation player, that is a player whose user did not previously have a player in the league. It’s always good to see first generations giving quarterback a good go, as the amount of dedication and effort it requires to do well at the position can often be daunting for newer members but from what we’ve seen so far, Muse316 has done a good job of keeping pace with the more experienced guys in his class. Just over 10 TPE behind Slothlisberger as we head into the draft, Skywalker could be a very interesting prospect to try and place in the draft. The reluctance of teams to place value on an unproven member when it comes to drafting a QB could see him fall a little bit further than he would if he had created at a different position, but I think he could be a great add for a team that has an aging QB he could sit behind for the minute while he hones his game and grinds some more TPE. Less pressure on him to earn rapidly should definitely help a first gen into the role, and could be the key to him becoming a successful QB down the line. It’d be good to see a team take a chance on Skywalker early on to help give a little
boost to all first gen QBs out there going forward.
QB #6 - TOM SOFA
TPE: 181
Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr Irrelevant. That’s right, Tom Sofa was the very last pick, number 271, in last season’s DSFL draft. Let that sink in for a second; this guy had 270 people picked before him across 34 rounds of a draft and still he came out and earned well over the season to raise his draft stock and show teams why that was quite frankly insulting. I can promise you this time around that teams will not be letting him fall that far. Even though he’s a hair behind some of the elite earners in his class, Sofa goes into the draft with a good amount of TPE, and based on the interactions I’ve had with him in the Myrtle Beach locker room, he’d be a great addition to any team environment. Everyone loves an underdog story and there isn’t a bigger one than a guy who got picked with the very last pick of the draft. The whole of the NSFL is rooting for Tom Sofa to go on to achieve great things in his career, starting with a better draft selection than he got last time. Seriously, please don’t let him fall that far again GMs, it’s actually pretty rude.
Geez Louise, this list just keeps on going and going. I’m starting to doubt my own sanity here a little bit. There’s more QBs than I ever could have imagined there would be. I can do this. I can rally my thoughts for one final push through the remaining QBs in this draft and then I can never again think about the subject. Okay, here goes.
QB #7 - SULEIMAN RAMZA
TPE: 164
The second Norfolk Seawolf on our list (quarterback by committee is the name of the game I guess), Ramza is also the second first generation QB on our list. I personally don’t know that much about the guy but from what I can tell he looks to be a good prospect, having a decent amount of TPE pre draft and not having heard anything at all negative from the LRs I‘m in (with a class this big it’s usually the case that no news is good news when it comes to individuals). He’s a little behind the other QBs in this list in terms of TPE as things stand, although if he remains committed to the league and keeps his earning up, it’s not a gap that he won’t be able to close in a fairly short amount of time if he is able to max earn. He also looks like the sort of quarterback who could benefit from being on a team that will allow him to sit for a while, and will be able to develop him properly with less pressure. It’s hard to really assess prospects at this stage with the raw data available this early on, but I really hope Ramza keeps it up and shows the league just what he can do in the seasons to come.
QB #8 - SIM SNOWBOW
TPE: 102
The last on our list of active QB prospects (can’t say I’m too sad to finally be hitting the end of this), Sim Snowbow is probably the one who has the most work to do between now and the draft. I seem to remember him being fairly talked about before the DSFL draft, but his earning seems to have fallen off a bit of a cliff in the time since and he’s quite a way behind his classmates in the TPE rankings as we can see. It’ll probably take quite a lot of work on his part to speak to teams and be able to convince them that he’s a guy who can rectify things and make up the ground he’s lost so far, although some may think that there’s such a slim margin for error with QB that the horse has already bolted. I hope that Snowy can get back on track and become a viable prospect in the league at the quarterback position, although there really is a lot of ground for him to make up in order to close the gap between himself and the other guys in his class. Although it’s not impossible, he’s going to need to get his nose to the grindstone as soon as he can.
Okay, so we’re at the end. That was certainly more of a gruelling experience than I counted on it being beforehand, but at least I’ve somehow managed to get through it and talk about every QB prospect in this draft who has so far updated. There’s definitely some real talent in this class, and I’m excited to see the way that each of these guys is able to impact the league in their own way. There’s certainly a lot of storylines present here and stuff worth keeping an eye on going into the future. So that’s all from me with regard to these guys. I probably won’t be doing another one for the sake of my sanity but I hope this was fit for purpose and told you something you might not have known already. Big thanks also to the TPE Tracker for making this a little bit easier than it would otherwise have been.
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Quarterbacks in the S22 NSFL Draft
Hot off the heels of my last article in which I looked in some depth at the S17 NSFL Draft based off information I took from the TPE tracker I’ve decided to suit up once again and plunge headfirst into the world of the TPE Tracker in order to look at something going on in the draft that’s going to be taking place this week. Everyone knows that a quarterback is the beating heart of a team. Esteemed sports pundit Skip Bayless has famously said that a quarterback is the only individual position that can win or lose a team a game, and perhaps in the NSFL this also holds true. How many times have we seen the team with the bigger presence at QB win out over a rival team that is similarly matched in other areas? More times than I’d care to mention (or count) personally. And so it is an inevitability that when building a team, QB is the position that almost every GM will look to build out from; once you have your house in order at the quarterback position the team building process will usually look a lot more straightforward.
With this in mind, there should definitely be some interest in the quarterback class that we are about to see partake in the upcoming NSFL draft. With a historically large class, and for once a few potential roster spaces for young QBs, this could very well be one of the more interesting drafts for young prospects to be a pet of. The expansion the league has recently undergone created two new landing spots for quarterback prospects, and with some notable retirements and general ageing of the quarterbacks round the league, there’s certainly enough teams that could go down the route of acquiring a quarterback this draft to make it a position of real interest. So, what is the aim of this article going to be? I’m going to firstly take a look at the active quarterback prospects in this draft, based off the TPE totals contained in the TPE tracker, and from there I’ll look to give some sort of opinion and analysis on those involved and where I could potentially see them ending up on draft day, and maybe even the round we may see them going in. So, without further ado, let’s blow the cobwebs off the TPE machine and see what secrets it will reveal to us today.
QB #1 - COLBY JACK
TPE: 245
The far and away TPE leader of this years QB class and one of the Jackboys (two prospects with the same surname who both play quarterback who confusingly share a name with the Travis Scott lead rap collective), Colby Jack has been making his claim as the premier quarterback prospect in this draft all season by pulling away with the TPE lead. Selected in the DSFL draft last season by the newly founded London Royals, Colby and his brother Monty have a sizable chunk of TPE more than the next tier of QB prospects on the eve of the NSFL draft. Colby is the recreate of a veteran user, flyeaglesfly29. While most teams would love to have the opportunity to draft a QB prospect who has come out the blocks so fast, and is made by such a respected user, they unfortunately will not have the option to do so, as Colby’s draft location is predetermined. Fixed to be taken by the Yellowknife Wraiths in the second round as the team GMed by eagles, the Wraiths get incredible value in adding about as good a talent as you can get at Quarterback and not even having to give up a first round pick to do so. This is a huge win for the team as it enables them to bolster another position of need with their first round pick while still obtaining the kind of talent who would be taken as early as possible under different circumstances. Even though he’s not necessarily a draft prospect in that he can’t really be drafted by 99% of the league, Colby has the honor of being the number one prospect on our list going into draft day this week.
QB #2 - MONTY JACK
TPE: 229
The second of the Jackboys (I want to use the same shitty joke as I did earlier but I won’t because it didn’t exactly land the first time), Monty is second in this draft class only to Colby when it comes to TPE. He is following a remarkably similar path to his brother into the league in almost every way; an early create which allows him to maximise TPE, drafted high by one of the DSFL expansion teams as the man to lead their new offense and heading into the NSFL as a GM pick, Monty will be headed straight to the San Jose Sabercats to become their quarterback of the future. Although Colby is slightly ahead in terms of raw TPE, you can absolutely consider these two players to be on the same level as QB prospects. Monty is the recreate of Rradum, a veteran user who built a very good player in long time Sabercats tight end Cameron Olsen, he’s about as safe a bet as you can get when it comes to the user you want building your franchise quarterback, and someone that the Sabercats will be able to count on to lead their franchise for a long time to come. Although we won’t get to see much excitement surrounding who gets to draft him and where he spends his career, it’ll certainly be interesting to follow both of the brothers’ careers and see how they match up to those prospects who will be entering the league through the more conventional draft process this season.
QB #3 - JIM WATERS
TPE: 207
Having looked at two prospects who couldn’t have been taken off the board any quicker in the DSFL draft, the third prospect on our list isn’t too far behind but really was someone who had to wait a lot longer than he would’ve liked to hear his name be called at the start of the season. Taken with the 180th pick, down in the 23rd round of the draft, Jim Waters is the recreate of siddhus. siddhus’ last player, running back Siddhu Sarvepally enjoyed a lot of success in the DSFL and the NSFL (in the lone season he spent playing there) and looked as if he was on track for success until he retired somewhat more abruptly than expected. His previous early retirement was maybe the contributing factor to him falling as far as he did in the DSFL draft, but he has certainly done everything he can since then to prove to NSFL teams exactly why they should be considering him as the kind of player who is able to lead their franchise to success in years to come. He’s been a very good earner, amassing 207 TPE, the most of any quarterback without the surname ‘Jack’, and the most of any who didn’t get an early start in terms of creation and earning. He’s shown that he can earn at the kind of rate that’s required of QBs in this league, and although he may not be a first round pick in the NSFL draft simply due to the need that teams have and the other prospects around him, he really could be a good value pick for a team in the later rounds who wants to take a chance on him to be their guy of the future. I’d say that he’d be a great add for either an expansion team who doesn’t have any solid option at QB currently, or a team that’s got an aging QB and wants someone who they can develop in the pipeline for seasons to come. Either way, it would be good to see Waters get the opportunity to prove his worth to the NSFL and show exactly why DSFL teams made a mistake letting him fall so far as they did in S21.
QB #4 - BEN SLOTHLISBERGER
TPE: 203
One of the more recognisable names among recreates in the draft, slothfacekilla is a well respected user having just come off a career with a very strong player in linebacker Johnny Slothface and being highly active in other leagues also. Sloth (as I will refer to him from here on out as opposed to typing out Slothlisberger every time, which I would do if the payscale for articles factored in characters as well as words but alas it does not) is only a hair behind Waters in TPE, likely caused by a difference in predictions success or something, and has so far proved to be every bit the reliable presence you need at QB. With his previous player having strong links to the New Orleans Second Line and their upcoming need for a new quarterback with the retirement of Stan Francisco, a lot of users have him mocked as returning down to NOLA, but it could make for a delicious draft day story if another team was able to snipe the young prospect before the Second alone were able to get their hands on him. Regardless of who drafts him, based on the ability we’ve seen from Sloth to earn TPE with this player so far along with his past success and dependability across a range of sim leagues, I believe he has the makings of an elite QB in every department; a view that I believe will be shared almost unanimously among the front offices across the league.
Wow, really starting to get into it here huh? Full disclosure, there’s more active quarterback prospects in this draft than I thought there were before I started writing. This could Mean that there’s a drop off in quality from this point out but hopefully not. Who knows. Anyway, onto our next prospect.
QB #5 - LUKE SKYWALKER
TPE: 193
Luke Skywalker has the distinction of being the first prospect in our list to be a first generation player, that is a player whose user did not previously have a player in the league. It’s always good to see first generations giving quarterback a good go, as the amount of dedication and effort it requires to do well at the position can often be daunting for newer members but from what we’ve seen so far, Muse316 has done a good job of keeping pace with the more experienced guys in his class. Just over 10 TPE behind Slothlisberger as we head into the draft, Skywalker could be a very interesting prospect to try and place in the draft. The reluctance of teams to place value on an unproven member when it comes to drafting a QB could see him fall a little bit further than he would if he had created at a different position, but I think he could be a great add for a team that has an aging QB he could sit behind for the minute while he hones his game and grinds some more TPE. Less pressure on him to earn rapidly should definitely help a first gen into the role, and could be the key to him becoming a successful QB down the line. It’d be good to see a team take a chance on Skywalker early on to help give a little
boost to all first gen QBs out there going forward.
QB #6 - TOM SOFA
TPE: 181
Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr Irrelevant. That’s right, Tom Sofa was the very last pick, number 271, in last season’s DSFL draft. Let that sink in for a second; this guy had 270 people picked before him across 34 rounds of a draft and still he came out and earned well over the season to raise his draft stock and show teams why that was quite frankly insulting. I can promise you this time around that teams will not be letting him fall that far. Even though he’s a hair behind some of the elite earners in his class, Sofa goes into the draft with a good amount of TPE, and based on the interactions I’ve had with him in the Myrtle Beach locker room, he’d be a great addition to any team environment. Everyone loves an underdog story and there isn’t a bigger one than a guy who got picked with the very last pick of the draft. The whole of the NSFL is rooting for Tom Sofa to go on to achieve great things in his career, starting with a better draft selection than he got last time. Seriously, please don’t let him fall that far again GMs, it’s actually pretty rude.
Geez Louise, this list just keeps on going and going. I’m starting to doubt my own sanity here a little bit. There’s more QBs than I ever could have imagined there would be. I can do this. I can rally my thoughts for one final push through the remaining QBs in this draft and then I can never again think about the subject. Okay, here goes.
QB #7 - SULEIMAN RAMZA
TPE: 164
The second Norfolk Seawolf on our list (quarterback by committee is the name of the game I guess), Ramza is also the second first generation QB on our list. I personally don’t know that much about the guy but from what I can tell he looks to be a good prospect, having a decent amount of TPE pre draft and not having heard anything at all negative from the LRs I‘m in (with a class this big it’s usually the case that no news is good news when it comes to individuals). He’s a little behind the other QBs in this list in terms of TPE as things stand, although if he remains committed to the league and keeps his earning up, it’s not a gap that he won’t be able to close in a fairly short amount of time if he is able to max earn. He also looks like the sort of quarterback who could benefit from being on a team that will allow him to sit for a while, and will be able to develop him properly with less pressure. It’s hard to really assess prospects at this stage with the raw data available this early on, but I really hope Ramza keeps it up and shows the league just what he can do in the seasons to come.
QB #8 - SIM SNOWBOW
TPE: 102
The last on our list of active QB prospects (can’t say I’m too sad to finally be hitting the end of this), Sim Snowbow is probably the one who has the most work to do between now and the draft. I seem to remember him being fairly talked about before the DSFL draft, but his earning seems to have fallen off a bit of a cliff in the time since and he’s quite a way behind his classmates in the TPE rankings as we can see. It’ll probably take quite a lot of work on his part to speak to teams and be able to convince them that he’s a guy who can rectify things and make up the ground he’s lost so far, although some may think that there’s such a slim margin for error with QB that the horse has already bolted. I hope that Snowy can get back on track and become a viable prospect in the league at the quarterback position, although there really is a lot of ground for him to make up in order to close the gap between himself and the other guys in his class. Although it’s not impossible, he’s going to need to get his nose to the grindstone as soon as he can.
Okay, so we’re at the end. That was certainly more of a gruelling experience than I counted on it being beforehand, but at least I’ve somehow managed to get through it and talk about every QB prospect in this draft who has so far updated. There’s definitely some real talent in this class, and I’m excited to see the way that each of these guys is able to impact the league in their own way. There’s certainly a lot of storylines present here and stuff worth keeping an eye on going into the future. So that’s all from me with regard to these guys. I probably won’t be doing another one for the sake of my sanity but I hope this was fit for purpose and told you something you might not have known already. Big thanks also to the TPE Tracker for making this a little bit easier than it would otherwise have been.
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2,802 words - 1.5x payout eligible