I've only been part of one draft so far (the most recent DSFL draft), but I did spend a good bit of time mulling over where I thought I would be drafted. Every DSFL team did their due diligence in reaching out me, but I narrowed my shortlist down to two prospective teams rather quickly. The first team that I thought stood a good chance of drafting me was Kansas City. I played a couple of games for the Coyotes at the end of S22, and I found the locker room to be very friendly and helpful to me when I was a brand new player. The other team that I thought would draft me was the London Royals. Even though some other teams had multiple scouts or GMs reach out to me, I would say that I had the longest conversation with Sylphreni (who was coincidentally also the first person to contact me during the draft process). Syl took interest in my media posts and what sort of longer-term analysis I planned to do in the league, and we also have common interests outside of the NSFL. I thought other teams like Myrtle Beach or Tijuana might draft me, but I think they may have also had a glut of linebacker talent on the roster.
After narrowing down my list of teams of two, I looked at the users in my draft class to size up my competition. There were about ~10 recreated players in the class, so I assumed there was no way that I would go in the first round. My thought process was that teams would inherently favor drafting players who already have a proven track record in the league rather than risking a high draft pick on a relative unknown. I was one of the highest TPE earners in the class prior to the draft, so I tentatively penciled myself in for the 2nd round.
Then, a trade happened!
I received a Discord alert that London and Kansas City had swapped second round picks. In my mind, this killed the possibility of being drafted to Kansas City. London now had the 7th and 9th picks in the draft, while I would have to fall to the 15th pick to be selected by the Coyotes (I had already treated it as a given that I wouldn't be drafted number one overall). In the end, I thought I would be selected with the 9th overall pick. Ultimately, I nailed my destination but was off by a couple of picks as I did get drafted in the first round by the Royals, and I couldn't be happier with my landing spot.
After narrowing down my list of teams of two, I looked at the users in my draft class to size up my competition. There were about ~10 recreated players in the class, so I assumed there was no way that I would go in the first round. My thought process was that teams would inherently favor drafting players who already have a proven track record in the league rather than risking a high draft pick on a relative unknown. I was one of the highest TPE earners in the class prior to the draft, so I tentatively penciled myself in for the 2nd round.
Then, a trade happened!
I received a Discord alert that London and Kansas City had swapped second round picks. In my mind, this killed the possibility of being drafted to Kansas City. London now had the 7th and 9th picks in the draft, while I would have to fall to the 15th pick to be selected by the Coyotes (I had already treated it as a given that I wouldn't be drafted number one overall). In the end, I thought I would be selected with the 9th overall pick. Ultimately, I nailed my destination but was off by a couple of picks as I did get drafted in the first round by the Royals, and I couldn't be happier with my landing spot.