Alright, so I will talk a bit about a lot of different topics here for a little and then see how that feels. A big portion will be dedicated to the expansion draft but also in mind with the amateur draft and my own player a bit as well, to see what may happen in the aftermath of the expansion draft.
First off, let me introduce myself a little bit. I am JuOSu and I am currently a player who is in the amateur draft for the upcoming draft for the majors. My player is Medicinal Toblerone and I am currently an offensive lineman. I say currently for a reason and I will talk about that more later. I am among the top players in the class based on TPE, though I have banked all of my TPE in the minor league due to my very controversial opinion of not really caring about the minor leagues very much. I know, shocking right?
Previously, I have had two players, the first was Julian O'Sullivan who was a linebacker, on both Orange County Otters and then on the New Orleans Second Line. I managed to win an MVP award as a linebacker and went on to go to the hall of fame with that player. My second player will likely not be close to the hall of fame, it was a guy called Stan Francisco, who was a tight end originally and then switched to quarterback when I took over the GM job for the New Orleans Second Line, where I spent my entire career and spent almost my entire career as the GM of the team, which I have previously talked about in articles already.
Now, based on that description you may be seeing a trend. I obviously have very strong ties to the New Orleans Second Line which is why in this article I will focus mostly on their strategy in this expansion draft and what I would have done instead or whatever. That being said, I am not as up to date on stuff anymore, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Let me first take a look at the roster for the New Orleans Second Line and give some comments on everyone:
QB - Ben Slothlisberger - slothfacekilla - S22
Sloth is one of my favorite people in the league and on the team. He was one of the first players I ever drafted and here he is, many seasons later, still on the Second Line and now my successor at the quarterback position. Sloth is still a young player and he just took over at QB basically. He is a great earner and a war room member. There is no doubt that sloth would be one of the people protected in my eyes.
RB - Forrest Gump - TomHanks - S15
Similar to sloth, Gump was one of the first people I ever drafted and maybe in some ways my biggest success? Well he is up there at least. Gump took over as the co-GM for the Second Line early on in his career and stayed there for most of my tenure, eventually replacing me. This is a very tough decision for Tom as he is now in a position where his player is regressing and the team arguably has bigger needs and better / younger players that they need to protect. My gut instinct here is to say that Gump should not be protected, because I also see it as unlikely that he would get taken anyway.
RB - Marcella Tōriki - Bex - S18
Bex is obviously very well known in this league and one of the best people in the league. The commish was someone we were able to get in free agency and she has been an excellent part of the NOLA team and war room since then. Toriki is still in her prime and definitely seems like an obvious protected player in the expansion draft to me.
WR - Brock Bodenhamer - toivo - S23
Toivo is one of my absolute favorite people in sim leagues. We have now been kind of linked together for an insane amount of time, with players on the same team in several leagues and even leading teams together in the PBE for many seasons. Toivo is about as reliable and consistant as you can be, with an absolute loyalty that is hard to find in these leagues. Toivo is a beast and while he may not max earn, you can always count on him. I would likely leave him unprotected just because I know that he will find his way back to NOLA sooner or later anyway.
WR - Ed Barker - Wombat - S21
What can I say about Wombat? Well I think he and I get along really well and I know I highly recommended him when we drafted him here. He is reliable, a great earner, obviously very invested in these leagues and often has a lot of fantastic things to say. I think it is hard to leave him unprotected here, as he seems like a big part of the core of the team.
WR - Sean Snyder - DatSmolBoi - S22
I will be honest, I am not sure him and I have interacted much at all so far, but I know he is a good earner and well liked in the room. Not a max earner though so despite the age, I think I would likely lean towards not protecting him here.
TE - Austin McCormick - Nokazoa - S19
What a beast. McCormick is on his way to becoming a NOLA legend, with many seasons of great output from the Tight End position. He is a great player and a great person, I believe also makes some amazing graphics and more. Really valuable to have him here. S19 worries me a tiny bit, but it also means he is in his prime essentially. Definitely want to keep him around.
OL - Dorfus Jimbo Jr. - ScorpXCracker - S21
Scorp is a fantastic guy, even if he went inactive for me in the PBE He is well liked and I know he is a great team player. I would elect to not protect him with similar reasons as to Toivo, I know he is likely coming back anyway.
OL - Givussafare Rubbe - caltroit_red_flames - S18
Cal is a great sim league veteran guy and someone I get along with really well. At S18 he is in his prime as well and OL does matter a lot. It's a tough decision on who to protect here, so I would say he is likely one of the tougher decisions, but let's say I lean towards protecting him.
DT - Magnus Rikiya - Tesla - S22
Tesla is one of the most wholesome and amazing people in these leagues and is an automatic protection. In fact, if I could only protect one person, I would probably protect Tesla. She is incredible.
DT - LeBong Simwell - Birdman - S24
I honestly don't know him very well, as with most younger guys on the team since I pay less attention now. Seems like a good prospect but maybe I heard that prospects were protected anyway or something like that.
DT - Hank Steel - DrChops - S22
Good earner and well liked as far as I know, but with Tesla we are already protecting a DT and I feel like with limited options, Steel is probably one of the ones unprotected.
DE - Brave Ulysses - PaytonM34 - S15
A NOLA legend but his days are over. The long time OL guy is now on the D line and will likely regress to death soon. Wht a legend but no protection needed.
DE - Ben Tu’inukuafe - Ben - S16
Ben is a fantastic person and someone I love in these sim leagues as well. Great guy who is always reliable to earn decently well. Glad we got to have his player on the team for so long, but as with Ulysses, his days are probably gone and no protection is needed.
LB - Quenton Bode - terriblehippo - S15
Earlier I said Gump may have been my biggest success as a GM, and the only reason I hesitated was because of this man. I can't say enough about the amazing person that hippo is. He is fantastic as a person and always is great to talk to. Bode is someone I have been invested in from day one, as it became clear that he would basically be a similar player as my first one Julian O'Sullivan was. Bode has basically broken all of my records already and is on his way to breaking even more league records. It would be sad to ever see Bode on a different team, but it also doesn't make sense for this team to protect a regressing player. I think he will be safe even if unprotected and hopefully the legend of Bode can continue on his way to the hall of fame.
LB - Ugarth the Dissector - frithjofr - S21
I know frith is a really good guy and I get along really well with him. I believe that he is not as active anymore as he once was but Ugarth is still great. I guess if his activity has waned, I may leave him unprotected but otherwise he is a great guy!
CB - David Rector - ddrector - S18
Oh man, another amazing person that is up there for me in terms of biggest successes. Drector was a lucky pick for us as we realized that he had a lot more TPE than everyone knew. He has since gone on to become GM of the team and is a valued member in the war room and has since found his way onto my PBE team as well. Could not be happier with drector and in his prime and with how important his player is, he is an automatic protection as well.
CB - Andrew Witten - mithrandir - S22
Mith has been great and another insanely valued member of the team. Definitely a need to protect kind of guy and he is an awesome earner as well. Couldn't say better things!
CB Jordan Andrews - RaiderNation - S17
I feel like Juice is to Gump what Toivo is to me. Just super reliable and always a good guy. His days are definitely over and he won't be protected but great to have him around.
S Mason Blaylock - Jay_Doctor - S19
Man, so many amazing guys we picked up over the years. Jay is a fantastic guy and also a valued member of the war room. he is fantastic and a great player as well, definitely need to protect him as he is also in his prime now.
S Quentin Button - pppaul317 - S24
I know a lot of great things about Paul. He is amazing as a person and I am glad we got him on this team. He si younger and will likely be a great earner for a long time. I feel like I am trying to protect way too many people but fuck it, let's also protect him.
S LiterallyJust A. Hexagon - JPach - S22
Maybe my favorite player name and idea for a render, JPach is also an awesome person and deserves to be protected for sure. So many great guys on this team it is insane!
And that sort of finishes that list. What will NOLA actually do? I am not sure, but I feel like they have an immensely difficult task with a team filled with amazing players and people, which makes it even harder to not protect certain players. It will be tough.
The amateur draft will be very interesting as well. There are a ton of great players in this draft and many of them I am very close friends with. I want to highlight a few as I look at the current TPE standings for this class:
1) Tex Wrecks - 209 tacos - DE - 254 TPE
Tacos is an amazing person and a good friend. He is a valued player on my Sloths in the PBE and he is one of the direct opponents of mine for the TPE lead, as several of us Sloths created this year as a competition of sorts. Tacos is arguably the best graphics person I know and has made some absolutely incredible pieces. It is very sad that it is very unlikely that we will both end up on the same team, as I expect him to be one of the top picks in this draft.
2) Goat Tank - Eldorian - DT - 253 TPE
Clearly also near the top of the class in TPE; Eldorian is someone who's name I recognize but don't think we have interacted much. He seems like a great earner and also likely a top pick.
3) Medicinal Toblerone - JuOSu - OL - 237 TPE
Now let's first talk about the fact about how unfair it is that recreates don't get to do rookie tasks. Why is that fair in any world that real rookies somehow get a TWELVE TPE lead. It is insane to me that is somehow accepted here. I get the money advantage argument but the top rookies will just max earn regardless and then get a huge bonus over other guys. That being said, clearly Tex is out-earning me even despite the 12 TPE lead.
Like I said before, obviously a lot ties me to NOLA. I was the long term GM, I was on the team twice already and beyond that I also write the Top ten list articles for them, which will be updated again soon. Obviously that means I want to go back to NOLA in the draft ideally. I know that I have already talked to some GMs directly but not all of them. I guess maybe some just assume that is the case anyway.
That being said, I have made some things clear to those that have reached out to me previously. My plan is definitely to go to NOLA but I am not barring anyone from drafting me. However, my goal is to be a day 1 starter, as I mentioned previously I don't really care about DSFL, so I just want to play in ISFL right away. I am looking to likely position switch to a position where I will stay my entire career then for career records and such purposes. If I am drafted by a team other than New Orleans, I do still need those conditions to be met. Otherwise I will be incredibly pissed lol. And yeah, likely I will one day find my way back to New Orleans in free agency, if I am drafted elsewhere.
4) Dukburg QuakStag - Bwestfield - CB - 236 TPE
Wesfield is a great legendary player in the league and I anticipate that he will be much sought after in the draft, although vaguely I feel like maybe he is an expansion GM in which case, disregard this completely.
5) Donald McBobby - Bjbren17 - LB - 235 TPE
And here we have the other Sloth competitor for this little challenge. Crazy that all three of us are in the top five in TPE right now. Bosox has been a great compadre for me with the Sloths and was recently named co-GM of that team for me actually. I really appreciate him and I know he will be a max earner. Of course he had to be a linebackerl ike my first player I also anticipate that sadly we won't be on the same team for aforementioned reasons.
Honestly, there are a lot more top guys. Honestly the top of this class reads like the creme de la creme. We also have guys like Raven, Frick, timeconsumer, brane chyld (though he maybe retired or something?) and Schoolboy Shue in the top ten. What a top of the class, insane. I cannot wait to see how these picks turn out and who goes to what team. It is going to be a crazy draft.
Well, this was kind of a look at both drafts this off-season from my own personal view. I hope that expansion goes smoothly and that everyone is happy where they end up. Thanks for reading.
First off, let me introduce myself a little bit. I am JuOSu and I am currently a player who is in the amateur draft for the upcoming draft for the majors. My player is Medicinal Toblerone and I am currently an offensive lineman. I say currently for a reason and I will talk about that more later. I am among the top players in the class based on TPE, though I have banked all of my TPE in the minor league due to my very controversial opinion of not really caring about the minor leagues very much. I know, shocking right?
Previously, I have had two players, the first was Julian O'Sullivan who was a linebacker, on both Orange County Otters and then on the New Orleans Second Line. I managed to win an MVP award as a linebacker and went on to go to the hall of fame with that player. My second player will likely not be close to the hall of fame, it was a guy called Stan Francisco, who was a tight end originally and then switched to quarterback when I took over the GM job for the New Orleans Second Line, where I spent my entire career and spent almost my entire career as the GM of the team, which I have previously talked about in articles already.
Now, based on that description you may be seeing a trend. I obviously have very strong ties to the New Orleans Second Line which is why in this article I will focus mostly on their strategy in this expansion draft and what I would have done instead or whatever. That being said, I am not as up to date on stuff anymore, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Let me first take a look at the roster for the New Orleans Second Line and give some comments on everyone:
QB - Ben Slothlisberger - slothfacekilla - S22
Sloth is one of my favorite people in the league and on the team. He was one of the first players I ever drafted and here he is, many seasons later, still on the Second Line and now my successor at the quarterback position. Sloth is still a young player and he just took over at QB basically. He is a great earner and a war room member. There is no doubt that sloth would be one of the people protected in my eyes.
RB - Forrest Gump - TomHanks - S15
Similar to sloth, Gump was one of the first people I ever drafted and maybe in some ways my biggest success? Well he is up there at least. Gump took over as the co-GM for the Second Line early on in his career and stayed there for most of my tenure, eventually replacing me. This is a very tough decision for Tom as he is now in a position where his player is regressing and the team arguably has bigger needs and better / younger players that they need to protect. My gut instinct here is to say that Gump should not be protected, because I also see it as unlikely that he would get taken anyway.
RB - Marcella Tōriki - Bex - S18
Bex is obviously very well known in this league and one of the best people in the league. The commish was someone we were able to get in free agency and she has been an excellent part of the NOLA team and war room since then. Toriki is still in her prime and definitely seems like an obvious protected player in the expansion draft to me.
WR - Brock Bodenhamer - toivo - S23
Toivo is one of my absolute favorite people in sim leagues. We have now been kind of linked together for an insane amount of time, with players on the same team in several leagues and even leading teams together in the PBE for many seasons. Toivo is about as reliable and consistant as you can be, with an absolute loyalty that is hard to find in these leagues. Toivo is a beast and while he may not max earn, you can always count on him. I would likely leave him unprotected just because I know that he will find his way back to NOLA sooner or later anyway.
WR - Ed Barker - Wombat - S21
What can I say about Wombat? Well I think he and I get along really well and I know I highly recommended him when we drafted him here. He is reliable, a great earner, obviously very invested in these leagues and often has a lot of fantastic things to say. I think it is hard to leave him unprotected here, as he seems like a big part of the core of the team.
WR - Sean Snyder - DatSmolBoi - S22
I will be honest, I am not sure him and I have interacted much at all so far, but I know he is a good earner and well liked in the room. Not a max earner though so despite the age, I think I would likely lean towards not protecting him here.
TE - Austin McCormick - Nokazoa - S19
What a beast. McCormick is on his way to becoming a NOLA legend, with many seasons of great output from the Tight End position. He is a great player and a great person, I believe also makes some amazing graphics and more. Really valuable to have him here. S19 worries me a tiny bit, but it also means he is in his prime essentially. Definitely want to keep him around.
OL - Dorfus Jimbo Jr. - ScorpXCracker - S21
Scorp is a fantastic guy, even if he went inactive for me in the PBE He is well liked and I know he is a great team player. I would elect to not protect him with similar reasons as to Toivo, I know he is likely coming back anyway.
OL - Givussafare Rubbe - caltroit_red_flames - S18
Cal is a great sim league veteran guy and someone I get along with really well. At S18 he is in his prime as well and OL does matter a lot. It's a tough decision on who to protect here, so I would say he is likely one of the tougher decisions, but let's say I lean towards protecting him.
DT - Magnus Rikiya - Tesla - S22
Tesla is one of the most wholesome and amazing people in these leagues and is an automatic protection. In fact, if I could only protect one person, I would probably protect Tesla. She is incredible.
DT - LeBong Simwell - Birdman - S24
I honestly don't know him very well, as with most younger guys on the team since I pay less attention now. Seems like a good prospect but maybe I heard that prospects were protected anyway or something like that.
DT - Hank Steel - DrChops - S22
Good earner and well liked as far as I know, but with Tesla we are already protecting a DT and I feel like with limited options, Steel is probably one of the ones unprotected.
DE - Brave Ulysses - PaytonM34 - S15
A NOLA legend but his days are over. The long time OL guy is now on the D line and will likely regress to death soon. Wht a legend but no protection needed.
DE - Ben Tu’inukuafe - Ben - S16
Ben is a fantastic person and someone I love in these sim leagues as well. Great guy who is always reliable to earn decently well. Glad we got to have his player on the team for so long, but as with Ulysses, his days are probably gone and no protection is needed.
LB - Quenton Bode - terriblehippo - S15
Earlier I said Gump may have been my biggest success as a GM, and the only reason I hesitated was because of this man. I can't say enough about the amazing person that hippo is. He is fantastic as a person and always is great to talk to. Bode is someone I have been invested in from day one, as it became clear that he would basically be a similar player as my first one Julian O'Sullivan was. Bode has basically broken all of my records already and is on his way to breaking even more league records. It would be sad to ever see Bode on a different team, but it also doesn't make sense for this team to protect a regressing player. I think he will be safe even if unprotected and hopefully the legend of Bode can continue on his way to the hall of fame.
LB - Ugarth the Dissector - frithjofr - S21
I know frith is a really good guy and I get along really well with him. I believe that he is not as active anymore as he once was but Ugarth is still great. I guess if his activity has waned, I may leave him unprotected but otherwise he is a great guy!
CB - David Rector - ddrector - S18
Oh man, another amazing person that is up there for me in terms of biggest successes. Drector was a lucky pick for us as we realized that he had a lot more TPE than everyone knew. He has since gone on to become GM of the team and is a valued member in the war room and has since found his way onto my PBE team as well. Could not be happier with drector and in his prime and with how important his player is, he is an automatic protection as well.
CB - Andrew Witten - mithrandir - S22
Mith has been great and another insanely valued member of the team. Definitely a need to protect kind of guy and he is an awesome earner as well. Couldn't say better things!
CB Jordan Andrews - RaiderNation - S17
I feel like Juice is to Gump what Toivo is to me. Just super reliable and always a good guy. His days are definitely over and he won't be protected but great to have him around.
S Mason Blaylock - Jay_Doctor - S19
Man, so many amazing guys we picked up over the years. Jay is a fantastic guy and also a valued member of the war room. he is fantastic and a great player as well, definitely need to protect him as he is also in his prime now.
S Quentin Button - pppaul317 - S24
I know a lot of great things about Paul. He is amazing as a person and I am glad we got him on this team. He si younger and will likely be a great earner for a long time. I feel like I am trying to protect way too many people but fuck it, let's also protect him.
S LiterallyJust A. Hexagon - JPach - S22
Maybe my favorite player name and idea for a render, JPach is also an awesome person and deserves to be protected for sure. So many great guys on this team it is insane!
And that sort of finishes that list. What will NOLA actually do? I am not sure, but I feel like they have an immensely difficult task with a team filled with amazing players and people, which makes it even harder to not protect certain players. It will be tough.
The amateur draft will be very interesting as well. There are a ton of great players in this draft and many of them I am very close friends with. I want to highlight a few as I look at the current TPE standings for this class:
1) Tex Wrecks - 209 tacos - DE - 254 TPE
Tacos is an amazing person and a good friend. He is a valued player on my Sloths in the PBE and he is one of the direct opponents of mine for the TPE lead, as several of us Sloths created this year as a competition of sorts. Tacos is arguably the best graphics person I know and has made some absolutely incredible pieces. It is very sad that it is very unlikely that we will both end up on the same team, as I expect him to be one of the top picks in this draft.
2) Goat Tank - Eldorian - DT - 253 TPE
Clearly also near the top of the class in TPE; Eldorian is someone who's name I recognize but don't think we have interacted much. He seems like a great earner and also likely a top pick.
3) Medicinal Toblerone - JuOSu - OL - 237 TPE
Now let's first talk about the fact about how unfair it is that recreates don't get to do rookie tasks. Why is that fair in any world that real rookies somehow get a TWELVE TPE lead. It is insane to me that is somehow accepted here. I get the money advantage argument but the top rookies will just max earn regardless and then get a huge bonus over other guys. That being said, clearly Tex is out-earning me even despite the 12 TPE lead.
Like I said before, obviously a lot ties me to NOLA. I was the long term GM, I was on the team twice already and beyond that I also write the Top ten list articles for them, which will be updated again soon. Obviously that means I want to go back to NOLA in the draft ideally. I know that I have already talked to some GMs directly but not all of them. I guess maybe some just assume that is the case anyway.
That being said, I have made some things clear to those that have reached out to me previously. My plan is definitely to go to NOLA but I am not barring anyone from drafting me. However, my goal is to be a day 1 starter, as I mentioned previously I don't really care about DSFL, so I just want to play in ISFL right away. I am looking to likely position switch to a position where I will stay my entire career then for career records and such purposes. If I am drafted by a team other than New Orleans, I do still need those conditions to be met. Otherwise I will be incredibly pissed lol. And yeah, likely I will one day find my way back to New Orleans in free agency, if I am drafted elsewhere.
4) Dukburg QuakStag - Bwestfield - CB - 236 TPE
Wesfield is a great legendary player in the league and I anticipate that he will be much sought after in the draft, although vaguely I feel like maybe he is an expansion GM in which case, disregard this completely.
5) Donald McBobby - Bjbren17 - LB - 235 TPE
And here we have the other Sloth competitor for this little challenge. Crazy that all three of us are in the top five in TPE right now. Bosox has been a great compadre for me with the Sloths and was recently named co-GM of that team for me actually. I really appreciate him and I know he will be a max earner. Of course he had to be a linebackerl ike my first player I also anticipate that sadly we won't be on the same team for aforementioned reasons.
Honestly, there are a lot more top guys. Honestly the top of this class reads like the creme de la creme. We also have guys like Raven, Frick, timeconsumer, brane chyld (though he maybe retired or something?) and Schoolboy Shue in the top ten. What a top of the class, insane. I cannot wait to see how these picks turn out and who goes to what team. It is going to be a crazy draft.
Well, this was kind of a look at both drafts this off-season from my own personal view. I hope that expansion goes smoothly and that everyone is happy where they end up. Thanks for reading.