The Season 24 ISFL Draft came and went like a fart in the wind. Now that we are a couple days passed the draft it the initial good feelings and wide eyed onlookers have dwindled and it's back to business as usual as teams and players prep for the new season. Being an offensive guy I always like to look at my fellow offensive cohorts and see what kind of players I will be trying to keep pace with in my specific draft class. Today I am going to give my five biggest draft steals on the offensive side of the ball and yes this list includes me. I am not going in order of which I think was the best steal to worst steal, I am simply listing them in the order they were drafted in. So let's get this over with.
Round 2, Pick 21: QB Mattathias Caliban @PigSnout
Now I know that quarterback is not as important in the ISFL as it may have been in sim leagues back i the day. You can get by with having a mediocre quarterback if you are great in other areas and combine that with quarterback being highly sought after position for people to play there is typically a large pool of great users willing and wanting to play quarterback. That doesn't mean one can't be a steal, and spoiler alert, Mattathias Caliban is not the only quarterback on my list. He is however the first one I will talk about as he was selected by the Colorado Yeti in the second round with the 21st overall pick. This draft class was stacked at quarterback with multiple elite users at the helm of many of them but there is just something different about Caliban. The Dallas Birddogs quarterback has a well balanced approach to the game and he isn't way above in any one area compared to another. His accuracy, arm strength and intelligence are all solid and will continue to get better. The user behind Caliban, Pigsnout, is one of the games elite users and he will surely create an elite future franchise quarterback for the Yeti. I have prior experience with Pigsnout in the Elite Football league when I selected him to be one of the wide receivers for my team and we won a championship in that first yer and he was a huge part of it. I have a great view of Pigsnout the person and the player and any receiver or tight end will want to play in Colorado with Caliban at the helm in the future.
Round 3, Pick 28: QB Mike Boss Jr. @JBLAZE_THE_BOSS
If you read the intro to this article I did warn you there would be multiple quarterbacks on my list. Coming in as the next steal is the fourth quarterback off the board Mike Boss Jr. of the Tijuana Luchadores. If the name sounds familiar to the ISFL it's due to his father Mike Boss being the greatest and most prolific quarterback in NSFL/ISFL history. The bloodline is strong here and the fact that went fourth among quarterbacks is not surprising to probably anyone but myself. The cold hard truth here is that Boss is constantly being underrated and cast aside as someone that is never in the elite ranks discussion despite him usually having good success on the field. The user here isn't super active in discord and he doesn't do a lot of discussion or interactions elsewhere and that is the number one factor that drives his value down. He is every bit as capable of the quarterbacks picked before him but he lacks a wow factor when teams think about Boss. Well unfortunately that sucks for the other teams and is great for the Sarasota Sailfish as they found their future franchise quarterback with a very low draft pick. Boss Jr. is a classic pocket passer and he is going to go all out on the field to do everything he can to bring success to his team. He won't be very mobile in his career but he is willing to stand strong in the pocket and take a hit to deliver a pass. This guy is a competitor and an underrated earner that will have Sarasota on the map as a constant playoff contender in the future. Currently he is second on the depth chart in Tijuana and it is unclear if he will start this year as the decision for current quarterback Ben Slothlisberger on whether he is getting called up or not is not yet known. Either way Boss Jr. is going to develop into one of the strongest quarterbacks in this league.
Round 3, Pick 35: WR Korbin Brown, @YoungTB
Taking a break from the quarterbacks we go with the first wide receiver on my list in Korbin Brown. This receiver class was pretty strong in this year's draft which is probably why Korbin Brown fell this far. Despite that Brown is arguably the second best receiver in this draft class if you base it off TPE alone. He is a quite earner these days but he sneakily is near the top of the mountain among receivers. This speed receiver is going to be a future deep threat for the Austin Copperheads and they certainly need some more weapons for their franchise quarterback to look forward to throwing too. Much like Boss before him on this list, YoungTB is also a legendary user in the NSFL/ISFL and has already successfully created what many consider was the best running back in league history. I really do not know how these general managers evaluate but they definitely missed the boat here if they were wanting a franchise wide receiver and even if they didn't necessarily have a great need for one, Brown was arguably the best player available well before pick 35. This clearly tells me that general managers value discord activity and test simming more than point earning which is still mind boggling to me. Anyways, Korbin Brown is a huge value here and he is going to be a major fixture in Austin.
Round 4, Pick 45: RB Mai Fukushu, @Jiggly_333
Changing things up a bit we go with the first running back on my list in Mai Fukushu. Why this guy fell is a mystery to me as he is one of the top earners in all of sim leagues period. The Baltimore Hawks definitely got a massive steal here as Fukushu the player is going to be one of the most talented running backs in the league within a couple seasons. However the reason Fukushu may have fallen is more due to the user behind him than the player himself. Jiggly is let's say an acquired taste. My personal experiences with Jiggly that date back to the EFL is that I found him very annoying in the locker room and not someone I could relate too or have a conversation with that I didn't want to immediately escape. Maybe that says more about me being a jerk but that's just my personal experience with the person. For him to fall this far it may be the experience of others too so maybe I am not a jerk? at least not for that reasoning. Anyways back to Fukushu, he is an electric running back coming out of Portland but he will not be staying in Portland. The Baltimore Hawks are in rebuild mode and they already have a spot for Fukushu as he appears to have been called up already as he is currently listed in the Hawks roster index. If that is the case, good for Fukushu and good for the Hawks getting a potential franchise running back so late in a draft like this. I have a feeling that not only will Fukushu be a heavily featured running back in the future but he will be a heavily featured fixture in fantasy lineups as well.
Round 5, Pick 51: WR Tre'Darius J'Vathon, @`Vander Jones`
Yeah I tagged my own username because why not, I have to keep with the flow, right? Being honest I am one hundred percent miffed with how low I went in this draft. Tre'Darius J'Vathon has been the top earning wide receiver alongside Joshua Campbell (2nd overall pick) and Korbin Brown but he was the fifth receiver off the board. He is one of only three receivers currently with over 300 TPE to his name and has also had a successful stint with a player in the past as well as holding a General Manager role. Again I firmly believe the lack of discord activity and test simming hurt my value because why would a team be selecting players with 80 or 90 TPE before J'Vathon even if they didn't need a receiver. There is a thing called position switches which I told teams I was open too and also maybe a receiver currently on your roster becomes too expensive or goes MIA by the time J'Vathon is ready for the step up. These general managers just made a lot of bad decisions in this draft and I probably will never get over it. Now looking at J'Vathon as a player he is also a deep threat that is going to take the top off the defense. The Honolulu Hahalua have a great player now in their farm system and it gives them the freedom to allow their top receiver go unprotected in the future expansion draft. The biggest thing here though is will J'Vathon see enough improvement in Honolulu to want to stay? Hopefully so because J'Vathon is looking to put up big numbers and win.
S25 Sarasota: 26 rec, 437 yds, 16.8 ypc, 4 TD
S26 Sarasota: 45 rec, 724 yds, 16.1 ypc, 7 TD
S27 Sarasota: 81 rec, 1,122 yds, 13.9 ypc, 8 TD **Ultimus Champs**
S27 Sarasota: 81 rec, 1,122 yds, 13.9 ypc, 8 TD **Ultimus Champs**
S28 Sarasota: 84 rec, 1,182 yds, 14.1 ypc, 3 TD
S29 Sarasota: 105 rec, 1,470 yds, 14.0 ypc, 14 TD **PRO BOWL**
S30 Sarasota: 80 rec, 1,174 yds, 14.7 ypc, 9 TD **Ultimus Champs**
S30 Sarasota: 80 rec, 1,174 yds, 14.7 ypc, 9 TD **Ultimus Champs**